KW Institute for Contemporary Art


The KW Institute for Contemporary Art is a contemporary art institution located in Auguststraße 69 in Berlin-Mitte, Germany. Klaus Biesenbach is the Founding Director of KW and the current Director is Krist Gruijthuijsen.
KW collaborates with other national and international contemporary art venues, such as MoMA PS1 in New York, the in Düsseldorf/Berlin, in Belgium, and the Schering Stiftung in Berlin.

History

KW Institute for Contemporary Art was founded by Klaus Biesenbach in the 1990s.

Exhibitions

The institute has presented exhibitions of the works of Absalon, Kader Attia, Kate Cooper, Keren Cytter, Anna Daučíková, Ceal Floyer, Cyprien Gaillard, Beatriz González, Sidsel Meineche Hansen, Judith Hopf, Channa Horwitz, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Hanne Lippard, Renata Lucas, Hiwa K, Annette Kelm, Adam Pendleton, Mika Rottenberg, Christoph Schlingensief, Hassan Sharif, Wael Shawky, Santiago Sierra, Ryan Trecartin and Lizzie Fitch, as well as Ian Wilson.
Themed group exhibitions include 37 Räume, Stand der Dinge, Territories, Regarding Terrors: The RAF-Exhibition, Into Me / Out Of Me, History Will Repeat Itself. Strategies of Re-enactment in Contemporary Art, Seeing is Believing, One on One, Fire and Forget. On Violence, or The Making of Husbands: Christina Ramberg have furthermore shaped the profile of KW.

Selected exhibitions

''37 Räume'' (1992)

Exhibition concept of 37 curators at different venues at Scheunenviertel.
Curators: Art in Ruins, Thomas von Arx, Marius Babias, Henning Brandis, Kathrin Becker, Patrizia Bisci, Gunhild Brandler, Wolfgang Max Faust, Peter Funken, Zariamma Harat, Gabriele Horn, Micha Kapinos, Melitta Kliege, Romy Köcher, Maria Kreutzer, John Miller, minimal-club, Bojana Pejic, Jens Petersen, Catsou Roberts, Skúta, Helgason, Aura Rosenberg, Jeannot Simmen, Brigitte Sonnenschein, Beatrice Stammer, Angelika Stepken, Barbara Straka, Julya Theek, Annette Tietenberg, Sabine Vogel, Frank Wagner, Ingrid Wagner-Kantuser, Klara Wallner, Ryszard Wasko, Philipp Weiss, Ingeborg Wiensowski, Wolfgang Winkler, Thomas Wulffen.

''Territories'' (2000)

Artists: AnArchitektur, Matthew Buckingham/Joachim Koester, Multiplicity, Sean Snyder, Stalker, Eyal Weizman/Rafi Segal, Eran Schaerf/Eva Meyer, Jan Ralske, Bureau of Inverse Technology, Amir and Sharon Balaban, Armin Linke, Stalker, Zvi Efrat, Yael Bartana, Danny Bauer and Amos Gitai.

''Regarding Terror: The RAF Exhibition'' (2005)

In 2005, an exhibition on the public perception of the terrorist group Red Army Faction, curated by Ellen Blumenstein, Felix Ensslin, and Klaus Biesenbach, formed in and through the media caused a major controversy in Germany. Relatives of the terrorists' victims laid out their objections in an open letter to German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. The exhibition was delayed when the political pressure led Biesenbach to withdraw the museum's application for €100,000 worth of state funding.
Artists: Franz Ackermann, Dennis Adams, Bettina Allamoda, Eleanor Antin, Thomas Bayrle, Sue de Beer, Ulrich Bernhardt, Joseph Beuys, Dara Birnbaum, Klaus vom Bruch, Erin Cosgrove, Lutz Dammbeck, Christoph Draeger, Felix Droese, Heinz Emigholz, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Peter Friedl, Johan Grimonprez, Rudolf Herz, Jörg Immendorff, Johannes Kahrs, Scott King, Scott King/Matt Worley, Martin Kippenberger, Rainer Kirberg, Astrid Klein, Andree Korpys/Markus Löffler, Bruce LaBruce, Claude Lévêque, Theo Ligthart, Jonathan Meese, Michaela Meise, Michaela Melián, Klaus Mettig, Olaf Metzel, Rob Moonen/Olaf Arndt, Hans Niehus, Marcel Odenbach, Sigmar Polke, Yvonne Rainer, Gerhard Richter, Thomas Ruff, Thomas Schütte, Katharina Sieverding, K.R.H. Sonderborg, Klaus Staeck, Stih & Schnock, Frank Thiel, Wolf Vostell, Peter Weibel, Willem, and Johannes Wohnseifer.

''Into Me / Out Of Me'' (2006)

Curated by Klaus Biesenbach, the exhibition Into Me / Out Of Me was co-organized by KW and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, the affiliate of Museum of Modern Art, New York.

''History Will Repeat Itself. Strategies of Re-enactment in Contemporary Art'' (2007)

''Seeing is Believing'' (2011)

Artists: Adel Abdessemed, Abbas Akhavan, Kenneth Anger, Nadim Asfar, Taysir Batniji, Adam Broomberg und Oliver Chanarin, Paul Chan, Zeyad Dajani, Anita Di Bianco, Joana Hadjithomas und Khalil Joreige, Khaled Hourani, Iman Issa, Alfredo Jaar, Nedim Kufi, Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Gianni Motti, Adrian Paci, Walid Sadek, Taryn Simon, Sean Snyder, Hito Steyerl, and Akram Zaatari.

''One on One'' (2012/2013)

Artists: Massimo Bartolini, Nina Beier, Joe Coleman, Trisha Donnelly, Geoffrey Farmer, Hans-Peter Feldmann, FORT, Günter K., Annika Kahrs, Robert Kusmirowski, Alicja Kwade, Renata Lucas, Yoko Ono, Blinky Palermo, Anri Sala, Jeremy Shaw, and Tobias Zielony.

''Fire and Forget. On Violence'' (2015)

David Wojnarowicz: ''Photography & Film 1978–1992'' (2019)

Curated by Krist Gruijthuijsen, KW Institute for Contemporary Art presented the exhibition Photography & Film 1978–1992.

''The Making of Husbands: Christina Ramberg in Dialogue'' (2019)

The Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art

The Berlin Biennale is held at various locations in the city, with KW as one of the venues for every edition. The curatorial team of the 11th Berlin Biennale includes María Berríos, Renata Cervetto, Lisette Lagnado, and Agustín Pérez Rubio.