Overview

In her artistic practice, Karin Sander questions given situations in relation to their structural, social, and historic contexts and renders them visible through different media. She stages locations with installations, architectural interventions, and sculptures, and creates new codes for existing systems and orders.

 

Karin Sander (b. 1957 in Bensberg, Germany) lives and works in Berlin and Zurich. Recent solo shows include the Architecture Biennale (with Philip Ursprung, 2023); the Kunsthalle Tübingen, Germany (2021); Base/Progetti per l‘arte, Florence, Italy (2020); Haus am Waldsee, Berlin (2019); Kunstmuseum Wintherthur, Switzerland (2018); The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan (2018); GfZK, Leipzig, Germany (2017); and Kunstmuseum Villa Zanders, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany (2017). Recent group exhibitions include Villa Schöningen, Potsdam, Germany (2022); Akademie der Künste, Berlin (2021); Copenhagen Contemporary, Denmark (2021); San Francisco Museum for Modern Art, California, USA (2020); Kunshalle Nürnberg, Germany (2019); and Casa del Lago – Goethe Institute, Mexico City, Mexico (2017).   In addition to her teaching at ETH Zurich, where she spent 15 years building up the Chair of Architecture and Art at the Department of Architecture, and was responsible for the artistic training of students, Karin Sander's works are featured in exhibitions worldwide. Her works are in private collections and public galleries such as the Museum of Modern Art (New York and San Francisco, USA), the Metropolitan Museum (New York, USA), Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach (Germany), the Centro Galego de Arte Contemporanea (Santiago di Compostela, Spain), Kunstmuseum und Staatsgalerie Stuttgart (Germany), the National Museum of Art in Osaka (Japan), Kunstmuseum St Gallen (CH), and Kunst Museum Winterthur, (CH). 

Featured
Works
Video
Exhibitions
Public Exhibitions
Biography

b. 1957 in Bensberg, Germany

Lives and works in Berlin and Zürich

 

EDUCATION AND MORE 

 

2007-2024

Professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zürich, Switzerland

 

1999-2007

Professor at the Art Academy Weissensee, Berlin, Germany

 

2003

Professor at the Elam School of Fine Arts, Auckland, New Zealand

 

1989-1990

Independent Studio Program (I.S.P.) at Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA

 

1981-1987

Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Kuenste Stuttgart, Germany

 

 

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

 

2023

Karin Sander, Galerie Nächst St. Stephan Rosemarie, Vienna, Austria

Ideoscapes, i8 Gallery, Reykjavík, Iceland

NeighboursSwiss Pavilion at the 18th Biennale Architettura, Venice, Italy

 

2022
What you see is not what you get, Esther Schipper, Berlin, Germany

 

2021

Karin Sander, Kunsthalle Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

 

2020

43°45’51.8″N 11°15’46.8″E, Base / Progetto per l'arte, Florence, Italy

Skulptur / Sculpture / SculturaMuseion, Bolzano, Italy

 

2019 

Karin Sander: A - ZHaus am Waldsee, Berlin, Germany

Karin Sander: Telling Art & Futures – Die Dialektik des UtopischenAkademie der Künste, Hanseatenweg, Berlin, Germany

Karin Sander, Galerie Hussenot, Paris, France

KARIN SANDER. BOOKS AND WORKS, Esther Schipper, Berlin, Germany

 

2018    

Karin Sander, Kunstmuseum Winterthur | Beim Stadthaus + Reinhart am Stadtgarten, Winterthur, Germany

Karin Sander – Kitchen Pieces, Carolina Nitsch Contemporary Art, New York, USA

ZEIGEN. An Audiotour through the collection of NMAO, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan

 

2017    

Kunst, Esther Schipper, Berlin, Germany

Identities on Display, Kunstmuseum Villa Zanders, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany

ZEIGEN. An Audio Tour through the collection of the GfZK Leipzig, Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig, Germany

 

2016    

Mixed Media – Dieter Roth & Karin Sander, Safn, Berlin, Germany

Karin Sander, i8 Gallery, Reykjavik, Iceland

Karin Sander – Kitchen Pieces, Galeria Helga de Alvear, Madrid, Spain

Karin Sander – Announcement, Johnen Galerie, Berlin, Germany

Karin Sander, Kunsthalle Marcel Duchamp, Cully, Switzerland

 

2015    

Karin Sander, Galerie Barbara Gross, Munich, Germany

Karin Sander, Tongewölbe t25, Ingolstadt, Germany

Karin Sander: Hausgäste, Kunstmuseum Ravensburg / Museum Humpis-Quartier / Museum Ravensburger / Wirtschaftsmuseum Ravensburg, Germany

 

2014    

Karin Sander – Patina Paintings, Atelier Amden, Amden, Switzerland

Karin Sander, Galerie Nächst St. Stephan, Vienna, Austria

                                   

2013    

ZEIGEN. An Audio Tour through Copenhagen, Nikolaj Kunsthal, Copenhagen, Denmark

Conversation Drawings, Galerie Ute Parduhn, Düsseldorf, Germany

Karin Sander: Visitors on Display, Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg, Germany

 

2012    

Zeigen. An Audiotour through Baden-Württemberg, Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe, Germany

h=400cm, Galerie Esther Schipper, Berlin, Germany

 

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

 

2024

Monochromy. On the aesthetics of published art, Weserburg Museum für moderne Kunst, Bremen, Germany

Keep See, Keep Seeing, G Museum, Nanjing, China

KölnSkulptur #11, Skulpturenpark Köln, Cologne, Germany

Sculptures of the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany

The World in my Hand, Alexander-Tutsek-Stiftung, Blackbow, Munich, Germany

FRAGILE. The Post's Art Collection in Dialogue, Bündner Kunstmuseum Chur, Chur, Switzerland

 

2023

KunsthalleKarlsruhe@ZKM, Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe im ZKM, Karsruhe, Germany

Fragment of an Infinate Discourse, Städtische Galerie im Lenachhaus, Munich, Germany

Some Recent Works - new acquisitions, National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland

Fragment of an Infinite Discourse, Lenbachhaus, Munich, Germany

The King is Dead, Long Live the Queen, Baden-Baden, Germany 

 

2022

Fragile! Alles aus Glas, Kunstmuseum Ahlen, Germany

Blanc de Blancs, Villa Schöningen, Potsdam, Germany

ThisPlay, Arter, Istanbul, Turkey
Time 2 Time, Slewe Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 

 

2021

Light & Space, Copenhagen Contemporary, Copenhagen, Denmark
友達と – “tomodachi to”
. With friends, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany

So wie wir sind 3.0 / The Way We Are 2.0,  Weserburg, Bremen, Germany

 

2020

Alptraum (nightmare), Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, USA

The Art of Diminished Difference, House of Arts, Brno, Poland

Transcoding, SOCIÉTÉ d'électicité, Brussels, Germany

Ei / EggNassauische Kunstverein, Wiesbaden, Germany

 

2019

Out Of Order, Neues Museum Nürnberg, Nürnberg, Germany

Late Summer Show, i8 Gallery, Reykjavik, Iceland

Open Codes. We are data, Akzuna Zentroa, Bilbao, Spain

REALLY - Sequences IX, Reykjavik, Iceland 

Hidden Beauty, Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Nürnberg, Germany

Ferocious Glitter, Gallerí Úthverfa / Outvert Art Space, Ísafjarðarbær, Iceland

19´ LIFE, GlobArt Academy, Essl Museum, Klosterneuburg, Vienna, Austria

Frozen GestureKunst Museum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland

 

2018    

Nature Unleashed – The Image of Catastrophe since 1600, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany

Collection 25, Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

The Future is Female, Parts Project, The Hague, The Netherlands

Just so Stories, 1978-2018, Galerie nächst St. Stephan – Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, Vienna, Austria

Rehearsal, Old Bailey Galleries, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Exhibiting the Exhibition, Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden, Germany

Alice Attie, Karin Sander, Jongsuk Yoon, Galerie nächst St. Stephan, Vienna, Austria

THE WORLD ON PAPER - DEUTSCHE BANK COLLECTION, PalaisPopulaire, Berlin, Germany

paperwork, Office Works, FAHRBEREITSCHAFT, Berlin, Germany

Travelers: Stepping into the Unknown, National Museum of Art Osaka, Osaka, Japan

 

2017    

All the Words to Say Rock – Nature and Conflict, Centro de Artes Visuales Fundación Helga de Alvear, Cáceres, Spain

Open Codes – Living In Digital Worlds, ZKM – Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germnay

Myth, Music, and Electricity – A Concert with Visual Artists, Herkulessaal, Munich, Germany

German Encounters – Contemporary Masterworks from the Deutsche Bank Collection, Doha Firestation, Doha, Qatar

Bin überfordert / I’m overwhelmed, Freehome, Berlin, Germany

The Vague Space, Museum Weserburg, Bremen, Germany

Ways Out From the World, Cappadox Art Festival, Cappadocia, Turkey

Mentally Yellow (High Noon) - The KiCo Collection, Kunstmuseum Bonn / Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich, Germany

Copy/Paste, KAAF non-profit Institute / Tarahan Azad Gallery, Teheran, Iran

Out of Office, Museum für Konkrete Kunst, Ingolstadt / Städtische Galerie, Bietigheim-Bissingen, Germany

BW – Conceptual Art from the Sontheimer Collection, Landesvertretung Baden-Württemberg, Berlin, Germany

Mexibility – Estamos en la ciudad, no podemos salir de ella, Casa del Lago / Goethe Institute, Mexico City, Mexico

Flair, Fridman Gallery, New York, USA

Serialities, Hauser & Wirth, New York, USA

Deutscher Ritualismus, Philipp von Rosen Galerie, Cologne, Germany

 

2016    

ten years. projects & editions, Haubrok Foundation, Berlin, USA

Blurry but Clear, Ariel Sanat, Istanbul, Turkey

Akademie der Künste zu Gast in den Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz, Chemnitz, Germany

Bild – Schrift – Zeichen, Esslinger Kunstverein in der Villa Merkel, Esslingen, Germany

TEXT - Selected Text-based Works from the Collection of Pétur Arason and Ragna Róbertsdóttir, National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland

Karin Sander, Igor Jesus and Igor Bošnjak – Artists´ Film International, Museum Art Architecture Technology (MAAT), Lisboa / Istanbul Modern, Istanbul / Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, United Kingdom

North American Tour 2016, No Show Museum, Benoni (Johannesburg), South Africa

Sammeln ist wie Tagebuch führen – Kleinskulpturen aus 50 Jahren, Galerie Rainer Wehr, Stuttgart, Germany

paperfile on tour, Artothek Galerie / Kunstverleih der Stadt München, Munich, Germany

The Distance of a Day, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel

Rheinsberg 25, Akademie der Künste zu Gast in Rheinsberg, Schloss und Park Rheinsberg, Rheinsberg, Germany

La Collection mise à nue par ses artistes, même, Lab’Bel, Suresnes, France

Human Scale, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada

BRD, Haubrok Foundation, Berlin, Germany

Home Improvements, FraenkelLAB, San Fransisco, USA

Der Schatten des Körpers des Kutschers, Kunstsaele, Berlin, Germany

                                    

2015    

Der Raum zwischen den Personen kann die Decke tragen, Weserburg Museum für moderne Kunst, Bremen, Germany

All my Dreams, Galerie Ute Parduhn, Düsseldorf, Germany

Contemporary Art from Germany, Museum of Art, Ein Harod, Israel

Talking Picture Blues (Voices Rising), Songwong Art Center, Seoul, South Korea

Volumes !, Galerie Anselm Dreher, Berlin, Germany

Ansichten XXIII „natural affaires“, Quadrart, Dornbirn, Austria

Oliver Mosset / Karin Sander – white paintings / mailed paintings, Galerie Lange + Pult, Zürich, Switzerland

Longing Objects. Sammlung der Kunsthalle Göppingen und Gäste, Kunsthalle Göppingen, Göppingen, Germany

Künstlerräume, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany

Sommer Kino, Johnen Galerie, Berlin, Germany

Prinzip Labor, Humboldt Lab Dahlem, Berlin, Germany

Figure 8, Clifton Benevento, New York, USA

Köln Skulptur #8, Skulpturenpark Köln, Köln, Germany

So ein Ding muss ich auch haben, Gegenwartskunst aus dem Lenbachhaus und der KiCo Stiftung, Städtische Galerie Lenbachhaus, München, Germany

Travelling the World – Art from Germany, Busan Museum of Art, Busan, South Korea

...y el tiempo se hizo, Centro de Artes Visuales Helga de Alvear, Cáceres, France

Void: There’s Nothing More Left, But A Little Trace From Human Being, Gingko Space, Peking, China

A man walks into a bar. . . . me, Collectors Room Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Künstler als Auftraggeber von zeitgenössischer Architektur, Bielefelder Kunstverein, Bielefeld, Germany

Ansichten XXII „Insight/Outside“, Quadrart, Dornbirn, Austria

Kunst für Alle, Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Berlin

The Lulennial: a slight gestuary, LULU, Mexico City, Mexico

 

2014    

By destiny: Overview of the Arario collection, Arario Museum, Seoul, South Korea

Weiss – Aspekte einer Farbe in Moderne und Gegenwart, Museum im Kulturspeicher, Würzburg, Germany

Weltreise, Krasnoyarsk Museum Center, Krasnoyarsk, Russia

Ladies first, Schauwerk, Sindelfingen, Germany

Solides Fragiles, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean (MUDAM), Luxemburg, Luxemburg

Panoramic Avenue, Kunstsaele Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Pierogi XX: Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition, Pierogi, New York, USA

Freundliche Übernahme, Marta Herford, Herford, Germany

Paper Work, Ceal Floyer / Karin Sander, Galerie Esther Schipper, Berlin, Germany

Datascape, LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial, Gijon, Spain

This Page Intentionally Left Blank, Akbank Art Centre, Istanbul, Turkey

When Now is Minimal. The Unknown Side of the Sammlung Goetz, Museum für moderne und zeitgenössische Kunst, Bozen, Italy

Translation Movement, Travesia Cuatro, Guadalajara / Travesia Cuatro, Madrid, Spain

The Paths of German Art from 1949 to the present, Moscow museum of modern art (MMOMA), Moskow, Russia

Partons de Zero (lets start from zero), Le Plateau Paris Contemporary Art Centre / FRAC, Paris, France

the distance between you and me, Haubrok Foundation, Berlin, Germany

Drive the Chance, 100plus, Zürich, Switzerland

Kunst ist, wenn... 25 Jahre Kunsthalle Göppingen, Kunsthalle Göppingen, Göppingen, Germany

lens based sculpture - Die Veränderung der Skulptur durch die Fotografie, Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Germany

Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz, Liechtenstein

International Women's Day, Artworks from the collection of Slava Nakovska and Nedko Solakov, Institute of Contemporary Art, Sofia, Bulgaria

This Page Intentionally Left Blank, Akbank Art Centre, Istanbul, Turkey

 

2013    

At Work - Atelier und Produktion als Thema der Kunst heute, Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Siegen

AUF ZEIT. Wandbilder, Bildwände, Kunsthalle Baden-Baden / Kunsthalle Bielefeld

Talking Picture Blues, Kunstsaele, Berlin, Germany

WHEN NOW IS MINIMAL – Die unbekannte Seite der Sammlung Götz, Museion, Bolzano, Italy

Works on Paper, i8 Gallery, Reykjavik

Nur hier. Sammlung zeitgenössischer Kunst der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn, Germany

KölnSkulptur #7, Skulpturenpark Köln, Cologne, Germany 

Faden. Deutscher Künstlerbund Projektraum, Berlin, Germany

WHITE – Photography, Art, Design, Fashion, Film, Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam, Netherlands

Akt mit Pyramide. Die schönsten Zeichnungen der Graphischen Sammlung, Museum Pfalzgalerie, Kaiserslautern, Germany

SABER DESCONOCER – 43 Salón (Inter) Nacional de Artistas, Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellin, Medellín, Colombia

VOM LAGER ZUM LADEN 25 Jahre Neue Kunst im Hagenbucher, Neue Kunst im Hagenbucher, Heilbronn, Germany

WALL, Canzani Center Gallery, Columbus, USA

Datascape, Borusan Contemporary, Istanbul, Turkey

Weltreise. Kunst aus Deutschland unterwegs. Werke aus dem Kunstbestand des ifa 1949‐heute, ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany

Unter Dem Strich, Galerie Ute Parduhn, Düsseldorf, Germany

Un-drawn Drawings. Works of paper. Galerie Hussenot, Paris, France

Pre-Show: Identities on Display, Humboldt Lab Dahlem, Berlin, Germany

Intimate Distance, Arario Seoul, Seoul, South Korea

Sobre Papel / On Paper, Centro de Artes Visuales Helga de Alvear, Cáceres, Spain

System und Sinnlichkeit. Die Sammlung Schering Stiftung Zeitgenössische Zeichenkunst, Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin, Germany

 

2012    

Ort einer Handlung. 45 Jahre Galerie Anselm Dreher mit einer Intervention von Karin Sander, Galerie Anselm Dreher, Berlin, Germany

Reality Bites. The document in contemporary art, Works from Kiasma collection, Kiasma, Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland

Bilderbedarf. Braucht Gesellschaft Kunst?, Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden, Germany

360°: Die Rückkehr der Sammlung, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart,  Stuttgart, Germany

Contemporary Galleries 1980-NOW, MoMA, New York, USA

Niet Normaal: Difference on Display, Bluecoat, Liverpool, UK

Kunst mit Schokolade, Museum Ritter, Waldenbuch, Germany

Ab in die Ecke!, Städtische Galerie, Delmenhorst, Germany

Die Eroberung der Wand, Landes-Stiftung Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck, Rolandseck, Germany

How to Make, Kunsthaus, Dresden, Germany

Public Abstraction, Private Construction IV V, Kunstverein Arnsberg, Arnsberg, Germany

Konter Frei – Zum Porträt heute, General Public, Berlin, Germany

In Formal Structures, Andrae Kaufmann Gallery, Berlin, Germany

Vorführraum, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany

Art Fairs