Alicja Kwade

Beginning with her first institutional show at Hamburger Bahnhof in 2008, Kwade had solo exhibitions at Kestnergesellschaft in Hannover; Kunsthalle Schirn in Frankfurt (2015); and Whitechapel Gallery, London (2016); among others. She also participated in the 2015 Venice Biennale. She also produced Parapivot for the 2019 Metropolitan Museum of Art Roof Garden Commission. Her most recent exhibition is at the MIT LIST center in Boston Massachusetts, on view from October 18 2019 - January 5, 2020. Titled “In Between Glances”, the exhibit displays a variety of Kwade’s recent works, as well as a never before seen installation entitled “Light Touch of Totality.” The instillation is made up of five stainless steel rings, each about 16 feet in diameter, which appear frozen in time at various angles and points of contact. Curtains of stringed beads hang from different parts of the rings, and ungulate slightly with movement of the air in the room. The ring are representative of both planetary rings and longitudinal lines, while the beads represent units of information. In this way, the work aligns with Kwade’s persistent interest in perception and the ways we categorize and understand our world.

In 2017, Kwade was photographed by Mario Testino for Vogue in Venice.

Kwade manipulates common materials like wood, glass, and copper through chemical processes to explore the ephemerality of the physical world. Her works often include reflection, repetitive sounds, and inaccurate doubling to create immersive and experiential spaces that beg viewers to question their perception of reality. In a 2013 interview with ArtReview magazine, Kwade explained “I’m fascinated with the borders between science and suspicion. All the in-betweens. Mr Houdini is one of my biggest heroes.” For her first solo public art commission in the United States, for example, Kwade installed a 16-feet-tall aluminium timepiece at the entrance to Central Park, directly opposite the storied Plaza Hotel; the clock's face moved counter clockwise while the hour and minute hands turned in the opposite direction.

Since becoming a full-time artist, Kwade has worked from studios in Berlin's Kreuzberg (2008-2011, together with Thomas Kiesewetter) and Weißensee districts (2012-2018). She also completed an artist-in-residence program in Le Vauclin in 2012. In 2018, she moved her practice to a studio in Oberschöneweide, alongside Olafur Eliasson, Christian Jankowski and Jorinde Voigt.

Since 2000, Kwade has been in a relationship with fellow artist Gregor Hildebrandt.

Kwade was born in Katowice, Poland. She was the daughter of a cultural scientist and gallery owner and conservator, and reports knowing that she wanted to be an artist at as young as five years old. Her family escaped to West Germany in 1987. She grew up in Hannover and at age 19 moved to Berlin and studied sculpture at the University of the Arts (UdK) in Berlin from 1999 to 2005. In 2002, she spent an Erasmus year at Chelsea College of Arts in London.

Alicja Kwade (b. 1979, Poland) is a German contemporary visual artist. Her sculptures and installations focus on the subjectivity of time and space. Kwade lives and works in Berlin.