Alicja Kwade

Alicja Kwade is a contemporary German artist who explores the subjectivity of time, space, science and philosophy through sculpture and installation. Her works intend to make visible the structures that shape our perception of reality. Rocks, precious stones and wood allude to the timeless and cosmic, while clocks, lamps and glass anchor Kwade’s work to modern times, posing the questions of where the past ends and the present begins, what is fact and what is fiction. Mirrored and layered, these installations seem to collapse linear time or open portals into new dimensions. The artist also typically works site-specifically, directly responding to the surrounding environment.

Kwade graduated from the University of the Arts in Berlin in 2005, and during her studies there she also spent a year at the Chelsea College of Arts in London. Her work can be considered alongside other conceptual, sculptural artists such as Anicka Yi, Nina Beier and Renata Lucas. In 2015, Kwade won the Hector Prize, and in 2017, she participated in the Venice Biennale. A well-known and highly regarded artist, she has been commissioned for several public installations including by Public Art Fund in 2015 and the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s rooftop garden program in 2019. Kwade was born in 1979 in Poland and now lives in Berlin. 

-       ParaPivot, 2017, Powder-coated steel frames and stone, installation on the rooftop of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York 

-       WeltenLinie, 2017, Powder-coated steel, mirror, stone, bronze, aluminum, wood, petrified wood, installation at the Venice Biennale in Italy

-       Revolution (Gravitas), 2017, stainless steel, stone