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Alexandra Bircken

Alexandra Bircken (1967) is a German artist based in Berlin and Munich.[1] Bircken creates assemblages featuring everyday ephemera like wood, knitted fragments and twigs.[2][better source needed] Her work has strong references to traditional craft practices and to the natural world, from which she sources her materials.[3]

Key Information

Early life and Education

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Bircken was born in Cologne, Germany.[citation needed] She was brought up nearby in Remscheid.[4] He father was a motor engineer, but later worked for the weapons firm Mauser and Heckler & Koch.[4] Bircken, who was part of Germany's peace movement, disliked this intensely and felt ashamed of her father.[4]

In secondary school, aged 15, Bircken became friends with Lutz Huelle and Wolfgang Tillmans.[5][4] In 1992, Tillmans, who was studying photography at Bournemouth, used Bircken and Huelle in a fashion shoot called Like Brother and Sister published in i-D Magazine.

As a child, she wanted to become a surgeon, as she had issues with her intestines which made her interested in the body.[4]

In 1991, Bircken moved to London to study for a BA in Fashion Design from Central Saint Martins, graduating in 1995.[1][4] Whilst there, she lived in Brixton.[4]

After graduating, Bircken founded a fashion label with a colleague, but quickly became frustrated with the restrictions of the fashion industry.[1][4]

Career

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Bircken's work explores the body, textiles, mechanics and feminism.[4]

From 2000-2008, Bircken taught at Central Saint Martins. Since 2018, she has been a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich.

Bircken has been awarded artist residencies at Kölnischer Kunstverein in Cologne (2004), Studio Voltaire in London (2011) and the British Council in Harare, Zimbabwe (2014).[6][7][8]

Exhibitions

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Bircken's work has been exhibited at Museum Abteiberg (Mönchengladbach), Kunstverein Hannover, New Museum (New York), National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), the Hepworth Wakefield (Yorkshire), and Whitechapel Gallery (London). In 2019, her work was included in the group exhibition, May You Live In Interesting Times, curated by Ralph Rugoff and presented at the 58th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia in Italy.[9][10][11][12][13][14]

Solo exhibitions

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Date Exhibition Place
2019 Unruhe[15] Secession, Vienna, AT
2018 Mammal[16] Studio Voltaire, London, UK
2017 Stretch[17] Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach, DE
2017 Stretch[18] Crédac, Ivry-sur-Seine, FR
2017 Ping[19] BQ, Berlin, DE
2016 Parallelgesellschaften[20] K21 Ständehaus, Düsseldorf, DE
2016 Stretch[21] Kunstverein Hannover, Hannover, DE
2016 Needle[22] Herald St, London, UK
2015 Cagey[23] Piece*Unique, Cologne, DE
2014 [24] Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, NL
2014 Eskalation[25] The Hepworth Wakefield, Wakefield, UK
2014 B.U.F.F.[26] BQ, Berlin, DE
2013 Inside out[27] BQ, Berlin, DE
2012 [28] Herald St, London, UK
2012 Hausrat[29] Kunstverein Hamburg, Hamburg, DE
2012 Ganzjährige Präsentation im Foyer[30] Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn, DE
2011 [31] Studio Voltaire, London, UK
2011 Think of me[32] Kimmerich, New York, US
2010 Blondie[32] Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, DE
2010 STORNO[33] BQ, Los Angeles, US
2009 Crossings[34] Herald St, London, UK
2009 Alles muß raus![35] BQ, Berlin, DE
2008 Ursula Blickle Stiftung[35] Kraichtal-Unteröwisheim, DE
2008 Open Space[36] BQ, Art Koln 08, Cologne, DE
2008 Units[37] Docking Station, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, NL
2007 Holz[38] Gladstone Gallery, New York, US
2007 Statements[39] Herald St, Art Basel 37, Basel, CH
2007 Holz[38] Gladstone Gallery, New York, US
2006 [40] BQ, Cologne, DE (cat)
2005 [40] Herald St, London, UK
2004 [40] BQ, Cologne, DE (cat)

Group exhibitions

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Date Exhibition Place
2019 May You Live In Interesting Times[41] 58th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, IT
2019 [42] Herald St, Museum St, London, UK
2019 Tainted Love (club edit)[43] Villa Arson, Nice, FR
2019 Sick and Desiring[44] Hordaland Kunstsenter, Bergen, NL
2018 Naked[45] Museum Kranenburgh, Bergen, NL
2018 The Revolutionary Suicide Mechanised Regiment Band, Part 2[46] Rob Tufnell, London, UK
2018 ISelf Collection: Bumped Bodies[47] Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK
2018 Alexandra Bircken, Josh Brand, Matthew Darbyshire, Michael Dean, Cary Kwok, Amalia Pica, Nicole Wermers[48] Herald St, Museum St, London, UK
2017 The problem with having a body / is that it always needs to be somewhere[49] The Approach Gallery, London, UK
2016 Trolley[50] Glasgow International, Tramway, Glasgow, UK
2015 Mapping Bucharest: Art, Memory and Revolution 1916–2016[51] MAK – Austrian Museum of Contemporary Art, Vienna, AT
2015 Markus Amm, Alexandra Bircken, Michael Dean[52] Herald St – Golden Sq, London, UK
2015 War Games[53] Marlborough Chelsea, New York, US
2015 Wo ist hier? #2: Raum und Gegenwart, Bildhauerei und Installation seit 2000[54] Kunstverein Reutlingen, Reutlingen, DE
2015 Rates of Exchange[55] Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb, HR
2015 Basket Case II[56] National Gallery, Bulawayo, ZW
2014 Basket Case II[57] National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare, ZW
2014 Blicke! Koerper! Sensationen![58] Deutsches Hygiene Museum, Dresden, DE
2014 Ökonomie der Aufmerksamkeit[59] Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, AT
2014 The Great Outdoors[60] Schaufenster, Berlin, DE
2014 Humain non humain[61] Fondation d’entreprise Ricard, Paris, FR
2014 Die Antwort der Dinge[62] Lothringer 13, Munich, DE
2014 Fiber in Form[63] Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, US
2013 The Love of Things[64] Kunsthalle Münster, Münster, DE
2013 Days in Lieu, curated by Rodolphe von Hofmannsthal[65] David Zwirner, London, UK
2013 Nur hier – Sammlung zeitgenössischer Kunst der Bundesrepublik Deutschland / Ankäufe von 2007 – 2011[66] Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, DE
2012 A Disagreeable Object[67] SculptureCenter, New York, US
2012 Everyday Abstract – Abstract Everyday[68] James Cohan Gallery, New York, US
2012 Neuralgie[69] Kunstraum Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, DE
2012 Made in Germany Zwei[70] International Art in Germany, Sprengel Museum, Hannover, DE
2011 My Beautiful Mongo[71] Thomas Brambilla, Bergamo, IT
2011 Skulpturales Handeln[72] Haus der Kunst, Munich, DE (cat)
2011 [73] EX3 Centro per l'Arte Contemporanea, Florence, IT
2011 Mailles. Art en laine[74] Maison du Danemark, Paris, FR
2011 Arthur Bokskamp-Stiftung[75] Hohenlockstedt, DE
2011 Gesamtkunstwerk: New Art From Germany[76] Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
2011 Wash, then dance[77] Tinderbox, Hamburg, DE
2011 H x W x D[78] Wentrup, Berlin, DE
2010 Every Night, I go to Sleep[79] Modern Art, London, UK
2010 Undone[80] Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, UK
2010 Rive Droite / Rive Gauche[81] Paris, FR (cat)
2010 Feint Art[82] Kunstverein Freiburg, Freiburg, DE
2010 Same slight Slighter[83] Renwick Gallery, New York, US
2010 The Long Dark, curated by Michelle Cotton[84] Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, UK
2010 [85] Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf, DE
2010 [85] Kimmerich Gallery, New York, US
2010 Neues Rheinland. Eine postironische Generation[86] Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, DE
2010 Folklore?[87] CRAC Alsace, Altkirch, FR
2009 Your Gold Teeth II, curated by Todd Levin[88] Marianne Boesky, New York, US
2009 Arrival Inside[89] Mary Mary, Glasgow, UK
2009 The Long Dark, curated by Michelle Cotton[90] The International 3, Manchester, UK
2008 Borders[91] Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, NL
2008 Hooking Up, curated by Klaus Kertess[92] View 14, Mary Boone, New York, US
2008 Martian Museum of terrestrial Art, curated by Francesco Manacorda[93] Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK
2008 Paradies und zurück[94] Zeitgenössische Kunst im Schloss Dyck, Jüchen, DE
2008 Anti-Baby Pill[95] Aktualisierungraum, Hamburg, DE
2008 Vom Gehen in viele Richtungen[96] 701 e.V. zu Gast im KIT - Kunst im Tunnel, Düsseldorf, DE
2008 [97] 1st Brussels Biennial, Brussels, BE

References

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