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vita

1974 born in Friedberg (Bay), Germany

1995 – 1999 University of Applied Sciences, Augsburg, Germany, Comunication Design

2000 École des Arts Décoratifs, Strasbourg, France, Année de perfectionnement

2000 – 2007 studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich, Germany, Prof. Gerd Winner and Prof. Sean Scully

2008 – 10 founder of the project space Zweigstelle, Berlin, Germany with Angela Stauber and Andreas Stucken

2015 – 2017 teaching assignment for videoart & photography at the Academy of Fine Arts Braunschweig, Germany

Karen Irmer (*1974) studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich with Prof. Sean Scully and Prof. Gerd Winner and is regarded as one of the distinguished voices in contemporary German photography and video art. In 2005 she received the study scholarship of the Else-Heiliger Fonds, Berlin and in 2007 the Debutant Prize of the Bavarian State Ministry for Education and Culture.

This was followed by a scholarship from the Berlin Senate and a working fellowship at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Nebraska, U.S.A. In 2015 – 2017 she held the Dorothea Erxleben Fellowship, which was linked to a teaching position at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig, Germany.

lectures
teaching

2021 lecture dauerhaft flüchtig– Konzepte für Zeitgenössische Kunst im Sakralen Raum, Reichenauer Künstlertagung, Germany

2018    lectureship, project building realities, University of Applied Science, Augsburg, Germany
2015 – 2017    Braunschweig, Dorothea Erxleben lectureship, Braunschweig University of Art study trip to Ireland, exhibition project INSELN and ORTEN, publications with the same title
2016    lecture, Photogalery Kaunas, Lithuania
2016    lecture, Welcome #85, Braunschweig University of Art, Germany
2014    lecture, DFA (German Photographers Assotiation), Museum of Photography Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany
2012    lecture and critique, Lincoln, University of Nebraska, U.S.A.
2012    lecture, Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Omaha, U.S.A,
2011    lectureship for visual art, Faculty of Philosophy & Social Sciences, Chair of Pedagogics of Art, Augsburg University, Germany
2006 – 2010    lectureship for Visual Communication, University of Applied Science, Augsburg, Germany
2005    lecture & field trip, Samsung Art and Design Institute, Seoul, South-Korea

grants
awards

2022   grant, artist in residence, nordisk artist centre, Dale (nkd), Norway
2020 multimedia grant, Europahaus Klagenfurt, Carinthia, Austria
2019    project grant, Steiner Stiftung, 360° Videowork, Munich
2017    Erasmusplus mobility, Lappland (Finnland, Norgwegen)
2015 – 2017    HBK Braunschweig, Dorothea-Erxleben-Programm
2015    Photogallery Kaunas, Artist in Residence, Kaunas, Lithuania
2012    Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, artist in residence, Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.A.
2011    Áras Éanna artist in residence, Aran Islands, Irland
2010    studio grant, Bayerisches Staatsministerium, Munich
2007    Debütantenpreis, Akademie der Bildenden Künste and Bayerisches Staatsministerium, Munich
2008    studio grant, City of Berlin
2006    travel grant, Kunstpreis Schwaben, Seoul, South Korea
2005    grant, Else-Heiliger Fonds, Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation, Berlin
2003    working grant, German-French Cultural Center, Berlin/Paris
2002    Förderpreis Bildende Kunst, Stadt Augsburg

”When I was a teenager, I regularly suffered from periods of heavy asthma attacks. Unable to sleep at night, I read to distract myself. I was permanently tired during the day and perceived things around me that no one else seemed to notice. I was interested in the inconspicuous things, the trivial things, and I could spend an eternity observing the smallest changes in my surroundings. Still today I can watch  a gentle whirlpool in the water for hours. The finest detail can transport me to a dream world.”

It is hardly surprising that Irmer’s artistic work stems from sojourns in bleak and solitary nature. In her search  for image and film material, the artist travels to seemingly unspectacular, small, and remote islands. These are mostly located in the “bad weather” regions of Europe, avoided by most people – arctic Lapland, for example, or the barren and treeless western coast of Ireland.

Irmer’s connectivity to remote areas, areas considered to be less than exciting, has produced a series of works that constantly break open the boundaries of film and photography. Observing carefully, the artist examines locations that she transforms into new, different, and extremely atmospheric worlds, solely through her choice of angle and the way she captures them. In this way, she touches on the inexplicable longing for the unknown, sensed occasionally by human beings, and creates works in which the boundaries between the real and the imagined world are blurred. The observer enters uncertain territory in which concrete forms begin to dissolve and a new way of perception is called for.

solo shows

2024 Pontivy, France, L’Art dans les Chapelles
              München, Atelier Wild, with Esther Hagenmaier
2023   Augsburg, Zweigstelle Berlin, with Ulrich Egger
2021    Klagenfurt, Austria, Stadtgalerie Klagenfurt
2019    Wolfenbüttel, Art Hall, Wolfenbüttel
2018    Augsburg, WANDELN, Moritzchurch (c)
2017    Birkirkara, FRAGMENTA MALTA, with Darrin Zammit Lupi, curated by Bettina Hutschek
2015    Düsseldorf, Galerie Ruth Leuchter, Photo-Weekend-Düsseldorf
2015    Munich, Gallery Karin Wimmer Contemporary
2013    Düsseldorf, Gallery Ruth Leuchter, with Jaakko Heikkilä
2013    Omaha, Nebraska, Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Microgallery
2012    Berlin, Gallery Zweigstelle Berlin, 5. European Month of Photography, with Leta Peer
2012    Amsterdam, Gallery Bart, with Ursula Oberhauser and Jürgen Paas
2012    Augsburg, Ecke Gallery, with Sigurd Rompza (c)
2011     Tel Aviv, Fresh Paint Contemporary Art Fair/special projects, with Uriel Miron (c)
2009    Basel, Scope Basel Art Fair, Zweigstelle Berlin (c)
2008    Berlin, Gallery Zweigstelle Berlin
2008    Augsburg, H2-Center for Contemporary Art (c)
2008    Munich, Art Hall Weltraum, with Barbara Ullmann
2007    Berlin, Art Hall Kunstkabine, Berlin
2007    Munich, Academy of Fine Arts, Prize Holders – Debutantenpreis (c)
2006    Munich, Galerie Zisko
2006    Augsburg, Höhmannhaus, Kunstsammlungen Augsburg
2004    Dachau, KVD-Galerie

group shows

2024 München, into the Bubble, Haus der Kunst
Heidenheim, Neue Stille, Kunstmuseum Heidenheim
Augsburg, Friends, H2 Center for Contemporary Arts
Salzburg, verzweigt, Sammlung Spallart

2023 Augsburg, Painting Photography, H2 Center for Contemporary Arts

2019    München, Artionale
Hamburg, Haus der Fotografie/Deichtorhallen
Augsburg, Augsburg Contemporary/Zweigstelle Berlin
2018    Kaufbeuren, Kunsthaus
2017    Berlin, Galerie Pavlov’s dog, Lieux de Mémoire/Erinnerungsorte

2016 Salzburg, Kunstverein Salzburg, SALÓ
Kaunas, Lithuania, Kaunas Gallery, Visual Fields, with Esther Hagenmeir und Thomas Witzke

2015 München, artsquare, NIGHTMARE | DAYDREAM, with Olafur Eliasson, Jonathan Meese, Corinne von Lebusa u.a.

Augsburg, Kunstverein Augsburg, Jahresgaben, with Georg Baselitz, Eberhard Havekost, Daniel Richter, Antonio Tapies, Günther Uecker, Heather Seehan, Jonathan Meese u.a

München, km Kunstverein München, Jahresgaben 2015

Neu-Ulm, Brückenhaus, switch to art – Videokunst aus Bayern

2014 München, km Kunstverein München, Jahresgaben 2014

Seoul, New Wave from Germany by CLUB eX

München, Galerie der Künstler, Videodox – Videokunst aus Bayern

Cuxhaven | Otterndorf, MgK, Museum gegenstandsfreier Kunst, imagine no image!

Augsburg, Städtische Galerie im Höhmannhaus, Der Greif: a process

2013 Tashkent, VII Tashkent Biennale of Contemporary Art, Behind Landscape

Berlin, Gerichtshöfe, Missing

München, Kunstareal, Lenbachaus | Kunstbau | Alte Pinakothek, inside the box

2012 Augsburg, H2-Zentrum für Gegenwartskunst, Behind Landscape with A. Khoroshilova, T. Paglen, R. Reynolds, E. Rokni u.a.
2011 Berlin, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V., EHF 2010

Berlin, Georg-Kolbe-Museum, HotSpot Berlin – Eine Momentaufnahme

München, Showroom von art-report, Save Japan
Berlin, Zweigstelle Berlin, Von Jedem das Beste
2010 Augsburg, H2-Zentrum für Gegenwartskunst, 50 Jahre Kunstförderpreis der Stadt Augsburg
München, Mariandl / Kulturreferat der Stadt München, Zimmer frei
Berlin, Preview Art Fair / Zweigstelle Berlin (K)

2009 Miami, Galerie Schuster, Berlin Next Generation

Gong Ju (South-Korea), Limlip Museum, 6th Biennale (K)

München, Lothringer 13, Städtische Kunsthalle, Ein Überblick (K)

2008 Berlin, Kunst im Untergrund, Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst, that was lucky (K)

Goyang (South-Korea), Goyang International Biennale (K)

Marktoberdorf, Kunsthaus, Von hier aus (K)

Berlin, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V., EHF 2010

Berlin, Zweigstelle Berlin, hier & jetzt

2007 Darmstadt, Darmstädter Tage der Fotografie, Konstruktionen der Wahrheit (K)
München, whiteBox, Klasse Scully 2007 (K)

2006 Girona (Spain), Centre Cultural de la Merce, En un calaix no hi ha espai per a 5

2005 Berlin, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V., Else-Heiliger Fonds – Ein Überblick

2005 Dachau, Neue Galerie der Stadt Dachau, Gedankenstrich, Lichtraum, Sichtraum (K)

2003 Istanbul, Karsi Sanat Çalismalari Gallery, Next Generation (K)
2003 Aichach, Kunstverein Aichach, Trabanten (K)