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Icons, pallets, Mars melons & planets: The artistic wonderland of Alicja Kwade

Alicja Kwade, born in Katowice, Poland in 1979, has lived in Germany since 1986. From 1999 to 2005, she studied at the Berlin University of the Arts. She is one of the best known and sought-after artists of her generation who, to date, has had over 60 solo exhibitions worldwide. The concept artist and sculptor, who has been honoured with numerous awards, most recently the Hektorpreis from the Kunsthalle Mannheim, lives and works in Berlin. In 2018, she held second position in the ‘Art Compass’ ranking of the “stars of tomorrow” in the Capital business magazine, making her one of the “most promising young artists” on a list of 100 names.

Alicja Kwade, TRAFO Szczecin, 27.11.2015

Urszula Usakowska-Wolff

In diverse universes

Alicja Kwade deals with phenomena that are difficult to understand, convey and demonstrate, although they define and are with us in our day-to-day life from start to finish: space and time and everything that happens there - in this way and in no other way. She takes her inspiration from science, preferably from the theory of relativity. She has a weakness for theoretical constructs whilst mistrusting them at the same time. Time exists in reality although no one can grasp it and so no one can understand it properly. It never stays still and always moves forward and vanishes. Why is it measured in this way and not in any other way? - that is the question posed by Alicja Kwade. There could be a different way of measuring time, a different structure of time – and if so then which? The systems that underlie our life have been conceived and have mutated to become the norm in order to organise our life and make it more manageable. Are these structures unique and eternal – or could others exist as well? Is the reality, i.e. the world, that we move in singular or are there parallel universes as well?