KOW opened in September 2009 at Brunnenstrasse 9 in Berlin-Mitte in a remarkable new building designed by Arno Brandlhuber that was constructed on the ruins of a failed investment from the early 1990s. With a programmatic focus on the field of socially oriented art, the gallery’s exhibitions as well as its curatorial formats and publications aim to address a broad international public.
Ten years after KOW inaugurated the new gallery at Lindenstraße 35, between the Jewish Museum and the high-rise of the Axel Springer publishing house.
KOW represents international artists from different generations, cultural backgrounds, and approaches to media who share the engagement with social realities and respond to political challenges with aesthetic consciousness. Artists such as Franz Erhard Walther (b. 1939, German), Barbara Hammer (b. 1939, American), Alice Creischer (b. 1960, German), Candice Breitz (b. 1972, South African), Tobias Zielony (b. 1973, German), Renzo Martens (b. 1973, Dutch), Michael E. Smith (b. 1977, American), Hiwa K (b. 1975, Iraqi) and Chto Delat (founded 2003, Russian) have made crucial contributions to the artistic discourse and created outstanding bodies of work supported by reputable institutions. Many of them had their first gallery exhibitions in Europe at KOW.
Since 2009 KOW is run by Alexander Koch (Berlin based curator and art theorist) and Nikolaus Oberhuber (former director of the Gallery nächst St. Stephan in Vienna) in collaboration with a growing team. 2018 through 2020 the gallery ran a location in Madrid.
ALEXANDER KOCH
NIKOLAUS OBERHUBER
ANNA K. WLACH
Director
KATHRIN BÜRGER
Accounting
PATRICIA CASILLAS
Archive and Image Requests
Registration
Storage
MAX FALLMEIER
Artist Liason
Art Fairs
LUCIA LÓPEZ GARCÍA–MONTEJO
Press Enquiries
Social Media
LADISLAV ZAJAC
Photography
Design
Media
We would like to thank all former members of the staff as well as all interns who are currently with us or who have been working with us in the past:
Gisela Andres, Stephanie Berger, Alexander David, Roman Caesar, Udy Chalmers, Johanna Chromik, Lydie Delahaye, Paul Darius, Etienne De Metz, Stephan Dill, Claire Ebendinger, Miriam Eickhoff, Alexander Fuchs, Katharina Galla, Anja Gereke, Gisèle Gonon, Elena Grafenhorst, Julia van Hagen, Swen Harport, Ada Maria Hennel, Klara Hülskamp, Charlotte Huguet, Sylwia Chalaburda, Josephine Kingery, Friederike Klussmann, Tabea Kungl, Omri Sébastien Livne, Simon Lockwood, Cédric Mantel, Simon Marschke, Gabriele Miseikyte, Mick Morley, Max Negrelli, Nicholas Norris, Doris Panholzer, María Paz Correa, Sebastian Peter, Jonathan Pouthier, Max Ravitz, Lena Johanna Reisner, Romy Richter, Stef Burghard, Ana Sánchez De Vivar, Giusy Sanna Kerstin Schoer, Louise Stölting, Carolin Streller, Julian Schwokowsky, Mia Strenger-Gonzales, Bosse Sudenburg, Janina Velhorn, Jasmin Villarroel, Paula Vogt, Sven Weigel, Lilli Wonder
