Alexandra Bircken

Born1967 (age 58–59)

Cologne, Germany

EducationBA in Fashion Design, Central Saint Martins

Alexandra Bircken
Born	1967 (age 58–59) Cologne, Germany
Education	BA in Fashion Design, Central Saint Martins

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]

Bircken was born in Cologne, Germany.^{[citation needed]} She was brought up nearby in Remscheid.^[4] Her 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

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

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

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

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

Authority control databases
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Alexandra Bircken

Career

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

Group exhibitions

References

External links

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