BIO
BLAISE KIRSCHNER
Blaise Kirschner (they/them) is an artist who primarily works in the moving image. Kirschner’s video installations, medium and long-form films frequently reference histories from below and draw on popular genres, speculative fiction and postcinematic media to address how fantasies and fears about socio-political, technological, and ecological developments are encoded in cultural forms.
Kirschner's work has been widely exhibited internationally. They were the winner of the prestigious Jarman Award in 2011 and their films have been presented at the Berlinale, the BFI London Film Festival and the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen amongst many others. Their films are distributed by LUX and are also in the British Film Institute Artists’ Moving Image Collection, both London, and the Arsenal Institut für Film- und Videokunst, Berlin, as well as private collections.
Blaise Kirschner is currently Professor in Fine Art with a focus on Moving Image at The Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm.
CV
EDUCATION
PhD Contemporary Art Practice, Royal College of Art, London,
Supervisors: Prof. Johnny Golding, Prof. Kerstin Stakemeier (2017-2022)
LUX Associate Artists Programme, London (2008-2009)
Foreign Study Scholarship, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2000)
BA Fine Art, Slade School of Fine Art, London (1998-2002)
AWARDS, COMMISSIONS AND GRANTS
TECHNE PhD Scholarship (2017-2022)
Fluentum Art Commission (2021)
PCAI Art Commission (2015)
Winner of the Jarman Award (2011)
Shortlisted for the Jarman Award (2009)
FLAMIN Productions Award (2009)
Henry Moore Foundation Grant (2008)
Elephant Trust Awards (2008 – 2013 – 2015)
LAFVA London Artists Film and Video Award (2007)
Arts Council Grants for the Arts (2003 – 2006 – 2009 – 2012)
RESIDENCIES
Beirut Artists’ Research Residency, Cairo (2013)
Visual Arts Creative Development Residency, Cove (2008)
EXHIBITIONS & SCREENINGS (SELECTION)
2023
GROUP EXHIBITION:
Illiberal Lives, Ludwig Forum, Aachen
έξω φρενών από ευχαρίστηση/outraged by pleasure, 'Nobel' Building, cultural space of the municipality of Chalandri, Athens
SCREENING:
Haunted Engines: UNICA and Other Films from Computer Generated Worlds, BFI Southbank, London
2022
SOLO EXHIBITION:
UNICA, Fluentum, Berlin
SCREENING:
Double Feature, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt
2021
GROUP EXHIBITION:
Illiberal Arts, HKW - Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin
SCREENING:
Estuary 2021, online
2020
SOLO EXHIBITION:
Living Truthfully Under Imaginary Circumstances, Kunstverein München
SCREENINGS:
20 Sunsets: Kino, HKW - Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin
Under the Ground, Galerias Municipais de Lisboa, Quadrum Gallery, Lisbon
Kino Siemensstadt: The image of the city in the cinematic space, Scharaun, Berlin
Hunter Movie Club, Hunter College, New York
metakino #5: economy, metakino, Helsinki
2019
SCREENING and PERFORMANCE:
Ian White: Cinema as Life Art / Becoming Object, Arsenal & silent green, Berlin
2018
SOLO EXHIBITION:
New Genres, kunstbunker, Nuremberg
GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
Kathy Acker: GET RID OF MEANING, Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe
Acropolis at the Bottom, Nikos Kessanlis Hall, Athens
Film London Jarman Award: A Journey Through the First Decade, Whitechapel Gallery, London
You Remind Me of Someone, 49 Nord 6 Est–FRAC Lorraine
SCREENINGS:
Videoart at Midnight: VAM Festival '18, Babylon Cinema, Berlin
Moderation, Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe
A Debordered Formalism, mumok, Vienna
2017
GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
ESTER KRUMBACHOVÁ: Yeti – Wear the Amulet – Tangle Up the Archive, tranzitdisplay, Prague
Wie werden wir uns wiedererkennen, Künstlerhaus Bremen, Bremen
The Very Impress of the Object, Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon
Who Pays?, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz
Paratoxic Paradoxes, Benaki Museum, Athens
ATLAS of the Ruins OF EUROPE, CentroCentro, Madrid
SCREENINGS:
Post-Apocalyptic Realism: It’s After the End of the World. Don’t You Know That? Museum Brandhorst, Munich
Speak, body: Art, the Reproduction of Capital and the Reproduction of Life
School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, University of Leeds
Glasgow Film Festival, Crossing the Line
Box with the Sound of Its Own Making, Salonul de proiecte, Bucharest
2016
GROUP EXHIBITION:
5 Uneasy Pieces + An Open Investigation, UM Gallery, Prague
SCREENINGS:
57th Thessaloniki International Film Festival, Fast Forward
60th BFI London Film Festival, Experimenta
66th Berlinale, Forum Expanded
Geopolitics and Bodies, Lenbachhaus in cooperation with DOK.fest, Munich
2015
GROUP EXHIBITION:
Whose Subject Am I?, Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf
SCREENINGS:
GEGENkino and Klasse Expanded Cinema (HGB), UT Connewitz, Leipzig
Moving Pictures: Artists' Films from the Film London Jarman Award, Tate Britain
PLASTIK Festival of Artists’ Moving Image, An Taibhdhearc, Galway
2014
GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
Acting Truthfully Under the Circumstances, Tenderpixel, London
Nikos Arvanitis, Stephan Dillemuth, Anja Kirschner, Karolin Meunier, Zafos Xagoraris, Françoise Heitsch, Munich
Metal: AV Festival 2014, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, Newcastle
A Machine Needs Instructions As A Garden Needs Discipline, Museo de Arte Contemporanea de Vigo
Rekurze 1.618, Oblastní galerie Liberec Lázně
51 Zero Festival, Rochester
SCREENINGS:
Assembly: A Survey of recent Artist’s Film and Video in Britain 2008-2013, Tate Britain
Art on Screen, Turner Contemporary, Margate
Tramway Artists’ Moving Image Festival, Glasgow
Artists’ Moving Image Programme, ICA, London
2013
SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
Ultimate Substance, CentrePasquArt, Biel
Ultimate Substance, Extra City, Antwerp
GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
Ultimate Substance, B3 - Biennale des bewegten Bildes 2013, Nassauischer Kunstverein, Wiesbaden
STOP!, Art On the Underground with ICA, London
Requiem for a Bank, HMKV, Dortmund
Momentous Times, CCA, Derry-Londonderry
The Magic of the State, Lisson Gallery, London
The Magic of the State, Beirut, Cairo
HELL AS, Palais de Tokyo, Paris
SCREENINGS:
International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, International Competition, Oberhausen
AGORA, 4th Athens Biennale, Athens
A Theatre Cycle, Nomas Foundation at Teatro Valle Occupato, Rome
2012
SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
Ultimate Substance, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin
Lights, Tears and Real Abstractions, Artist Space, New York
Ultimate Substance, Secession, Vienna
Living Truthfully under Imaginary Circumstances, Transmission, Glasgow
GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
Liverpool Biennial, FACT, Liverpool
Lights, Camera, Action!, Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin
Bachelor Party, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia
SCREENINGS:
Random Acts, Channel 4
Avantgarde ist keine Strömung, D21 Kunstraum & Filmgalerie Alpha60, Leipzig
Signal:Noise II, The Showroom, London
2011
SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
Living Truthfully under Imaginary Circumstances, Hollybush Gardens, London
The Projecting Stage, castillo/corrales, Paris
The Empty Plan, Kunsthall Oslo, Oslo
The Empty Plan, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Stuttgart
GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
Anfang Gut, Alles Gut, Basso, Berlin and Kunsthaus Bregenz
British Art Show 7, Hayward Gallery, London; CCA, Glasgow; Plymouth Arts Centre, Plymouth
Hydrachy, Museu Marítim, Barcelona
SCREENINGS:
Moving Image, Artissima, Turin
LOOP, Arts Santa Mónica, Barcelona
A Film Cycle, Nomas Foundation at Cinema Farnese, Rome
Video Art at Midnight, Babylon Cinema, Berlin
Jarman Award Shortlist Screenings, Whitechapel Gallery, London and Picture This, Bristol
2010
SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
The Empty Plan, Focal Point Gallery, Southend
The Last Days of Jack Sheppard, Galerie Krobath, Vienna
GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
British Art Show 7, Nottingham Castle Museum, Nottingham
Hydrachy; power and Resistance at Sea, Gasworks, London
TINA, Konsthall C, Stockholm; Storey Gallery, Lancaster
From One Thing to Another, Rumanian Cultural Institute, Stockholm
SCREENING:
Legal Disagreements, Villa Romana, Florence
2009
SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
The Last Days of Jack Sheppard, Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe
The Last Days of Jack Sheppard, Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow
The Last Days of Jack Sheppard, Chisenhale Gallery, London
GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
Depression, Marres Institute, Maastricht
Everything then passes between us, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne
Heaven, 2nd Athens Biennale, Athens
SCREENINGS:
East End Film Festival, London
Images of the Lost, the Reforgotten & the Resistance, East End Film Festival, London
Polly II, FACT, Liverpool
2008
SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
Trail of The Spider, Transmission Gallery, Glasgow
Trail of the Spider, Nought to Sixty, ICA, London
Trail of The Spider, Art Premier, Hollybush Gardens at Art Basel, Basel
Polly II - Plan for a Revolution in Docklands, Broadcast Gallery, Dublin
GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
TINA, The Drawing Room, London
Contrapolis; or, Creativity and Enclosures in the Cities, NAi, Rotterdam
SCREENINGS:
Container Project, Palmers Cross, Jamaica
Trail of The Spider, LUX at Chat’s Palace, Hackney, London
Trail of The Spider, Tate Modern, London
2007
SOLO EXHIBITION:
Polly II - Plan for a Revolution in Docklands, Transmission Gallery, Glasgow
SCREENINGS:
Polly II, Tate Modern, London
New Lands, BFI Southbank, London
Polly II, International Short Film Festival Oberhausen
2006
SOLO EXHIBITION:
Polly II - Plan for a Revolution in Docklands, Whitechapel Project Space, London
GROUP EXHIBITION:
Was Wäre Wenn, Jet, Berlin
2004
SOLO EXHIBITION:
Supernumeraries, Whitechapel Project Space, London
SYMPOSIA (SELECTION)
2022
Abstraction and Economy, University of Applied Arts, Vienna. With adO/Aptive collective, Clemens Apprich, Gerald Bast, Brenna Bhandar, Leigh Claire La Berge, Christina von Braun, Sabeth Buchmann, Karel Císař, Patricia Grzonka, Gabriele Jutz, Eva Kernbauer, Anja Kirschner, Sven Lütticken, Falke Pisano, Cauleen Smith, Beat Weber, Rebecca H. Quaytman. Organised by Eva Maria Stadler and Jenni Tischer.
2021
Going to the Limits of Your Longing, Research as Another Name for Care. In memory of Marion von Osten, Art Institute HGK FHNW, Basel. With Maria Thereza Alves, Ursula Biemann, Regina Bittner, Katya García-Antón, Anja Kirschner, Kapwani Kiwanga, Maria Lind, Otobong Nkanga, Lydia Ourahmane, Myriam Amroun, Filipa Ramos, Kerstin Stakemeier, Yvonne Volkart, Peter Spillmann. Organised by Chus Martínez and Quinn Latimer.
2018
Kathy Acker: GET RID OF MEANING, Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe. With Dodie Bellamy, Hanjo Berressem, Ruth Buchanan, Georgina Colby, Leslie Dick & Audrey Wollen, Claire Finch, Johnny Golding, Anja Kirschner, Douglas A. Martin, Jason McBride, Karolin Meunier & Kerstin Stakemeier, Daniel Schulz, McKenzie Wark. Organised by Matias Viegener and Anja Casser.
Vision's Bleeding Edge: On nonhuman vision, liquid and crystal intelligence and AI, Royal College of Art, London. With by Esther Leslie (Professor of Political Aesthetics at Birkbeck) and Joanna Zylinska (Professor of New Media and Communications at Goldsmiths). Organised by by SOAH Researchers Mayra Martin Ganzinotti, Anja Kirschner, Anna Nazo, Emma Somerset Davis and Adam J B Walker with Aura Satz, Moving Image Tutor and Reader in Fine Art at the Royal College of Art. Moderated by Anja Kirschner and Adam J B Walker.
2017
Media Revolutions/Mediale Revolutionen, Academy of Fine Art Hamburg. With Klaus Birnstiel, Jodi Dean, Diedrich Diederichsen, Bernhard Dotzler, Arnold Dreyblatt, Yuk Hui, Anja Kirschner, Peter Osborne, Dont Rhine/Ultra Red, Kerstin Stakemeier.
ESTER KRUMBACHOVÁ: Yeti – Wear the Amulet – Tangle Up the Archive, tranzitdisplay, Prague. With Jana Baierová, Zuzana Blochová, Jan Bernard, Michal Bregant, Mikuláš Brukner, Barbora Dayef, Bracha L. Ettinger, Šárka Gmiterková, Linda Hauerová, Libuše Heczková, Anna Hejmová, Edith Jeřábková, Jesse Jones, Tereza Kanyzová, Anja Kirschner, Jan Kolský, Kateřina Konvalinová, Francis McKee, Ruth Noack, Matěj Pavlík, Tomáš Pospiszyl, Johannes Paul Raether, Michaela Režová, Lucie Rosenfeldová, Sláva Sobotovičová, Kateřina Svatoňová, Tomáš Uhnák, Marina Vishmidt. Organised by Zuzana Blochová and Edith Jeřábková with Anja Kirschner.
2016
We Need Your Carkeys! The Horizons of Horror, Künstlerhäuser Worpswede, Worpswede. With With Anselm Franke, Bracha L. Ettinger, Melanie Bonajo and Laboria Cuboniks. Organised by Sam Basu, Anke Hennig and Anja Kirschner.
2015
Are You Alive Or Not? Looking at Art through the Lens of Theatre, Studium Generale, Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam.
2014
Psycho Materialism, Künstlerhäuser Worpswede. With Kerstin Brätsch/Debo Eilers, Helmut Draxler, Johnny Golding, Anja Kirschner, Benjamin Noys, Johannes Paul Raether, Juliane Rebentisch and Kerstin Stakemeier. Organised by Kerstin Stakemeier and Tim Voss.
2013
I'm Frightened. Bring Popcorn.,Teatro Valle Occupato, Rome. With Dario Argento, Enrico Ghezzi, Marco Greganti, Douglas Mortimer Collective, Giovanni Lombardo Radice, Valerio Di Simone. Organised by Anja Kirschner
Art as a Form of Crisis, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin. Organised by Kerstin Stakemeier and Sophie Golz.
2010
WHEN HISTORICAL, Jan Van Eyck Academie, Maastricht. Organised by Babak Afrassiabi and Nasrin Tabatabai.
CURATORIAL PROJECTS
2016
5 Uneasy Pieces + An Open Investigation. With Adam Chodzko, Stephan Dillemuth, Constantinos Hadzinikolaou, Ester Krumbachová and Nova Melancholia with Dora Economou. Curated by Anja Kirschner and organised by Are. UM Gallery, UMPRUM Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design, Prague.
2008
Stephan Dillemuth: Selected Films. Curated by Anja Kirschner. LUX, London.
PUBLICATIONS (MONOGRAPHS)
Anja Kirschner: UNICA, edited by Junia Tiede, Dennis Brzek and Markus Hannebauer, with an introduction by Junia Thiede and Dennis Brzek and texts by Claire Finch, Lisa Jeschke and Luisa Lorenza Corna, Fluentum with DISTANZ, Berlin, 2022.
Anja Kirschner, David Panos: Ultimate Substance, edited by Annette Südbeck and Tiny Lipsky, with an introduction by András Pálffy and texts by Richard Seaford and Anja Kirschner, Secession, Vienna, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin, Extra City Kunsthal, Antwerpen, CentrePasqueArt, Biel with Revolver Publishing, Berlin, 2012.
Anja Kirschner, David Panos: The Empty Plan, edited by Alice Kögel, with an introduction by Alice Kögel and texts by Alice Kögel, Kerstin Stakemeier, Anja Kirschner and David Panos, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, 2011.
Anja Kirschner, David Panos: The Last Days of Jack Sheppard, edited by Polly Staple and Francis McKee, with an introduction by Polly Staple, a text by Francis McKee and a film script by Anja Kirschner, Chisenhale Gallery, London, and Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow with Cornerhause Publications, Manchester, 2009.
Baumuster, Anja Kirschner, Nieves Books, Zurich, 2009.
OTHER PUBLICATIONS (SELECTION)
Kathy Acker. Get Rid Of Meaning, edited by Anja Casser and Matias Viegener, Badischer Kunstverein Karlsruhe with Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne 2022.
Illiberal Arts, edited by Anselm Franke and Kerstin Stakemeier, HKW - Haus der Kulturen der Welt with PoLYpeN, Berlin, 2021.
Artists’ Moving Image in Britain since 1989, edited by Erika Balsom, Lucy Reynolds and Sarah Perks, Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, London and New Haven, 2019.
Post-apocalyptic Realism, edited by Tonio Kröner, Laura Preston and Tanja Widmann, Museum Brandhorst with Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne 2018.
Entgrenzter Formalismus: Verfahren einer antimodernen Ästhetik, Kerstin Stakemeier, POLYpeN, Berlin, 2017.
Sculpture on Screen: The Very Impress of the Object, Penelope Curtis, Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon, 2017.
Here Is Information. Mobilise. Selected Writings by Ian White, edited by Mike Sperlinger, LUX, London, 2016.
Animal of The State: Fiction through Reality, edited by Survival Kit, Akademie der Bildenden Künste München with Harmann von Mier Verlag, Munich, 2016.
Moving Image, Documents of Contemporary Art, edited by Omar Kholeif, Whitechapel Galley, London, with MIT Press, Cambridge Massachusetts, 2015.
Cross-Examinations, edited by Mihnea Mircan, Extra City Kunsthal, Antwerp, 2015.
Power of Material/Politics of Materiality, edited by Kerstin Stakemeier and Susanne Witzgall, Diaphanes, Berlin, 2014.
Requiem for a Bank, edited by Fabian Saavedra-Lara and Judith Funke, Hardware MedienKunstVerein (HMKV), Dortmund, 2014.
Anfang Gut. Alles Gut., edited by Eva Birkenstock, Nina Köller and Kerstin Stakemeier, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne, 2013.
Notes on The Magic of the State, edited by Silvia Sgualdini, Sarah Rifky, Jens Maier-Rothe and Antonia Alampi, Lisson Gallery with Cornerhouse Publications, London 2013.
The Sensible Stage: Staging and the Moving Image, edited by Bridget Crone, Intellect, Bristol, 2012
Nought to Sixty: 60 Projects, 6 Months, edited by Mark Sladen, Richard Birkett, Mason Leaver-Yap, Institute of Contemporary Art, London, 2009.
PRESS (SELECTION)
So ist das Gebäude, der Spiegel des Körpers, Steph Holl-Trieu, Texte zur Kunst, 23 September 2022
Re-Orienting Narration: An Interview with Anja Kirschner, Cristina Ramos, Berlin Art Link, 7 July 2022
Anja Kirschner: UNICA, Sam Dolbear, Art Monthly, Issue 458, July-August 2022
Normal People, Kristian Vistrup Madsen, Artforum Diary, 5 May 2022
Wiederholt es, bis die Katastrophe einen Platz in euch findet. Anja Kirschner bei Fluentum, Maximilian Wahlich, art-in-berlin, 3 May 2022
Die Echtheit der Emotion, Franziska Linhardt, Passe-Avant, 13 Jun 2020
A Feminist Axis, Luisa Lorenza Corna, Art Monthly, Issue 434, Mar 2020
Touching Sights, Bleeding Edges, Anja Kirschner, Florida Magazine, Issue 5: Florida_Beyond, Mar 2019
Kathy Acker: Get Rid of Meaning, Hestia Peppe, Afterall, 19 Mar 2019
Kathy Acker: Get Rid of Meaning, McKendzie Wark, Brooklyn Rail, 5 Feb 2019
In a Manner of Speaking, Anja Kirschner, Texte zur Kunst, Issue 108, Dec 2017
Anja Kirschner and David Panos - Uncanny Valley, ICA Bulletin, 16 Dec 2013
Anja Kirschner: I'm Frightened. Bring Popcorn, ATPdiary, 27 Nov 2013
The Magic of the State, Mia Jankowicz, Frieze, Issue 156, Jun 2013
The Hunger, Katie Kitamura, Frieze, Issue 156, Jun 2013
Anja Kirschner & David Panos: Ultimate Substance, Els Fiers, Metropolis M, Issue 2, Apr 2013
Schmelzende Münzen, Johannes Paul Raether, Texte zur Kunst, Dec 2012
Art & Politics: A Survey, Part 2, Frieze 12 Sep 2012
After Effects - The Art of Anja Kirschner and David Panos, Marin Herbert, Artforum, May 2012
More than a Feeling: A round-table discussion with artists Ed Atkins, Melanie Gilligan, Anja Kirschner and Ben Rivers, Dan Kidner, Frieze, Issue 142, Oct 2011
Anja Kirschner & David Panos: The Empty Plan, John Douglas Millar, Art Monthly, Feb 2011
Interview: Anja Kirschner and David Panos, Saim Demircan, Tank Magazine, Autumn 2010
Jack’s Back! In the Movies at Last!, Peter Linebaugh & A Response to Peter Linebaugh, Anja Kirschner and David Panos, Mute, Jan 2010
The Artists’ Artists: Anja Kirschner and David Panos, Susanne M. Winterling, Artforum, Dec 2009
Interview: Anja Kirschner and David Panos, Neil Gray, Variant, Winter 2009
Notes on The Last Days of Jack Sheppard: Capital Crimes and Paper Claims, Benedict Seymour, Mute, Vol.2 , Issue 13, Autumn 2009
Production: Steven Cairns in conversation with the artists, MAP, Issue 19, Autumn
The Last Days of Jack Sheppard, Kate Forde, Frieze, Issue 125, Sep 2009
The Bubble Economy, Brian Dillon, New Statesman, 21 May 2009
Artist of the week 40: Anja Kirschner, Jessica Lange, The Guardian, 13 May 2009
Western vérité, Alli Beddoes, Mousse, April/May 2009
Duck! You Regeneration Sucker, Neil Gray, Mute, Spring 2009
On the Ground: London, Emily Pethick, Artform, Dec 2008
Craven New World, Tom Jennings, Variant, Summer 2008
Offshore Speculation: In conversation: Anja Kirschner, director of Polly II Plan for a Revolution in Docklands, Will Fowler, Vertigo, Jan 2007
The Films of 2006, Sukhdev Sandhu, Sight & Sound, Jan 2007
On the Ground: London, Melanie Gilligan, Artform, Dec 2006
Lights, Camera, Now-Time! - Polly II: Plan for a Revolution in Docklands, Marina Vishmidt, Untitled 36, Autumn 2006.