Alexandra Bircken: A–Z
28.07.2021 – 16.01.2022

Born in Cologne in 1967 and now living in Berlin, Bircken has taught as Professor of Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich since 2018. She is best known for her sculptures and installations, for which she employs an unusually wide range of materials: everyday objects such as hair-dye packaging, rocking horses, and sawn-up motorcycles, but also hand-woven and machine-made textiles or organic materials including wood, leather, bone, and even a placenta. In Bircken’s hands everything around us can become a sculptural medium.

“My work draws on observations of human life and our environment. It’s about our vulnerabilities and the ways we have of protecting ourselves. [. . .] The way we function is often similar to that of machines,” says Bircken.

This is the most extensive exhibition of the artist’s work to date and examines Bircken’s sculptural vocabulary for the first time. In thematically organized rooms, the exhibition draws works from the last two decades into a dialogue that explores the artist’s multifaceted statements on surface, body, movement, shell, and skin. Curated by Dr. Monika Bayer-Wermuth.