# Alexandra Bircken

Alexandra Bircken (born 1967) is a German artist. She is based in Berlin and Munich. Bircken creates assemblages featuring everyday ephemera like wood, knitted fragments and twigs. Her work has strong references to traditional craft practices and to the natural world, from which she sources her materials.

## Early life and education

Bircken was born in Cologne, Germany, in 1967. In high school, she became friends with Lutz Hülle and Wolfgang Tillmans.
Bircken earned a BA in Fashion Design from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London in 1995, after which she founded her own fashion label.

## Career

In 2000, Bircken returned to Central Saint Martins, where she was a professor until 2008. She was awarded artist residencies at Kölnischer Kunstverein in Cologne (2004), Studio Voltaire in London (2011) and the British Council in Harare, Zimbabwe (2014).
Since 2018, Bircken has been a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich.

## Exhibitions

Bircken's work has been exhibited at Museum Abteiberg in Mönchengladbach, the Kunstverein Hannover, the New Museum in New York, the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the Hepworth Wakefield in West Yorkshire, and the Whitechapel Gallery in 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.

### Solo exhibitions

| Date | Exhibition | Place |
| 2019 | Unruhe | Secession, Vienna, AT |
| 2018 | Mammal | Studio Voltaire, London, UK |
| 2017 | Stretch | Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach, DE |
| 2017 | Stretch | Crédac, Ivry-sur-Seine, FR |
| 2017 | Ping | BQ, Berlin, DE |
| 2016 | Parallelgesellschaften | K21 Ständehaus, Düsseldorf, DE |
| 2016 | Stretch | Kunstverein Hannover, Hannover, DE |
| 2016 | Needle | Herald St, London, UK |
| 2015 | Cagey | Piece*Unique, Cologne, DE |
| 2014 | | Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, NL |
| 2014 | Eskalation | The Hepworth Wakefield, Wakefield, UK |
| 2014 | B.U.F.F. | BQ, Berlin, DE |
| 2013 | Inside out | BQ, Berlin, DE |
| 2012 | | Herald St, London, UK |
| 2012 | Hausrat | Kunstverein Hamburg, Hamburg, DE |
| 2012 | Ganzjährige Präsentation im Foyer | Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn, DE |
| 2011 | | Studio Voltaire, London, UK |
| 2011 | Think of me | Kimmerich, New York, US |
| 2010 | Blondie | Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, DE |
| 2010 | STORNO | BQ, Los Angeles, US |
| 2009 | Crossings | Herald St, London, UK |
| 2009 | Alles muß raus! | BQ, Berlin, DE |
| 2008 | Ursula Blickle Stiftung | Kraichtal-Unteröwisheim, DE |
| 2008 | Open Space | BQ, Art Koln 08, Cologne, DE |
| 2008 | Units | Docking Station, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, NL |
| 2007 | Holz | Gladstone Gallery, New York, US |
| 2007 | Statements | Herald St, Art Basel 37, Basel, CH |
| 2007 | Holz | Gladstone Gallery, New York, US |
| 2006 | | BQ, Cologne, DE (cat) |
| 2005 | | Herald St, London, UK |
| 2004 | | BQ, Cologne, DE (cat) |

### Group exhibitions

| Date | Exhibition | Place |
| 2019 | May You Live In Interesting Times | 58th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, IT |
| 2019 | | Herald St, Museum St, London, UK |
| 2019 | Tainted Love (club edit) | Villa Arson, Nice, FR |
| 2019 | Sick and Desiring | Hordaland Kunstsenter, Bergen, NL |
| 2018 | Naked | Museum Kranenburgh, Bergen, NL |
| 2018 | The Revolutionary Suicide Mechanised Regiment Band, Part 2 | Rob Tufnell, London, UK |
| 2018 | ISelf Collection: Bumped Bodies | Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK |
| 2018 | Alexandra Bircken, Josh Brand, Matthew Darbyshire, Michael Dean, Cary Kwok, Amalia Pica, Nicole Wermers | Herald St, Museum St, London, UK |
| 2017 | The problem with having a body / is that it always needs to be somewhere | The Approach Gallery, London, UK |
| 2016 | Trolley | Glasgow International, Tramway, Glasgow, UK |
| 2015 | Mapping Bucharest: Art, Memory and Revolution 1916–2016 | MAK – Austrian Museum of Contemporary Art, Vienna, AT |
| 2015 | Markus Amm, Alexandra Bircken, Michael Dean | Herald St – Golden Sq, London, UK |
| 2015 | War Games | Marlborough Chelsea, New York, US |
| 2015 | Wo ist hier? #2: Raum und Gegenwart, Bildhauerei und Installation seit 2000 | Kunstverein Reutlingen, Reutlingen, DE |
| 2015 | Rates of Exchange | Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb, HR |
| 2015 | Basket Case II | National Gallery, Bulawayo, ZW |
| 2014 | Basket Case II | National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare, ZW |
| 2014 | Blicke! Koerper! Sensationen! | Deutsches Hygiene Museum, Dresden, DE |
| 2014 | Ökonomie der Aufmerksamkeit | Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, AT |
| 2014 | The Great Outdoors | Schaufenster, Berlin, DE |
| 2014 | Humain non humain | Fondation d’entreprise Ricard, Paris, FR |
| 2014 | Die Antwort der Dinge | Lothringer 13, Munich, DE |
| 2014 | Fiber in Form | Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, US |
| 2013 | The Love of Things | Kunsthalle Münster, Münster, DE |
| 2013 | Days in Lieu, curated by Rodolphe von Hofmannsthal | David Zwirner, London, UK |
| 2013 | Nur hier – Sammlung zeitgenössischer Kunst der Bundesrepublik Deutschland / Ankäufe von 2007 – 2011 | Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, DE |
| 2012 | A Disagreeable Object | SculptureCenter, New York, US |
| 2012 | Everyday Abstract – Abstract Everyday | James Cohan Gallery, New York, US |
| 2012 | Neuralgie | Kunstraum Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, DE |
| 2012 | Made in Germany Zwei | International Art in Germany, Sprengel Museum, Hannover, DE |
| 2011 | My Beautiful Mongo | Thomas Brambilla, Bergamo, IT |
| 2011 | Skulpturales Handeln | Haus der Kunst, Munich, DE (cat) |
| 2011 | | EX3 Centro per l'Arte Contemporanea, Florence, IT |
| 2011 | Mailles. Art en laine | Maison du Danemark, Paris, FR |
| 2011 | Arthur Bokskamp-Stiftung | Hohenlockstedt, DE |
| 2011 | Gesamtkunstwerk: New Art From Germany | Saatchi Gallery, London, UK |
| 2011 | Wash, then dance | Tinderbox, Hamburg, DE |
| 2011 | H x W x D | Wentrup, Berlin, DE |
| 2010 | Every Night, I go to Sleep | Modern Art, London, UK |
| 2010 | Undone | Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, UK |
| 2010 | Rive Droite / Rive Gauche | Paris, FR (cat) |
| 2010 | Feint Art | Kunstverein Freiburg, Freiburg, DE |
| 2010 | Same slight Slighter | Renwick Gallery, New York, US |
| 2010 | The Long Dark, curated by Michelle Cotton | Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, UK |
| 2010 | | Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf, DE |
| 2010 | | Kimmerich Gallery, New York, US |
| 2010 | Neues Rheinland. Eine postironische Generation | Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, DE |
| 2010 | Folklore? | CRAC Alsace, Altkirch, FR |
| 2009 | Your Gold Teeth II, curated by Todd Levin | Marianne Boesky, New York, US |
| 2009 | Arrival Inside | Mary Mary, Glasgow, UK |
| 2009 | The Long Dark, curated by Michelle Cotton | The International 3, Manchester, UK |
| 2008 | Borders | Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, NL |
| 2008 | Hooking Up, curated by Klaus Kertess | View 14, Mary Boone, New York, US |
| 2008 | Martian Museum of terrestrial Art, curated by Francesco Manacorda | Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK |
| 2008 | Paradies und zurück | Zeitgenössische Kunst im Schloss Dyck, Jüchen, DE |
| 2008 | Anti-Baby Pill | Aktualisierungraum, Hamburg, DE |
| 2008 | Vom Gehen in viele Richtungen | 701 e.V. zu Gast im KIT - Kunst im Tunnel, Düsseldorf, DE |
| 2008 | | 1st Brussels Biennial, Brussels, BE |