Joachim Koester

Joachim Koester (born 1962) is a Danish contemporary artist who primarily works in installation, photography, and sound art. His work can be found in major metropolitan museums, including MoMA, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Tate Modern, and the Centre Pompidou.

Biography Joachim Koester was born in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1962, and lives between Copenhagen and Brooklyn.

Education Joachim Koester attended the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts from 1987 to 1993 where he earned his art degree. He is currently a professor of Fine Arts at Malmö Art Academy in Malmö, Sweden.

Artworks

Tarantism is a short film by Joachim Koester that aims to bring forgotten or suppressed events into collective memory. The film features Alexandra Bachzetsis, a choreographer, alongside six other performers. This film uses frantic dancing to explore the idea that shared histories can be rooted in our nervous and muscular systems and be awakened by erratic movements. Koester portrays these movements as a ritual performance by incorporating elements of post-modern dance. Day for Night, Christiania is a collection of 35 photos depicting Koester's attempt to document the transformation of Freetown Christiania. The photographs capture the values of mutual care and acceptance that were instilled in the community, which had previously served as a military base. Koester's focus lies on the disorder that remained as the people of Christiania were still in the early stages of establishing their settlement. At the time the photographs were taken, Christiania had only been established for 25 years. Koester Joachim and Catsou Roberts. From the Secret Garden of Sleep #6 is a portrait of a cannabis plant produced using a silver gelatin print. The work is one of six pieces from Koester's solo exhibition titled From the Secret Garden of Sleep. He utilizes his subjects to emphasize significant shifts in cultural perceptions by showcasing artworks that delve into topics like drug use and altered states. These photographs were presented in Mexico, a country heavily impacted by the War on Drugs. Maybe on must begin with some particular places. Barragan is a film directed by Joachim Koester, which examines the correlation between the intellect, physique, and essence through the utilization of Jerzy Grotowski's experimental theater performed by Jaime Soriano. The film takes place at the architect Luis Barragan's residence, constructing an imaginary encounter between these two prominent figures from Mexican cultural heritage.

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

2021 -The Way Out is the Way In, Kunsthalle Mainz, Mainz, Germany 2020 - Photographic Works 1994-2019, Galleri Nicolai Wallner, Copenhagen, Denmark 2019 - Joachim Koester, SMK National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark 2018 - Things That Shine And Things That Are Dark, Beirut Art Center, Beirut, Lebanon 2017 - In the Face of Overwhelming Forces, Camden Centre, London, UK 2016 - The Other Side of the Sky, Turner Contemporary, Margate, UK 2015 - Every muscular contraction contains the history of its origin, Galleri Nicolai Wallner, Copenhagen, Denmark 2014 - The Place of Dead Roads, Centre D'Art Contemporain Geneve, Geneva, Switzerland 2013 - Maybe One Must Begin with Some Particular Places, S.M.A.K. Ghent, Gent, Belgium 2012 - Some Boarded Up Houses, Galleri Nicolai Wallner, Copenhagen, Denmark 2011 - Variations of Incomplete Open Cubes, Jan Mot, Brussels, Brussels, Belgium 2010 - From the Secret Garden of Sleep, Museo Tamayo, Bosque De Chapultepec, Mexico City, Mexico

Group exhibitions

2023 - Sex, Drugs, Rock 'n Roll+ a New Video Work by Peter Land, Galleri Nicolai Wallner, Copenhagen, Denmark 2021 - Witches, TAXISPALAIS Kunsthalle Tirol, Innsbruck, Austria 2020 - The Botanical Mind: Art, Mysticism and The Cosmic Tree, Camden Art Centre, London, UK 2019 - touche! (gestures, movement, action), Beirut Art Center, Beirut, Lebanon 2018 - Superstition, Marres, Maastich, Holland 2017 - The Transported Man, Eli & Edythe Broad Art Museum At Michigan State 2016 - The Morality Reflex, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius 2015 - Another Part of the New World, Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Petrovka Street, Moscow, Russia 2014 - Our Inner Nature, Marabouparken, Sundbyberg, Sweden 2013 - A World of Wild Doubt, Kunstverein in Hamburg, Germany 2012 - A Blind Spot, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany 2011 - Fragmentations, Frac a Carquefou, Carquefou, France 2010 - It's a set-up, Kiasma, Museum of Contemporary Art Helsinki, Finland

Collections Joachim Koester's work can be found in prestigious collections such as the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, The Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Moderna Museet in Stockholm, and Staten's Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen. Koester's work titled Tarantism is also featured at the Tate Modern Museum in Bankside, London.

Awards Joachim Koester was awarded the 2013 Camera Austria Award for Contemporary Photography for his piece From the Secret Garden of Sleep #6 from 2008. With his exceptional skills in visual arts particularly in photography, Koester impressed the judges of the Camera Austria award by being able to seamlessly blending elements of reality and fiction. In 2008 Koester was a finalist for the Hugo Boss Prize, but ultimately lost to Emily Jacir.

Publications

Patterns Shimmers Scenes (2019) Bringing Something Back (2019) I Myself Am Only a Receiving Apparatus (2012) Joachim Koester of Spirits and Empty Spaces (2014) Row Housing (2002)