Via Lewandowsky

The Berlin artist Via Lewandowsky is one of the most prominent conceptual artists of contemporary art in Germany.

Vita of the artist

Via Lewandowsky (* 1963 in Dresden) works with various media such as photography, painting, drawing, performance, light installation, object art and sound. He studied at the Dresden University of Fine Arts in the 1980s. There he organized subversive performances with the avant-garde group "Autoperforationsartisten", which undermined the official art scene. Shortly before reunification, he left the GDR and moved to West Berlin. This was followed by longer stays abroad, including in New York, Rome, Beijing, Moscow and Vienna. Today the artist lives and works in Berlin.

Collections with works by Via Lewandowsky

Via Lewandowsky's works are represented in many national and international collections, including: Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin; Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn; Deutsche Bank, Frankfurt a. Main; Kemper Art Museum, St. Louis; Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Gent; PS 1 Contemporary Art Center, New York

Exhibition projects and awards

Via Lewandowsky was a participant in documenta IX in Kassel. Many museum exhibitions and exhibition projects at home and abroad in renowned institutions followed, including: Ludwig Forum, Aachen; Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin; Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf; Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig; Kunsthalle zu Kiel; Casa di Goethe, Rome; Q21 Museumsquartier; Vienna; PS 1 Contemporary Art Center, New York. Via Lewandowsky's work has been awarded various prestigious art prizes.

Leitmotifs of Via Lewandowsky's art

Dealing with the everyday is one of Via Lewandowsky's leitmotifs. Among other things, the artist deals with everyday objects or with communication, its failure and its complications.

Everyday objects and situations

Via Lewandowsky brings wonder and amazement to the everyday. He deals with seemingly trivial everyday communication situations or everyday objects in order to derive further questions and themes from them. He often elicits paradoxes, absurdities or unexpected complexity from them.

The satirical in Via Lewandowsky's work

Many of his sculptural-installative works aim to deconstruct and reshape the meaning of the objects and situations presented. Via Lewandowsky treats them with satire, anti-pathos and tragic-comedy. This links his art to Fluxus and Surrealism.