Born 1957 in Bensberg, Germany.
Lives and works in Berlin.
Education |
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| 1989–1990 | Independent Study Program of the Whitney Museum, New York, NY |
| 1981–1987 | Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Stuttgart |
Awards |
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| 2014 | Rome-Prize of the German Academy in Rome, Villa Massimo, Italy |
| 2011 | Hans-Thoma-Preis, Großer Landespreis für Bildende Kunst Baden-Württemberg, Germany |
| 1996 | Cité Internationale des Arts Paris, France |
| 1993–1995 | Grant of Akademie Schloss Solitude, Germany |
| 1994 | Rubens-Förderpreis der Stadt Siegen, Germany |
| 1993 | Villa Romana Prize, Italy |
Solo Exhibitions (selection) |
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| 2020 | 43°45’51.8″N 11°15’46.8″E, Base / Progetti per l'arte, Florence |
| 2019 | Karin Sander. A – Z, Haus am Waldsee, Berlin |
| 2018 | Karin Sander, Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Winterthur |
| Office Works, Haubrok Foundation / Fahrbereitschaft, Berlin | |
| Zeigen. An Audiotour through the collection of NMAO, The National Museum of Art, Osaka | |
| 2017 | Zeigen. An Audiotour through the collection of the GfZK, Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst (GfZK), Leipzig |
| Karin Sander. Identities on Display, Kunstmuseum Villa Zanders, Bergisch Gladbach | |
| Transzendenzaufzug, permanent installation, The University of Art and Design, Linz | |
| 2016 | Karin Sander, Kunsthalle Marcel Duchamp, Cully |
| 2015 | Hausgäste, Kunstmuseum Ravensburg / Museum Humpies-Quartier / Museum Ravensburger / Wirtschaftsmuseum Ravensburg, Ravensburg |
| 2014 | Karin Sander, Kurt Tucholsky Literaturmuseum, Rheinsberg |
| 2013 | Identities on Display, Humboldt Lab Dahlem, Berlin |
| Museumsbesucher 1:8, Lehmbruckmuseum, Duisburg | |
| Zeigen. An Audiotour through Copenhagen, Nikolaj Kunsthal, Copenhagen | |
| Karin Sander: Visitors on Display, Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg | |
| 2012 | Zeigen. Eine Audiotour durch Baden- Württemberg von Karin Sander, Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe |
| 2011 | Kernbohrungen, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin |
| Karin Sander, Hans Thoma Museum, Bernau in the Black Forrest | |
| 2010 | Gebrauchsbilder und Andere, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen |
| Labor, K20 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf | |
| 2009 | Zeigen. An Audio Tour through Berlin, Temporäre Kunsthalle, Berlin |
| 2008 | XML-SVG Code, Museum gegenstandsfreier Kunst, Otterndorf |
| Zeigen. An Audio Tour by Karin Sander, Kunstverein Arnsberg, Arnsberg | |
| 2007 | Zeigen. Eine Audiotour, Städtisches Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach |
| 2005 | Budget Bureau for Language and Applications, Centre d'Art Contemporain Genève, Geneva |
| 2003 | Telling a work of art, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin |
| 1:9, Centro Galego de Arte Contemporanea, Santiago de Compostela | |
| 2002 | 1:9, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart |
| 2000 | Karin Sander, Kunstverein Ruhr, Essen |
| 1996 | Kunstmuseum St. Gallen |
| 1994 | Projects 46, The Museum of Modern Art, New York |
Group Exhibitions (selection) |
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| 2020 | Out of Order | Works from the Haubrok Collection, Part 2, Neues Museum–Staatliches Museum für Kunst und Design, Nürnberg |
| 2019 | Hidden Beauty, Kunsthalle Nürnberg |
| Out of Order | Works from the Haubrok Collection, Part 1, Neues Museum–Staatliches Museum für Kunst und Design, Nürnberg | |
| Frozen Gesture, Kunst Museum Winterthur | |
| 2018 | Carte Blanche, Kunstverein Schwäbisch Hall, Schwäbisch Hall |
| paper works, Haubrok Foundation / Fahrbereitschaft, Berlin | |
| Nature Unleashed, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg | |
| Rehearsal, Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong | |
| Exhibiting the Exhibition, Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden | |
| 2017 | Mentally Yellow (High Noon), Kunstmuseum Bonn and Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich |
| MEXIBILITY, Casa del Lago – Goethe Institute, Mexico City | |
| Open Codes – Leben in digitalen Welten, ZKM Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe | |
| 2016 | Mixed Media – Karin Sander & Dieter Roth, Safn Berlin |
| BRD, Fahrbereitschaft – Haubrok Foundation, Berlin | |
| 2015 | Artists’ Rooms, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart |
| I got to have one of those, Contemporary Art Collections of the Lenbachhaus and KiCo Foundation, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich | |
| 2014 | Solides Fragiles, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean (MUDAM), Luxemburg |
| Waywords of Seeing, Le Plateau, FRAC Île-de-France, Paris | |
| When Now is Minimal, Museion, Bolzano | |
| Lens-Based Sculpture: The Transformation of Sculpture through Photography, Akademie der Künste, Berlin | |
| 2012 | 1980–NOW, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY |
| 2010 | Contemplating the Void. Interventions in the Guggenheim Museum’s Rotunda, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY |
Karin Sander works with situations, their social and historical contexts, involving interventions in existing structures and institutions. The medium the work is realized in is painting, sculpture, electronic media, science, architecture; in brief: each medium is available for working out its specific potential. The intersection of work, recipient and institution, of what is found and what is added, of presence and absence, is emphasized and exhibited. Her Mailed Paintings (begun in 2004), for example, standard-sized and primed canvases of various shapes, are sent to exhibitions without any kind of protection; while being on display constantly, they collect and display traces and marks of their journey. At n.b.k. – Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (2011), one work consisted of piles of crumpled-up waste paper, post-it notes, tossed-out magazines etc. accumulating on the floor, the material originating from the offices of the institution, located directly above the exhibition space. Karin Sander had 30-centimeter wide holes drilled through the ceiling of the exhibition space, the floor of the n.b.k. offices above, in places where originally waste paper baskets were located and instructed the staff of n.b.k to use these holes in the floor just as they would normally use the bins.
Sander is also known for her highly polished Wall Pieces (ongoing since 1986) as well as for her 3-D bodyscans of the living person (ongoing since 1997). As Harald Welzer noted about the latter series: „Since most of these people are also actors in the field of the arts, now as artworks in the context of exhibitions they gain a certain degree of self-awareness.“
