Annette Kelm

Annette Kelm was born in 1975 in Stuttgart, Germany. She lives and works in Berlin.

Annette Kelm studied at Hochschule für bildende Künste, Hamburg. She received numerous awards and prizes, among them Camera Austria Prize (2015); Preis der Nationalgalerie, Audience Award (2009); and Art Cologne prize for Young Artist (2005).

Annette Kelm’s photographic œuvre offers a unique outlook onto the socio-cultural history of the material world. The artist uses a vast array of motifs as a vocabulary to address specific moments in this history, whether it is the commodification of design objects, various forms of political critique or value systems such as money and finance.

Kelm’s exhibitions gather images of floral sculptures, landscapes, portraitures, photographed buildings, and ephemeral objects of all scales. Meticulously picked, the artist’s subjects enter in collision and contrasts where the objective converges with the subjective, the every-day encounters the historical, and the impartial becomes political.

Her practice draws from the conventional studio photography techniques: employing a large-format camera and depicting her subjects in front of a backdrop. The arrangements that the artist sets up at her studio are often playful, retain an experimental character or are seemingly captured glimpses of time. Kelm’s distinctive approach to the photographic medium made her a prominent figure of contemporary photography in Germany and worldwide.

Annette Kelm’s selected solo exhibitions include: Die Bücher, ICA-Milano, Milan (2022); Die Bücher, Berlin Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Berlin (2022); Die Bücher, Kunsthalle zu Kiel (2022); Geld, Deutsche Bundesbank (Federal Bank of Germany), Frankfurt am Main (2020); Annette Kelm, Auswärtiges Amt (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Berlin (2019); Tomato Target, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (2018); Peter and Irene Ludwig Foundation, Aachen (2018); Fosun Foundation, Shanghai (2018); Leaves, Kestnergesellschaft, Hannover (2017); Detroit Affinities, MOCAD, Detroit (2016); Home Home Home, Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld (2015); Staub, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne (2014); No such Things as History; Four Collections and One Artist, Espace Culturel Louis Vuitton, München (2014); Hallo aber, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn (2011); Annette Kelm, Kunsthalle Zürich, Zurich (2009); Annette Kelm, KW – Institute für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Berlin (2009); Annette Kelm, CCA Wattis, Institute for Contemporary Art, San Francisco (2008); Annette Kelm, Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam (2008).

Her work was presented in international biennials and survey exhibitions, among them in Illuminations, 54th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia (2011).

Recent selected group exhibitions include: Das Bild ist, was es tut, Sprengel Museum, Hannover (2024); Fokus Sammlung, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Mannheim (2024); Nationalgalerie. Eine Sammlung für das 21. Jahrhundert, Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, Berlin (2023); The King is Dead, Long Live the Queen, Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden (2023); Deep Deep Down, MUDAM, The Contemporary Art Museum of Luxembourg, Luxembourg (2023); Something New, Something Old, Something Desired, Kunsthalle Hamburg, Hamburg (2022); Changes, Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien (mumok), Vienna (2022); Die Sonne um Mitternacht schauen, Lenbachhaus München, Munich (2021); New Visions – The Henie Onstad Triennal for Photography and New Media, Hennie Onstad Art Center, Oslo (2020); Future Perfect - Zeitgenössische Kunst aus Deutschland, Musée Théodore Monod d’Art Africain, Dakar (2019); Das Abenteuer unserer Sammlung II, Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Krefeld (2017); Invisible Adversaries, Hessel Museum of Art, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson (2016); Broken White, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (2016); Fétishismarchandise, Centre de la photographie, Geneva (2015); AIMIA Photography Prize, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto (2015); Camera of Wonders, Centro de la Imagén, Centro Histórico, Mexico City (2015); Future Perfect. Contemporary Art from Germany, Centre for Contemporarya Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw (2014); among others. 

The artist’s work is held in the collections of various institutions including: 33 Art Center, Guangzhou; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin; Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Henry Art Gallery, Seattle;  Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-On-Hudson; Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Krefeld; Kulturstiftung des Bundes, Halle an der Saale; Kunsthalle zu Kiel; Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna; Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich; Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Stuttgart; Lenbachhaus München, Munich; LWL Museum für Kunst und Kultur Münster, Münster; MOCA Grand Avenue, Los Angeles; mumok, Vienna; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Museum of Modern Art New York, New York; Sammlung zeitgenössischer Kunst der Bundesrepublik; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Sprengel Museum, Hannover; Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Stuttgart; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Tate Modern, London; Walker Art Center Minneapolis, Minneapolis; FRAC Grand Large - Hauts-de-France, Dunkerque; Louis Vuitton Stiftung; and Mudam Luxembourg.

Portrait photography © Tobias Zielony