EdithKollath_Portrait_04

Foto: Piotr Pietrus

My work begins where something unspoken starts to unfold: between bodies and spaces, materials and contexts, exploring the shifting forces that connect them. I follow the threads of these encounters — the weight of breath, the pull of gravity, the fleeting connections that linger and reshape what we know.

This curiosity has shaped my path. I studied design at HAW Hamburg, explored sculpture and time-based media at HfbK Hamburg, and worked with NYC Resistors in New York — a feminist hacker collective where making was an act of empowerment and experimentation. Later, during my Ph.D. at the Bauhaus University Weimar, I traced the poetics of breath and contingency, uncovering the beauty in the »also-otherwise.«

In my work — installations, objects, scenographies, collaborative projects and teaching — I craft spaces for what might emerge. These spaces are never static. They shift with the people and ideas that enter them, inviting reflection, play, and transformation.
Now based in Berlin, I continue to follow these threads, letting them lead me into new contexts, questions, and collaborations. If this resonates, let’s connect.

Exhibitions

2025

UPCOMING:
Vier Fäuste und kein Halleluja (AT)
ACC Weimar, Germany

2024

Choir Practice: 8 Voices, Performance Lecture and Installation, Axel Obiger Gallery, Berlin, Germany

2023

Hope Labour: Constellations, Lothringer 13 Halle, Munich, Germany

Irgendwas mit Hoffnung (Something about Hope), Motorenhalle, Riesa Efau, Dresden, Germany

2022

Welt in der Schwebe (Up in the Air), Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany

More Planets Less Pain. Constellations of Artistic Research, ACC Galerie Weimar and Kunsthalle Erfurt, Germany

2021

Choir Practice, Stroux, Berlin, Germany (Solo with A. Brannys)

2020

Superposition, Diskurs Berlin, Germany

Findling, Mantik, Berlin, Germany (Solo)

2019

The Only Stable Thing, Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo, Venice, Italy

Thoughts on Tactility, Schwarz Contemporary, Berlin, Germany

2018

Dynamics of Air, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne, Australia

Preparing for Darkness, Kühlhaus Berlin, Germany


Thinking I’d Last Forever, Duchess-Anna-Amalia Library, Weimar, Germany


Eine Enzyklopädie des Zarten (An Encyclopedia on Tenderness), Galerie Körnerpark, Berlin, Germany

2017

Transparency, Galeria SIC!, Wrocław, Poland


Tunnel Below / Skyjacking Above: Deconstructing the Border, Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst, Berlin, Germany


Die Kapelle und das spezifische Gewicht der Zeit (The Chapel and the Specific Weight of Time), Former Chapel in the Weimar City Castle, Germany

New Material, APT Gallery, London, UK

2016

Negotiating Space: I Never Thought You Were Like This, The 3rd CAFAM Biennial, Beijing, China


Nexus, Galerie Mario Mazzolli, Berlin, Germany


Spectrum 2: About Paper, Galerie Eigenheim, Berlin, Germany

The Making of the Unrealised, Kreuzberg Pavillon, Berlin, Germany


Date as Per Postmark, Fondation Hippocrène, Paris, France

2015

Espace Surplus LE PETIT, Piano Alto, Berlin, Germany (Solo)


Die Spur des Anderen (The Trace of the Other) Kunst Raum Mitte, Berlin, Germany


Das Glücksprinzip (The Happiness Principle), Galerie Eigenheim, Weimar, Germany


Potential, Collectiva Gallery, Berlin, Germany (Solo)

Transform, Zhong Gallery / Migrant Birds, Berlin, Germany (Solo)

Sinneswandel (Sensory Shift), Kunst Raum Mitte, Berlin, Germany (Solo)


Eine Enzyklopädie des Zarten (An Encyclopedia on Tenderness), Cabinet of Curiosities, Weimar City Castle, Germany

2014

Zwischenzeitlich (In the Meantime), Glogauair, Berlin, Germany

Restricted Sceneries #01, Performance Installation with Raman Zaya, Atelier Frankfurt, Germany


Schere, Stein, Papier (Rock, Paper, Scissors), Collectiva Gallery, Berlin, Germany

2013

Interferencje/Interferenzen (Interferences), Centrum Sztuki Fort Sokolnickiego, Warsaw, Poland


Manoeuvre of Plenty, Collectiva Gallery, Berlin, Germany (Solo)


Abschied in Blau (Farewell in Blue), CWO, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Balance, Collectiva Gallery, Berlin, Germany

2012

Capri Art Projects, Projektraum Stilper, Frankfurt am Main, Germany


(Entre Nous), Literaturhaus Frankfurt am Main, Germany


Nothing Will Ever Be the Same, Luminale, Heyne Kulturfabrik, Offenbach, Germany


ABoT, Artist’s Books on Tour, International Centre of Graphic Arts (MGLC), Ljubljana, Slovenia and Museum of Decorative Arts (UPM), Prague, Czech Republic

2011

ABoT, Artist’s Books on Tour, Museum für angewandte Kunst (MAK), Vienna, Austria

Liquid/Segni, Venice Design Week, Venice, Italy

In Light and in Gloom, KorridorGalerie, Atelier Frankfurt e.V., Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Sigh, Collectiva Gallery, Berlin, Germany (Solo)

Nothing Will Ever Be the Same, Fresh Paint Contemporary Art Fair, Tel Aviv, Israel


Bedevilment in Paradise, Proteus Gowanus, New York, USA

2010

Try Again, Fail Again, Kunstverein Hildesheim, Germany


The Book as its Own Addendum, Marwen, Chicago, USA


Arduino – A Lineage, NYC Resistor, New York, USA

2009

Again, Again, Collectiva Gallery, Berlin, Germany (Solo)


Ringen, Cream Contemporary, Berlin, Germany


Nothing Will Ever Be the Same, Hochschule für Bildende Künste Hamburg, Germany

2008

Property and Evidence, Dam Stuhltrager Gallery, Williamsburg, New York, USA (Solo)

Collaborations and Stage Projects

2024

Peterchens Mondfahrt mit Anneliese (Peter and Anneli's Journey to the Moon), TJG, Dresden, Germany

Zanaida, Prinzregententheater, Munich, Germany

2023

Fabian oder Der Gang vor die Hunde (Going to the Dogs: The Story of a Moralist), TJG Dresden, Germany


2022

Eleos, Staatstheater Braunschweig, Germany



Casanova, Staatsoperette Dresden, Germany

2021

Aida, Landestheater Linz, Austria


Co-Founder of ODE Collective, Berlin, Germany

2020

Co-Founder of VIS-À-VIS Collective at Society for Artistic Research Germany (GkFD), Berlin, Germany 


More Planets Less Pain. Constellations of Artistic Research, ACC Weimar and Kunsthalle Erfurt, Germany

2018

Theodora, Winter Opera and Hans-Otto Theater, Potsdam, Germany

2013

Nur ein "Hui" (Just a "Hui"), Theaterhaus Frankfurt am Main, Germany

2010

C-e-n-t-i-p-e-d-e, a collective lecture-performance format within the symposium



No Matter. Try Again. Fail Again. Fail Better. Failure in Art and Knowledge, Kunstverein Hildesheim, Germany

2007–2009

Active Member of the feminist hacker collective NYC Resistors, New York, USA

2003

Co-Founder of Style_unique GbR, Hamburg, Germany

Lectures and Performances


2024

Performance Lecture: Choir Practice: 8 Voices, Axel Obiger Gallery, Berlin, Germany

2023

Pandora’s Unboxing Show: On Hope and Hope Labour – An Evocation, Performance Lecture with A. Brannys, Motorenhalle, Dresden, Germany

Performative Presentation: Hope Labour. Constellations, with A. Brannys, Lothringer 13 Halle, Munich, Germany

2022

Respiration Essays, Performance Lecture, Kunsthalle Erfurt, Germany

Rhythmus und Atemgestalten (Rhythm and Breath Figures), Discussion and Performative Intermezzo with Elena Vogmann, ACC Weimar, Germany

Breath Work, Performance Lecture, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany

2021

Schwelle Präsenz Auflösung. Zur Körperlichkeit von Chor und Demokratie
(Threshold Presence Dissolution: On the Physicality of Choir and Democracy) with A. Brannys, Performance Lecture, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Germany,

2018

Panel Discussion: Atem, Ohne Sorge, Schaum und Schatten - Die Melancholie des Schwebens (Breath, Without Worry, Foam, and Shadows – The Melancholy of Floating), Galerie Körnerpark, Berlin, Germany

Everything is Illuminated. On the Probable Contingency of the Present Future, Performance Lecture, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Germany

Climate & Design: Thomas Auer, Edith Kollath & Malte Wagenfeld, Public Talk, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne, Australia


2010

C-e-n-t-i-p-e-d-e, Performance Lecture, Kunstverein Hildesheim, Germany

Teaching and Academic Activities


2024

Adjunct Lecturer, Federal Voluntary Service Program, Education Digital Inclusive, Waren/Munich, Germany


2023

Adjunct Lecturer, Academy of Fine Arts Munich, with A. Brannys Germany


2018

Co-organization of the Young Bauhaus International Research Conference, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Germany

2016–2019

Member of the Scholarship Selection Committee, Bauhaus Research School, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Germany


2016

Adjunct Lecturer, Faculty of Art and Design, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Germany

2013–2014

Art and Electronics workshops, Berlin Cultural Education Fund, Berlin, Germany


2011–2012

Adjunct Lecturer, Visual Communication Department, Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach, Germany


2007–2009

Workshops in the hacker collective NYC Resistors, New York, USA

2009

Guest Lecturer, Pratt Institute, ITCP, New York, USA


Research and Publications

2024

Respiration Essays. Atembewegungen und Kontingenz in ästhetischer Erfahrung und Forschung, Transcript Verlag, Bielefeld, Germany



2023

Schwelle Präsenz Auflösung. Zur Körperlichkeit von Chor und Demokratie (Threshold Presence Dissolution: On the Physicality of the Chorus and Democracy), in:
Ästhetiken und Materialitäten des Übergangs und des Übertragens, Schwabe Basel, Germany

WE / Time / Trembling / Softly. Chorus for ten voices out of 173467349014879236587593356416524, in: On Meeting, Performance Research Journal, Issue 28.1, Wales, UK

2022

Addressable Volume. A Respiration Essay, in: Up in the Air. Air as an Artistic Material, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Snoeck Köln, Germany

Findlinge #1-7, in: Working Titles, Journal for Practice Based Research
Issue No. 1/2022, STONE SOUP – An Apparatus for Taste & Transformation

2021

Addressable Volume, in: On Air, Performance Research Journal, Issue 26.1, Wales, UK

2019

Addressable Volume, Artist book and edition commissioned by the Duchess Anna Amalia Library, Weimar, Germany

2018

Liminal Passage, in Dynamics of Air, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne, Australia

Moments of Hesitation and States of Uncertainty, in: Border City 2, Weimar, Germany

Restricted Sceneries #01 with R. Zaya, Forum für Entwerfen e.V., Munich, Germany

2017

Foundling #01, in: Tunnel Below / Skyjacking Above: Deconstructing the Border,


Neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst (ngbK), Berlin, Germany

2015

Dialogfenster (Dialog Window), Edith Kollath & Christina Irrgang in Conversation,


A Multilogue and Artist's Book, Kunst Raum Mitte, Berlin, Germany

2013

Manoeuvre of Plenty, Monograph on Edith Kollath, Distanz Verlag, Berlin, Germany

2011

Thinking I’d Last Forever, in: ABoT: Artist's Books on Tour, Artist Competition and Mobile Museum, MAK Vienna, Austria; MGLC Ljubljana, Slovenia; UPM Prague, Czech Republic

2010

C-e-n-t-i-p-e-d-e, 
in: No Matter. Try Again. Fail Again. Fail Better. Scheitern, Kunst und Wissen, Kunstverein Hildesheim, Germany

Awards and Scholarships

2023/24

Project funding from VG Bild-Kunst, publication fund of Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, and Open-Access publication fund for Respiration Essays

2023

Front Desk Residency #3, Hope Labour: Constellations. Lothringer 13, Munich, Germany

2019

Nomination for the Villa Aurora Fellowship 2020, Villa Aurora & Thomas Mann House e.V., Los Angeles, USA

2017–2019

Scholarships from Thüringer Graduiertenförderung, Weimar, Germany


2018

Travel and project funding from Goethe Institute Australia for Dynamics of Air, Melbourne, Australia


2016

Project funding from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) for New Material, London, UK


2014

Award in Forschergeist 2014 by Stiftung Haus der kleinen Forscher, Berlin, Germany


2013

Munken Works Residency and Scholarship, Arctic Paper Deutschland, Hamburg, Germany
Project funding from the Berlin Project Fund for Cultural Education, Germany


2012

Nomination for Casa Baldi Fellowship, Deutsche Akademie Rom, Italy


Project funding for the publication Maneuvre of Plenty by the City of Frankfurt Department for Culture and the Hessian Ministry of Higher Education, Research and the Arts, Wiesbaden, Germany

2011

Awarded by ABoT: Artist's Books on Tour, Museum of Applied Arts (MAK), Vienna, Austria

2009

Art Territory Residency, European Capital of Culture 2009, Vilnius, Lithuania



Education

Ph.D.

Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Germany (2015–2021)
Dissertation: Respiration Essays. Atembewegungen und Kontingenz in ästhetischer Erfahrung und Forschung (Breath Movements and Contingency in Aesthetic Experience and Research)

Diploma

Hochschule für Bildende Künste Hamburg, Germany (2006–2009)

Sculpture and Time-Based Media

Diploma

Hochschule der Angewandten Wissenschaften Hamburg, Germany (1998–2003)

Textile/Fashion/Costume Design

Contact

Edith Kollath
+49 (0) 175 28 48 669

mail@edithkollath.com

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