| Education |
|
| 2001 |
M.F.A., Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg |
| 1994 |
Bachelor in Fine Arts, Concordia University, Montreal |
| 1991 |
Textile Arts Diploma, Capilano College, Vancouver |
|
|
| Exhibitions/screenings |
|
| 2023 |
Flores que explotan/Bursting Flowers (screening), Scriptings, Berlin |
| |
The event of a thread, Central Tunis, Tunis |
| 2022 |
The Vibration of Things, 15th Triennial of Small Sculpture Fellbach (collaboration with Gabriel Rossell Santillán) |
| 2021 |
Qalqalah : plus d’une langue (as part of Man schenkt keinen Hund), La Kunsthalle, centre d’art contemporain Mulhouse |
| |
Picking our images of my soul’s eye: Understanding Gloria E. Anzaldúa through artistic practices. District, Berlin |
2020
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The event of a thread, NeMe Arts Centre Limassol
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Qalqalah : plus d’une langue (as part of Man schenkt keinen Hund), CRAC Occitanie |
| 2019 |
The event of a thread, Istanbul Modern, Istanbul |
| 2018 |
Salon World of Noon, artist talk with Tamuna Chabashvili and Christel Vesters, Air Berlin Alexanderplatz, Schiras gallery, Berlin
|
| 2017 |
The event of a thread, Kunsthaus Dresden |
|
Man schenkt keinen Hund, Arthur Boskamp-foundation, Hohenlockstedt
|
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Hilar una frase / Stringing words together, screening at SUSI, intercultural women’s center and xart splitta e.V., Berlin |
| 2016 |
Man schenkt keinen Hund, Projektraum Scriptings, Berlin
|
| 2014 |
ABLi @ Casa Azul, Arte Bienal en Lima |
|
Ein Waisenhaus in China, screening at SUSI, intercultural women’s center, and Frauenkreise, transcultural women’s center, Berlin
|
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Ein Waisenhaus in China, screening at Institut für Gender Studies und Kulturwissenschaft, Humboldt University, Berlin |
|
(solo show) Une crèche en Chine / Ein Waisenhaus in China, FRISE (artist-run center), Hamburg |
| 2012 |
Acts of voicing, performance „La Hybris del Punto Cero I“ (collaboration decolonial group Berlin & Ingrid Wildi Merino), Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart |
|
An orphanage in China, trailer screening, Decolonize the city! conference at Rosa-Luxemburg foundation, Berlin |
| 2011 |
An orphanage in China, work-in-progress screening/artist talk, Haute école d’art et de design, Geneva, |
|
and seminar “Decolonizing Western universalisms”, Institute for European Ethnology, Berlin |
|
Open Studio, Atelier Scherenbergstraße, Berlin |
| 2010 |
Chile dulce & Pfeffis, The Forgotten Bar, Berlin |
| 2006 |
Travel, Showroom, Fabrikken for Kunst og Design, Copenhagen
|
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Dreißig Silberlinge, private collection Stefan Haupt, Berlin |
| 2004 |
Cloak, screening/artist talk, summer academy “gender-memory”, Oldenburg University |
| 2003 |
Embrace, screening/artist talk, Congress of Americanists, Santiago de Chile |
|
Camarín, Espace Forde, Geneva |
|
Schutzmuster (solo show), Galerie 35, Berlin |
|
Embrace, screening at Abenteuer Essayfilm, Metropolis communal cinema, Hamburg |
| 2002 |
Ökonomien der Zeit, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Akademie der Künste, Berlin, and
Migros Museum, Zurich |
|
Belonging, screening of Embrace as part of the film program for the exhibition, Shedhalle Zurich |
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Embrace, screening at Cinarchea, archeology & art film festival, Kiel |
| 2001 |
Transformationen,Übersetzungen, 12-18, project space Molotow, Hamburg |
|
Get that balance, K3, Kampnagel Hamburg |
| 1998/99 |
Anatomical Permutations: Ten Canadian Artists, Museo del Pueblo, Guanajuato,
and Centro Nacional de las Artes, Mexico, D.F. |
| 1997 |
De Lacrimae Rerum (solo show/artist talk), Articule gallery, Montreal |
| 1995 |
Mujeres de Pelo en Pecho: 46 Latinamerican Artists, Evanston Hall, Chicago |
|
Transgeographic Portraits (coll. with Dianna Frid), Dare-Dare gallery, Montreal |
|
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| Videos |
|
| 2023 |
Flores que explotan (Bursting Flowers), HD, 47 min |
| 2020/21 |
No more poems for Columbus (interview series, HD, 10 min each) |
| 2016 |
Hilar una frase / Stringing words together, HD video 33 min |
| 2014 |
Une crèche en Chine / An orphanage in China, HD video 30 min
|
| 2003/6 |
Cloak, miniDV 15 min |
| 2001 |
Embrace, miniDV 10 min |
|
|
| Awards |
|
| 2022 |
Recherchestipendium (artistic research grant), Berlin Senate Dept. for Culture and Europe |
| 2020 |
Berliner Projektfonds kulturelle Bildung, Reimagine Jetzt! Gestalte deine Geschichte selbst (with mitkollektiv)
|
| 2019 |
Travel grant, ifa gallery |
| 2017 |
Berliner Projektfonds kulturelle Bildung, Historias – Telling our own stories in other ways (with Olenka Bordo)
|
| 2003 |
Travel Grant, Congress of Americanists, Santiago de Chile |
| 2001 |
Canada Council C-Grant |
| 1999 |
Begabtenförderung (young talents award), Ditze Foundation |
| 1998 |
DAAD scholarship |
| 1997 |
DAAD scholarship |
| 1995 |
Canada Council Explorations Grant |
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| Publications |
|
| 2021 |
“Presenting different perspectives of the year 1492 and making its coontinuities visible”. Untie to tie. Colonial Fragments in School Contexts. Aïcha Diallo, Annika Niemann, Miriam Shabafrouz (eds) Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung/bpb & ifa
|
| 2017 |
“Umarmung. Inka Gressel im Gespräch mit Karen Michelsen Castañón”. The event of a thread/Das Ereignis eines Fadens. Stuttgart: ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen)
|
| 2005 |
“Die Videos Umarmung und Tarnkappe: Fäden und Knoten der Geschichtsschreibung”. Frauen Kunst Wissenschaft, issue 39 |
| 2004 |
“El vídeo Abrazo y su estructura textil”. Tejiendo sueños en el Cono Sur. Textiles Andinos: Pasado, Presente y
Futuro. Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona |
| 2002 |
Artist text, catalogue of the exhibition Economies of time. Hans-Christian Dany, Astrid Wege (eds.), Frankfurt am Main |
| 1998 |
A language of self. Webpage Borderlines/ContactZones: Latinamerica/Americas |
| 1996 |
Syncretic cloth, Virgins and Colonization in the Peruvian Andes. Paper presented at symposium of the Textile Society of America, Art Institute of Chicago |
|
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| Media recognition |
|
| 2002 |
Röller, Nils. “Inkaspeicher”. Tuxamoon, Magazin für Kultur, Umwelt und Soziales. http://www.tuxamoon.de/magazine/kultur/verschiedenes/2005/04/18/inkaspeicher/
Eggel, Caroline. “Ökonomien der Zeit im Migros Museum“ Kunst-Bulletin, 1 Dec
Lintl, Manuela. “Zu kopflastig in ihrem Anspruch. Ökonomien der Zeit am Hanseatenweg“ Neues Deutschland, 18 July |
| 1998 |
Ranquel, Enrique. “Examinan 10 artistas permutaciones del cuerpo humano.” Reforma 4 Oct: 4
Solórzano, Enrique. “Del cuerpo y otras razones.” Correo Oct: 19 |
| 1997 |
Aquin, Stéphan. “Karen Michelsen“ Voir no. 4, vol.11, January
Carpenter, Jessica. “Karen Michelsen: De Lacrimae Rerum” Espace summer, no. 40:42
Catchlove, Lucinda. “Ghostly Words: Karen Michelsen’s Vision and Veiled References” Hour n.4, vol. 5, January
Chimpén, Augusto. “La exploración visual de Karen Michelsen“ El Comercio August 3: C8; “Karen Michelsen” Art Nexus No. 26, Oct-Dec: 14
Kozinska, Dorota. “Unusual display could move you to tears” The Gazette January 31: C9
Interview with René Bouchard, Rádio Centre-Ville |
| 1995 |
Aquin, Stéphan. “Dianna Frid et Karen Michelsen” Voir December
“Portraits transgéographiques” Mix Winter: 29 |
|
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| Further activities |
|
| 03 & 05/2021 |
Podcasts with historian Claudia Gotta, reflecting on the exhibition The listening and the winds (commissioned by ifa gallery, Berlin) |
| 09/2020 |
Screening of video Response of the Mayan Weavers Movement to the Netflix documentary “Guatemala: Heart of the Mayan World”, Andenbuch Berlin, online Q & A with Aura Cumes and Angelina Aspuac |
| 07/2017 |
Body and cultural appropriation, workshop with Silvia Chávez Gaytán, exhibition program “Hello World”, Museum Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin
|
| 10/2017 |
Die Rückreise sensibler Sammlungen, screening and discussions on returning artifacts acquired in colonial contexts to the communities they belong to; concept & organization of the event with colectivo qellcay and COMPA Berlin, Regenbogen Kino Berlin |
| 09/2017 |
Collaborative art workshop La arpillera en Dresden, with Silvia Chávez Gaytán, Kunsthaus Dresden |
| 06/2016 |
Discussion of the new German translation of Octavia Butler’s “Kindred” with translator Mirjam Nuenning, as well as Silvia Chávez and Pascal Virginie Rotter. Moderator: Iris Rajanayagam. xart splitta, Berlin |
| 2014 – present |
video and art workshops for children and youth in Berlin |
| 12/2013 |
Begegnungen mit dem Kolonialen in der Pädagogik (Encounters with the colonial sphere in education), organization of the event with decolonial group berlin, Georg-Simmel-Zentrum für Metropolen Forschung, Humboldt University, Berlin |
01/2013 – 07/2016
|
art workshops for children in collaboration with COMPA Berlin |
| 06/2010 – 07/2013 |
organization of cultural events with Memos, association for memory cultures, Berlin: The struggle of memory against forgetting (on processes of memory in three African countries) / Palabras desencadenadas (reading series on literature, political imprisonment and memory processes through the lens of four Latin American writers) |
| 2003 |
co-founded with other parents a Spanish-German, parent-run daycare in Berlin |
2001 – present
|
freelance translator of art-related texts and film subtitles
|
| 1997 |
short stay in Guatemala, exhibition project Maya Textiles: Visions of Identity (co-curated with Barbara Layne for Marsil Museum, Qc) |
|
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| Visiting lecturer (Institut für Kunst und Visuelle Kultur, Carl von Ossietzky University, Oldenburg) |
| 1/2020 |
Seminar Embodied learning? |
| 11/2018 |
Seminar Decolonizing the gaze |
| 06/2018 |
Seminar Body/Power/Video |
| 06/2017 |
Seminar Essayistic filmmaking and decolonial perspectives |