(b. 1985, Germany) Lives and works between Salzburg and Berlin
Working in painting, installation and performance, Agnes Scherer creates complex pictorial works that engage with power relations and their underlying psychologies within historical systems, economies and societal roles. Through deep analysis of art history, anthropology and cultural history, she subverts the artistic strategies that traditionally served structures of power. Using unique forms of presentation by placing handmade artefacts into theatrical, elaborate, frameworks like operettas and narrative installations, the artist debases the authority in a way that is spectacular, through puppet shows and absurdist pantomimes. Scherer’s visual language includes universally known symbols and anachronisms that are transposed into each other in neo-baroque-like complexity, interrogating the undertones of contemporary society and its histories.
Agnes Scherer has previously held solo shows in institutions including unst Halle Sankt Gallen (St. Gallen); (Bel Ami (Los Angeles); Heidelberger Kunstverein, Sans titre, (Paris); PAGE (NYC); Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen (Dusseldorf); ChertLüdde (Berlin). Agnes Scherer’s first operetta “Cupid and the Animals”, was awarded the Nigel Greenwood Art Prize in 2015 and performed in, among other places, the Museum Ludwig (Cologne) and TRAMPS NYC). In 2019, her second elaborate work within this format, “The Teacher”, was presented by Kinderhook & Caracas in Berlin, at Cabaret Voltaire, Zurich (2020) and recently in Italy for the festival ART CITY Bologna (2023). The artist’s narrative installation “The Very Hungry” at the Berlin project space Horse & Pony was granted the Berlin Art Prize (2019). Agnes Scherer’s works are featured in the permanent collections of important institutions and museums, including FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Reims; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; KOLUMBA Museum, Cologne and Kunsthaus NRW Kornelimünster in Aachen.