Memorys and Prepositions and Conjunctions and in all Seriousness

Institutionally over- and practically underdetermined: the Kunstraum. Consisting of two equally oversized signifiers – “Kunst” (art) and “Raum” (space) – the name triggers either an excess or a lack of expectation. The inevitable disappointment is perhaps the better form of institutional critique – at least these days, in Germany. The institution, notoriously, presupposes itself (in time, too), and its stake is always at minimum a linguistic one. This is where Leonie Nagel feat. Bonk4∞ intervene. They playfully engage with the institution within a prepared environment, whose maximally weak rule is the connection (or association, if it didn’t sound so class-treasonous) between words and images and bodies. Prepositions and conjunctions form relations in space and an order that does not truly order but that serves as a condition for one´s orientation, positioning, and reference in the world. Its floor plan is an eight memory-game cards long line between Recklinghausen and German nature folklore. In this space, Bonk and Nagel “teach” a seminar as a seminar at a university, that is, as a constellation of rules, expectations, political positions, and the unintended.

Leonie Nagel is an artist. She lives and works in Berlin. In her site-specific installations, she works with various media (e.g., photography, drawing, text, narratives, mass-produced everyday objects, video) and explores abstract systems of order, often with specific reference to the organization of communal living. Most recently, she exhibited her work at the Kunstverein Nürnberg-Albrecht Dürer Gesellschaft, at sis123 in La Chaux-de-Fonds and at the Kunstsammlungen Zwickau. In 2026, her work is featured in exhibitions at the n.b.k. Berlin and the Kunstbunker Nürnberg, amongst others. 2021 - 2024 war sie als Honorarkraft in der Klasse für Fotografie im Feld der zeitgenössischen Kunst an der Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig tätig. Nach weiteren Lehraufträgen war sie 2025 - 2026 künstlerische Mitarbeiterin in der Klasse von Prof. Andrea Büttner an der Akademie für bildende Künste München. Seit 2022 organisiert sie in einer Gruppe den Raum Cittipunkt e.V. in Berlin mit. Mit der Spielformation KERFE (Micha Bonk, Leonie Nagel und alle, die mitmachen) entstand 2024 der Film „Echte Sonnen“ auf dem Abenteuerspielplatz Forcki. Für 2026 ist mit KERFE ein Projekt an einer Berliner Schule geplant. 

The exhibition is open by appointment. Please register at kunstraum@leuphana.de