KOW

KOW A contemporary art gallery in Berlin

ARTIST TALK: MARIO PFEIFER at Haus der Kulturen der Welt HOW TO TRACE THE TIRAILLEURS AS A COLONIAL CONTINUITY IN THE PR...
28/05/2026

ARTIST TALK: MARIO PFEIFER at Haus der Kulturen der Welt
HOW TO TRACE THE TIRAILLEURS AS A COLONIAL CONTINUITY IN THE PRESENT
MAY 29, 3:30 PM

Moderated by Can Sungu (Filmic Practices) and Paz Guevara (Exhibition Practices)

WUTAME | CACHÉ, 2026
DCP, Color, Stereo 2.0, 29 min
AS PART OF THE GROUP SHOW 'TIRAILLEURS: TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS' at HKW

Commissioned by HKW and supported by savvy KWATA & the Goethe Institut Cameroon, the video installation WUTAME | CACHÉ interweaves conversations with two Cameroonian men, who embarked for different reasons to Russia and ended up at the frontlines of Russia's invasion war against Ukraine.

Both men returned to their home and share testimonies on their paths, their survival and experience as contemporary tirailleurs. While their identity remains protected for security reasons, their stated experiences reveal how young men are lured into Russia with promises unfulfilled, life threatening and traumatic experiences but hope for dignified future.

A few days after the video's on-site production in Douala in early Feburary 2026, the first newspapers broke stories on fallen, imprisoned and returned tirailleurs in Cameroon. It remains a hidden, controversial an suppressed topic within the Cameroonian society and beyond.

If you are in Berlin, don't miss .pfeifer Artist Talk tomorrow, MAY 29, 3:30PM at HKW.

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Images:

1) Mario Pfeiffer, 'Wutame | Caché', 2026, installation view at HKW, 2026, courtesy of the artist, HKW, and KOW, Berlin. Photo: Hanna-Wiedemann.

2,3) Mario Pfeiffer, 'Wutame | Caché', 2026, video still, courtesy of the artist and KOW, Berlin.

4) 'Tirailleurs: Trials and Tribulations', courtesy of HKW, visual: Yukiko.

KOW𝗧𝗔𝗟𝗞: CANDICE BREITZ IN CONVERSATION WITH JOANNA WARSZAMAY 29, 6:30 PMKOW is pleased to invite you to a conversation ...
23/05/2026

KOW𝗧𝗔𝗟𝗞: CANDICE BREITZ IN CONVERSATION WITH JOANNA WARSZA
MAY 29, 6:30 PM

KOW is pleased to invite you to a conversation between and

On the occasion of Candice Breitz' current solo exhibition at KOW, 'HOT POTATO', the artist will exchange in dialogue with Joanna Warsza about her newest body of work presented in the gallery.

In the video series 'Dear Esther', Candice Breitz weaves exacting analysis of the political and cultural landscape of contemporary Germany with fever-dream imagery and anecdotal research, drawing an arc between fascisms of the past and fascization in the present. The first film in the series, 'Dear Esther (May 1943)', recalls a formative moment in Esther Bejarano’s early life, setting the tone for the ‘letters’ that follow. It is intended to be viewed along with the film that follows it in the series, 'Dear Esther (15 May 2020)'.

The video work 'Dear Esther' lasts 47 minutes. The gallery opens at 12 pm on Friday.

We kindly encourage you to join us to watch the film before the talk begins at 6:30 that day. Viewing the film after the talk will not be possible.

The conversation will be held in English.

Attendance is free.

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CANDICE BREITZ (born in Johannesburg, 1972) is a Berlin-based artist. Her moving image installations have been shown internationally.

JOANNA WARSZA is Hamburg’s city curator (Stadtkuratorin Hamburg). ‘A Song for Esther,’ a concert that has been conceived by Candice Breitz in homage to the late musician and anti-fascist activist Esther Bejarano, was originally commissioned by Warsza within a series of ‘Counter Monuments’ for Hamburg.

A Song for Esther will run at HAU in Berlin for two consecutive nights on 6 JUNE and 7 June.

Tickets are available via https://www.hebbel-am-ufer.de/
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Images:

Candice Breitz, 'Dear Esther', 2025, video stills, commissioned by steirischer herbst 2025, courtesy of the artist and KOW, Berlin.

OPENING TOMORROW: CATPC at .museum The Land of Chocolate Sprinkles. Building a new world together.Solo show22.05 — 22.11...
21/05/2026

OPENING TOMORROW: CATPC at .museum
The Land of Chocolate Sprinkles. Building a new world together.
Solo show
22.05 — 22.11.2026

What for many people is an everyday product has a darker side: cacao, sugar and palm oil are often produced on plantations where people and nature pay a high price.

The artists of Congolese collective CATPC make art to change that. With the proceeds they buy back exhausted plantation land to plant food forests. This strengthens food security, biodiversity and the restoration of the sacred forest.

The exhibition features 30 chocolate sculptures and a series of embroidered works. The sculptures were originally made from clay and cast in cacao, palm oil and sugar using 3D technology. Each work tells its own story about exploitation, inequality and resistance.

The embroidered works show portraits of resistance fighters and plantation workers from Congo, Haiti, Suriname, Indonesia and Ghana. They are embroidered on the burlap sacks used to transport cacao around the world. Together they form a tribute to their shared struggle against colonial exploitation.

If you are in Amsterdam, don't miss debut on the Amstel opening tomorrow, MAY 22nd, at H'Art Museum.
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Images:

1) Irene Kanga working on sculpture, video still from 'White Cube', 2020, courtesy of CATPC, IHA, and KOW Berlin.

2) CATPC, 'The Mad Art Collector' by Emery Muhamba, 2020, courtesy of Mondriaan Fund, photo: Peter Tijhuis.

3) CATPC members with White Cube in the background, from left: Olele
Mulela Mabamba, Irène Kanga, Huguette Kilembi, Jérémie Mabiala, Jean
Kawata, Mbuku Kimpala, Ced’art Tamasala and Matthieu Kasiama. Still
from White Cube, Renzo Martens, 2020. Courtesy of CATPC, IHA, and KOW Berlin.

4) CATPC, Resistance Fighter Series: 'Keti Koti, Free man of Suriname' by Alphonse
Bukumba, Jean Kawata, Tantine Mukundu, 2024. Courtesy of CATPC, IHA, and KOW Berlin.

ON VIEW: CANDICE BREITZ ‘Hot Potato’until 27.06.2026As calls to untether art from politics proliferate in Germany and be...
08/05/2026

ON VIEW: CANDICE BREITZ
‘Hot Potato’
until 27.06.2026

As calls to untether art from politics proliferate in Germany and beyond, 'Hot Potato' traces the historically fraught relationship between artists and the authorities that preside over them – by means of a series of appropriative homages.

The history of art is abundant with artists who have, in one way or another, created space for political and ethical reflection within their creative practice. Breitz pays tribute to some of them in this exhibition – evoking, borrowing, reproducing and reanimating earlier works and performances by artists and musicians as diverse as Renée Sintenis, Esther Bejarano, John Baldessari, Félix González-Torres, Mark Wallinger and Christoph Schlingensief, with varying degrees of reverence.

Visit us Wed–Sat, 12–6 pm, and immerse yourself in outtake.

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Images:

Candice Breitz, Hot Potato, installation views at KOW, courtesy of the artist and KOW, Berlin. Photos: Ladislav Zajac.

ARTIST TALK: ANNA EHRENSTEIN IN CONVERSATION WITH ARIANA DONGUSberlin MAY 03, 2–3 pmThe discussion builds on Ehrenstein'...
30/04/2026

ARTIST TALK: ANNA EHRENSTEIN IN CONVERSATION WITH ARIANA DONGUSberlin
MAY 03, 2–3 pm

The discussion builds on Ehrenstein's exhibition 'The Language of the Soil', which examines the infrastructures of AI and the working conditions on which they are based.

The project is based on ongoing research and collaborations with digital workers and practitioners, including Richard Mathenge, Mophat Okinyi, and Fasica Berhane, as well as other stakeholders in Nairobi and Cairo.

Instead of portraying AI as autonomous or immaterial, the conversation situates AI systems within existing work networks, colonial histories, extractive processes, and the global platform economy. Ehrenstein and Dongus also reflect on questions of authorship, the political dimensions of AI, and how artistic practice can engage with and challenge these structures.

The author and researcher Yaniya Lee will moderate the discussion.

Join and next Sunday, May 03, for the Artist Talk with Q&A at Fotografiska, Berlin.
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Images:
1–6) Anna Ehrenstein – The Language of the Soil, Fotografiska Berlin, 2026 © Fotografiska

7) © Anna Ehrenstein & Ariana Dongus

29/04/2026

OPENING THIS FRIDAY: CANDICE BREITZ — HOT POTATO�MAY 01, 6–9pm


Hot potatoes have been thick on the ground in Berlin in recent years. Germany’s capital features prominently in this solo presentation by Candice Breitz, her first as a German citizen.

We are looking forward to welcoming you!

OPENING HOURS DURING GALLERY WEEKEND:�FRI, MAY 01, 6 – 9 PM�SAT, MAY 02, 11 AM – 6 PM�SUN, MAY 03, 11 AM – 6 PM

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Images:

1) Candice Breitz, I will not make any more political art, 2026, from the series Codes of Conduct.

2) Candice Breitz, I will not bite the hand that feeds me, 2026, from the series Codes of Conduct.

3) Candice Breitz, I will not poke the bear, 2026, from the series Codes of Conduct.

4) Candice Breitz, Traumatised Readymades, 2026, from the series Miscast, 1956–2026, courtesy of the artist and
KOW, Berlin.

5) Candice Breitz, Dear Esther (15 May 2020), 2025, videostill, commissioned by steirischer herbst 2025.

All images are courtesy of the artist and KOW, Berlin. Photos by Ladislav Zajac.

17/04/2026

LAST 2 DAYS OF: TOBIAS ZIELONY — HOW TO MAKE A FIRE WITHOUT SMOKE
solo show
until APR 18

Some say, there are three ways to recognize a spy. One of them: they know how to make a fire without smoke.

Tobias Zielony’s new video work 'How to Make a Fire Without Smoke‘ takes a closer look at the border between Lithuania and Belarus — in total darkness, through the lens of his camera. The border, as an abstract invisible construct (impossible to recognize by human eyes within the landscape) does remain a physical obstacle, especially for those who try to cross it. It creates an atmosphere of fear, implemented by the heavy militarization on the borders, and the pushback of refugees in the exclusion zone.

The project is based on conversations with people who have experienced the border firsthand: refugees from Belarus now living in exile in Lithuania, as well as local activists.

Visit us today, Friday, and tomorrow, Saturday, 12–6 PM, for the final days of Tobias Zielony's solo exhibition.

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Images:
Tobias Zielony, How to Make a Fire Without Smoke, 2025, video extract, courtesy of the artist and KOW, Berlin

TOBIAS ZIELONY: HOW TO MAKE A FIRE WITHOUT SMOKEsolo showuntil APR 18Electricity/AfterimagesPhotographs require light—an...
26/03/2026

TOBIAS ZIELONY: HOW TO MAKE A FIRE WITHOUT SMOKE
solo show
until APR 18

Electricity/Afterimages

Photographs require light—and, almost always, electricity. What happens to photogra­phic images when energy and light are limited? What space will be left for activities requiring illuminated nights?

In his work Electricity/Afterimages, Tobias Zielony combines documentary images with fiction to explore a speculative future refracted through our immediate present. Since the beginning of Russia’s war on Ukraine, the neighboring country, Moldova, has experienced frequent blackouts, and energy prices have dramatically increased. In Chișinău, Moldova’s capital, streetlights are turned off at night. In conversations with his protagonists living in a world oscillating between clandestine generator-powered raves and darkened screens, Zielony’s fictional photo essay considers the relationship between the politics of energy, images, darkness, and desire.

Visit us Wed–Sat, 12–6pm, and dive into Tobias Zielony's work.


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Images:
1,2,8) Tobias Zielony, 'Electricity/Afterimages', 2023, installation views at KOW, 2026.

3–7) Tobias Zielony, 'Electricity/Afterimages', 2023, details, installation views at KOW, 2026.

All images are courtesy of the artist and KOW, Berlin. Photos: Ladislav Zajac

ON VIEW: TOBIAS ZIELONYHOW TO MAKE A FIRE WITHOUT SMOKEuntil APR 18How To Make A Fire Without SmokeSome say, there are t...
12/03/2026

ON VIEW: TOBIAS ZIELONY
HOW TO MAKE A FIRE WITHOUT SMOKE
until APR 18

How To Make A Fire Without Smoke

Some say, there are three ways to recognize a spy. One of them: they know how to make a fire without smoke. Tobias Zielony’s new video work How to Make a Fire Without Smoke takes a closer look at the border between Lithuania and Belarus — in total darkness, through the lens of his camera. The project is based on conversations with people who have experienced the border firsthand: refugees from Belarus now living in exile in Lithuania, as well as local activists.

Electricity/Afterimages

Photographs require light—and, almost always, electricity. What happens to photogra­phic images when energy and light are limited? What space will be left for activities requiring illuminated nights? In his work Electricity/Afterimages, Tobias Zielony combines documentary images with fiction to explore a speculative future refracted through our immediate present.

Overshoot

In Overshoot, the artist brings us face to face with some of Rossi’s and Mazzoleni’s most utopian works of architecture. The abundance of forms, the complex symbolism, and futuristic ideas construct a series of truly unique and phantasmal buildings. Zielony’s vision follows these structures of the buildings, the movements of the people who inhabit them, giving rise to a seemingly infinite flow of possible images and perspectives.

Swing by the gallery, Wed–Sat, 12–6PM, and immerse yourself in Tobias Zielony's oscillating borders.

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Images:

1,2,5,7) Tobias Zielony, 'How To Make A Fire Without Smoke', installation views at KOW, 2026

3) Tobias Zielony, Overshoot–3, 2024, installation view at KOW, 2026

4) Tobias Zielony, Overshoot–2, 2024, installation view at KOW, 2026

6) Tobias Zielony, How To Make A Fire Without Smoke, installation view at KOW, 2026

All images are courtesy of the artist and KOW, Berlin. Photos: Ladislav Zajac

OPENING TOMORROW: ANNA EHRENSTEIN The Language of the Soil at .berlin Solo showMAR 13—JUN 12, 2026Who ensures that AI wo...
11/03/2026

OPENING TOMORROW: ANNA EHRENSTEIN
The Language of the Soil at .berlin
Solo show
MAR 13—JUN 12, 2026

Who ensures that AI works – and what traces does this work leave on those affected?

Soil, or earth, represents in Ehrenstein's work the origin and traces of labor, which often remain invisible. It embodies the material foundations upon which digital economies are built. At the same time, it points to the persistence of historical hierarchies and exploitative relationships that continue to operate in today's global labor and data economies. The soil functions as a symbol for the interconnectedness of humanity, nature, and technology, and forms the starting point for artistic reflection as well as collective fiction.

The project was developed in close collaboration with researcher Ariana Dongus and activists and worker-researchers Richard Mathenge, Mophat Okinyi, and Fasica Berhane, who themselves worked as digital platform workers and connected Ehrenstein with other workers and stakeholders on the ground. The focus is on people who train Large Language Models in Nairobi or work as copywriters for OnlyFans in Cairo.

Congratulations , and all collaborators!
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Images:
© Anna Ehrenstein

03/03/2026

THIS SATURDAY: TOBIAS ZIELONY
HOW TO MAKE A FIRE WITHOUT SMOKE
ALL DAY OPENING �MAR 07, 12PM–6PM

KOW is pleased to announce the opening of Tobias Zielony’s solo exhibition. Moving from Moldova to Lithuania and Naples, the artist presents three of his most recent projects:

How To Make A Fire Without Smoke
Electricity/Afterimages
Overshoot �

Join us this Saturday for the all-day opening to inaugurate the new gallery space at Frobenstraße 1. �

Yours,
KOW

Adresse

Lindenstrasse 35
Berlin
10969

Öffnungszeiten

Dienstag 12:00 - 18:00
Mittwoch 12:00 - 18:00
Donnerstag 12:00 - 18:00
Freitag 12:00 - 18:00
Samstag 12:00 - 18:00

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+493031166770

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