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Sebastian Acker
Born 1981 in Lichtenstein, East Germany
lives and works in Berlin
Sebastian Acker is a Berlin based artist and who has studied and worked in London for 15 years. Placing non-human matter centre stage, his practice examines how our environment is informed by a dualistic perception of “Culture” and “Nature”.
Believing that we are able to experience objects beyond the cultural narratives they represent, his videos, images and installations interrogate the anthropocentric myths of pristine wilderness and hyperreal environments through their material manifestations. An unexpected presence – or deceptive absence – of materiality has become central to his works: architectural spaces are dissected, man-made objects placed in natural environments, their surfaces faked, their volumes revealed or concealed. Imperceptible ecological processes, such as the distribution of carbon dioxide, chlorophyl or lithium are made tangible, for which he uses a wide range of tools including infrared satellite data. The results renegotiate the permeable borders of image and object and the manifold interrelations between meaning and matter.
Education
| 2010-12 | MFA Sculpture, Slade School of Fine Art, London |
| 2004-07 | BA (Hons) Spatial Design, Chelsea College of Arts, London |
| 2002-03 | Foundation, Chelsea College of Arts, London |
Solo Exhibitions
| 2018 | Ennis House, Black Flamingo Projects @ Fahrbereitschaft / Haubrok Foundation, Berlin |
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| 2017 | Mountain Village (with Phil Thompson), Neuer Ravensburger Kunstverein, Germany |
Group Exhibitions and Screenings (selection)
| 2020 | Residenzpflicht, curated by msk7, Haus der Statistik, Berlin |
| 2019 | Transpresence (screening), Studio 4413, Saint Petersburg, Russia |
| Kontext Festival, curated by Mariya Dmitrieva, Bolshoe Goloustnoe, Russia | |
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| 2018 | May the Bridges I Burn Light the Way, Exile Gallery at MANIFESTA 12, Palermo |
| Diving Into a Teacup (screening), ICA, London | |
| Mountain Village (screening), Strelka Institute/The New Normal, Moscow | |
| The Starting Point that will Also Be the Exit (screening), The Souvenir Museum, Paris | |
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| 2015 | Chelsea 10, Cookhouse Gallery/Triangle Space, London |
| Stones in a Field – Sorbus Video Week, Sorbus Galleria, Helsinki | |
| Magnolia Cube, 114 Middleton Road, London | |
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| 2014 | Sanssouci Realty Issue #1: The Latte Vision (screening), curated by Attilia Fattori Franchini and Paul Flannery, tank.tv |
| Flow, Store, London | |
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| 2013 | Nova Art Prize, Phillips Auction House, London |
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| 2012 | Ersatzmonument, C. Rockefeller Center for the Contemporary Arts, Dresden, Germany |
| The Function of the Oblique – Action, curated by Attilia Frattori Franchini, Son Gallery, London | |
| The Function of the Oblique – Resistance, curated by Attilia Frattori Franchini, No Format Gallery, London | |
| Come to Disruption, Arcadia Missa, London | |
| Come to Disruption, Tove’s Galleri – Vesterbro ConTemporary Workout Space, Copenhagen | |
| Slade Postgraduate Show, Slade School of Fine Art, London | |
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| 2011 | We Worked in Squares and Loved in Triangles, with Phil Thompson, SSE Space, London |
| Slade Interim Show, with Phil Thompson, Slade Research Centre, London | |
| Bloomsbury Festival, with Phil Thompson, Gordon Square, London | |
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| 2009 | The Ceiling Show, Supine Studios, London |
Awards and Honours (selection)
| 2020 | Stiftung Kunstfonds, Publication Grant, Germany |
| 2019 | ‘Residenzpflicht’ Stipend, msk7 (supported by Senatsverwaltung Berlin), Germany |
| Kontext Residency, Dekabristen/Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Germany | |
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| 2017 | Arts Council England, project grant, UK |
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| 2013 | Nova Art Prize, UK |
| Legion TV Residency, shortlisted, UK | |
| Ideas Tap Film Fund (with Phil Thompson), UK | |
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| 2012 | Duveen Travel Scholarship (with Phil Thompson), UK |
| Land Securities Studio Award, UK | |
| Danish Arts Council, Exhibition Grant with Come to Disruption, DK | |
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| 2011 | Littoral Arts Trust, Merz Barn Residency, Cumbria, UK. |
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| 2010 | AHRC Scholarship, UK |
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| 2009 | CeRCCa Residency, Llorenc del Penedes, Spain |
Bibliography/Publications (selection)
| 2021 | Sebastian Acker, Traces of Other Places (Berlin: Kerber, 2021, ISBN 978-3-7356-0761-4) |
| Stefan Fischer, “Gute Kopien”, Süddeutsche Zeitung, September 16, 2021, 35. Online version: “Ohne Kopie kein Original”, Süddeutsche Zeitung, September 15, 2021 | |
| 2019 | Maria Ines Plaza Lazo, “Notes on Palermo”, Arts of the Working Class, January 4, 2019 |
| 2018 | Barbara Engel (ed.), Historical versus Modern: Identity through Imitation? (Berlin: Jovis, 2018, ISBN 978-3-86859-498-0) |
| “EXILE X Summer Camp: ‘May the Bridges I burn light the way'”, O Fluxo, October 18, 2018 | |
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| 2015 | U. Ströbele, A. Greiner and J.P. Sexauer, 24h Skulptur – Notes on Time Sculptures (Berlin: Distanz, 2015, ISBN 978-3-95476-125-8) 94 |
| Martina Dlugaiczyk, “Aura für Alle”. In Die Ausstellungskopie, edited by Anette Tietenberg (Cologne: Böhlau, 2015, ISBN 978-3-412-22120-1) 99, 108 | |
| Martina Dlugaiczyk, “Surrogate Cities in China und Europa”. In Muster im Transfer, edited by Anette Tietenberg (Cologne: Böhlau, 2015, ISBN 978-3-412-22475-2) 247 | |
| Fernholme Road Living Project, Kitson Road No. 6, (London: Camberwell Press, 2015, ISBN 978-1-908971-40-1) 46 | |
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| 2014 | Pau Cata, CeRCCa 2009-2014, (Barcelona: Centre de Recerca i Creacio Casamarles, 2014, ISBN: 978-84-617-1778-1) 28-29 |
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| 2013 | Allison C. Meier, “Capturing the Chinese Copy Town Trend”, Hyperallergic, May 14, 2013 |
| Samuel Medina, “A Pair Of Artists Reveal China’s Counterfeit Cities”, FastCoDesign, May 20, 2013 | |
| Ryan O’Hanlon, “Why Is China Stealing Cities, Towns, and Buildings?”, Pacific Standard, May 16, 2013 | |
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| 2012 | Rozsa Farkas and Tom Clark, “How to Sleep Faster e2”, e-journal by Arcadia_Missa, December 2012 |
| “Slade Sculpture 2012”, print collection, published by Slade School of Fine Art, June 2012 | |
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| 2011 | “XY/Z – Sculpture 2011”, print collection, published by Slade School of Fine Art, June 2011 |
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| 2009 | Alistair Wildblood and Eugenia Ivanassevic,”Supine Studios Autumn/Winter 2009″, catalogue, November 2009 |
Talks and Lectures (selection)
| 2021 | Sebastian Acker in conversation with Duncan Ballantyne-Way, Black Flamingo, Berlin |
| 2019 | Artist talk, Transpresence at Studio 4413, Saint Petersburg, Russia |
| Artist talk with msk7 / Residenzpflicht Residency, Modulare Unterkunft für Flüchtlinge, Berlin | |
| Artist talk, Kontext Festival, Bolshoe Goloustnoe, Russia | |
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| 2018 | Remote artist talk, Strelka Institute / The New Normal, Moscow |
| Fake news workshop, Institute for Strategic Dialogue, Facebook HQ, Berlin | |
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| 2014 | Visiting Artist Lecture, Contextual Practice Series, Chelsea College of Arts, London |
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| 2013 | Duveen Talk, Slade School of Fine Art, London |
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| 2012 | Artist Talk, Arcadia_Missa, London |
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| 2010 | Guest Lecture, Spaces & Narrations Lecture Series, Chelsea College of Arts, London |