Grace Schwindt Biography

In her artistic practice Grace Schwindt (b. 1979, Germany, lives in London and Amsterdam) focuses primarily on performance and film as well as drawing and sculpture to explore the effects of capitalist culture upon the body/psyche of the individual. Her process often originates from specific research and conversations with a wide range of people including activists, artists, musicians, politicians, refugees or family members. Many of her works examine aspects of historical events with an emphasis on social relations. It is however never obvious where she draws the line between fiction and non-fiction. According to Schwindt, her attempt is to clear institutionalised spaces from meaning and to deconstruct narrative structures, well knowing that spaces will always stay loaded with sociological connotations.

Central to Schwindt's practice is the overlap of production and presentation. The various media she draws upon are all connected and intertwined. Shapes from the costumes reappear in in her drawings while her sculptures echo performative gestures. This multidisciplinary approach allows her to investigate events from multiple perspectives, thereby opposing a single reading, while at the same time creating an overarching narrative.

Schwindt has had solo exhibitions at Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow, Rozenstraat, A rose is a rose is a rose, Amsterdam, Gallery Lejeune in London, the Institute of Contemporary Interdisciplinary Arts in Bath, MARCO in Vigo, Tramway in Glasgow, Argos in Brussels, Calgary Contemporary, Site Gallery in Sheffield, Contemporary Art Gallery in Vancouver, The Showroom in London, Badischer Kunstverein in Karlsruhe and Eastside Projects in Birmingham, among many others. Her work has also been on view at the Volksbühne in Berlin, David Roberts Foundation in London, Kaaitheater in Brussels, Anren Biennale of 2017, the Istanbul Bienniale of 2015, WIELS in Brussels, Arko Art Center in Seoul, Royal Academy of Arts in London, Weserburg Museum in Bremen, Tate Britain in London, Museum M in Leuven and Arnolfini in Bristol, etc.

Schwindt's film Only a Free Individual Can Create a Free Society has toured from Eastside Project in Birmingham to Badischer Kunstverein in Karlsruhe, The Showroom in London, Tramway in Glasgow, Site Gallery in Sheffield and Contemporary Art Gallery in Vancouver and was on view at the gallery in 2015.

Grace Schwindt joined the gallery in 2013.

Text courtesy Zeno X Gallery.