Keren Shalev sculpture drawing | Keren Shalev
If all the framing stories were dropped, leaving only you, me, and the world around us—the world of phenomena—what would happen in that encounter? How would we experience it?
When I do art, I feel as if I am entering a mental space or landscape where I am alone. There are no sounds, and it is a place of wreckage, abandoned.
I wander there and look at the scattered pieces of material. Nothing comes together into something recognizable, but everything seems to belong to the place and to each other. Everything—the materials—looks dry: concrete, metal, rust. Even the puddles or the mud seem dry. And I walk and look around. My eyes jump between abstract compositions, and once in a while something catches me: some arrangement or composition that looks like a solved equation. I fixate on it—an arrangement in which all the parts, and the relations between them, are in a state of resolving each other. There is wonder and beauty in it. A framed phenomenon.
I am not thinking about making artwork; I am thinking about all those pieces in that space. Sometimes they are unresolved, open. And sometimes they, and I, and the entire world become part of the framed phenomenon. I reflect in them, and they in me, and we are present together.
In those states, in these relationships, there is usually a formalistic and materialistic logic and clarity. Understanding it is similar to understanding the functionality of an object. But in these phenomena, no function serves an action I want to perform. It is a phenomenon like there being a flower. But unlike a flower, my direct actions with the materials enable this phenomenon. I am a direct part of it. This is my art.
Keren Shalev
Born in Israel, in 1982
Lives and works in Berlin, Germany
Sculptures in public spaces
since 2019
Schiffswrack, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin (permanent sculpture)
Illusionary/ real encounter on the shore, Schlosspark Stammheim Kunst, Köln
2017-19
Schiffswrack, Schlosspark Stammheim Kunst, Köln- catalog, poster
2015-16
Schiffswrack, Radial System V, Berlin
Kunst am Bau
2022
Sustainable dynamics, Paavo-Nurmi prime school, Berlin
2. place, Kunst am Bau competition- TU Dresden Institut für Energietechnik
Fundings
2022
Stiftung Kunstfonds, Neustart Kultur grant for freelance visual artists
2021
Kulturstiftung des Freistaates Sachsen
2019
Szloma-Albam Stiftung
Solo exhibitions
2022
not alone in the valley of stones, Odalisque showroom, Berlin
2021
nothingness ̇one piece ̇two elements, Alte Feuerwache Loschwitz, Dresden
2019
Silence & Structure, Tête, Berlin
Self Reflection on Homeostasis, 48 Stunden Neukölln, Berliner Berg Brewery, Berlin
Ausstellung with Jungekunstberlin, Bristol Hotel, Berlin
2018
Hiding in foreign shadows, under buildings and in between, unperceived existence-Shush gallery
2017
Boat Wreck, Helmut, Leipzig - article
2016
Constructions, 48 Stunden Neukölln, Gordon, Berlin
2015
Consolidated-Scattered, Plateau gallery, Berlin
Two-person exhibitions
2025
viel-leicht, with Ev Pommer, Blick, Berlin
2022
Offene Ecken, with Anna Myga Kasten, Galerie Drei, Dresden
2018
Bilinguale Lautskulptur - Performance with Mirjam Dorsch, Verlorene Zeit, Berlin
2017
Gentle Destructions, exhibition with Zorka Wollny, Flugwerk, Berlin - Text by Paz Ponce
2016
Ein Ort des Jetzt, Installation with Stephan Sitaras, Ruberoid Festival, Acud macht neu, Berlin
2014
Running man - Performance with Udi Berner, ́Reconstructing Reality’- T Berlin, Berlin and at Hachalalit gallery, Tel Aviv
2013
Peaceful burning - Performance with Udi Berner, Greenhouse, Berlin and at Kunst im Haus- Die Teatrale, Berlin
Selected group exhibitions
2025
Temporäres Alibi, Hyle Galerie, Hamburg
ALLES VII, studio im HOCHHAUS, Berlin
2024
Paperfile # 20, Oqbo Galerie, Berlin
Anonyme Zeichner*Innen 2024, Kunstraum Kreuzberg / Bethanien, Berlin
2022
15 min of fame, Mobile Art Space with Skulputurverein, Berlin
The Abstract View, Junge Kunst Berlin, Museum Modern Art Hünfeld
un-structured, Axel Obiger gallery, Berlin
Galerie Asterisk - eine feministische Intervention, online exhibition
2020
with EDGE Neuroscience-Art, Online in Artsteps
2019
Broken spaces, Tapir gallery, Berlin
Konkret, Alte Feuerwache Loschwitz, Dresden
Enclaves, Monopol, Berlin
ZUKUNFTSVISIONEN2019, Görlitz
2018
Das Kapital collection, SchauFenster Gallery, Berlin
The Abstract View, Junge Kunst Berlin, Stiftung Starke, Berlin
SCHAUfenster à la Art, Kunstpreis des Landkreises Alzey-Worms, Wörrstadt
2017
Fremde Werte, Galerie Drei, Dresden
Kostbarkeiten, Rathaus Marzahn, Berlin
Capriccio, Haus am Kleistpark, Berlin
Kunstgäste #6, Kulturbunker, Köln
Performing Arts Festival Berlin, K77, Berlin
Souvenir – Ein Stillleben, Art Vending Machine, Jewish Museum Berlin
2016
Berlin art week exhibition-"50 Contemporary artists"- EAF, Berlin
Erde, Stahl & Leuchten, Hinterm Spaeti, Berlin
Heimat - Identifikation im Wandel, Künstlerverein Walkmühle e.V., Wiesbaden
2015
Roundabout- ID Festival, Radialsystem V, Berlin
Don´t call it a context, Kreuzberg Pavillon, Berlin
2014
Danalogue- Crossing Borders, Infarm, Berlin
2013
Kunst im Haus- Die Theatrale, Berlin
2012
Twin cities, Brasov
2010
It's Called Culture, Abracsas, Tel Aviv and at Bass, Jerusalem
Education
2024-
Philosophy/Ethic, Humboldt University, Berlin
2014-15
Museumskunde, Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin
2009-11
Teaching diploma. Kibbutzim College of Education, Israel
2004-9
B.A. Fine Arts. University of Haifa, Israel
2003-4
Sculpture, Hagalil Hama’aravi College, Akko, Israel
Curation
2021
The elusive air between the viewer and the artwork, with EDGE - Blurring the Borders between Art and Neuroscience e.V., 48 Stunden Neukölln, Berlin
2019
Extended Matter, Becher Triennale, Berlin Glas e.V, Berlin - catalog
Enclaves, Monopol, Berlin