Pola Sieverding
1981 Born in Duesseldorf, working and living in Berlin
2002 Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
2005 Surikov Institut Moscow, Russia
2007 University of the Arts Berlin, master-class student of Stan Douglas
„The protagonists of my work are fascinating through their multitude and their controversy that generates its significance in regard to aesthetics. This is also the cutting point to my architectural work—the city as a stage of controversy, where diverse aesthetics and functions are performed next to each other and create the collage-like framework of the social fabric.“- Pola Sieverding for I HEART BERLIN
Pola Sieverdings artistic work usually consists of photo series and films in which she illuminates traditional views of cultural structures or motives from a different angle. What is particularly fascinating in her works is her compositional approach, in which her photographs refer to references in art history. With photography, video and sound she investigates the physical body as bearer of historical narratives that shape a contemporary discourse on the social body. Her series of the past years build upon each other and it is a great experience to allow oneself to be caught by her gaze, and to let the tension and staging of her works take effect on you.
Selected grants
2018 Produktionsstipendium, d’mage Fine Art Printmanufaktur, Berlin
2017 Publication grant, Stiftung Zukunft NRW
2014 Work stipendium the visual arts by the Senat of Berlin
2011 Artist in Residence, MeetFactory, Prague, Czech Republic
Artist in Residence, Maumaus, Lisbon, Portugal
2008/09 NaFöG stipend by the Senat of Berlin and the UdK Berlin
2008 Artist in Residence, ArtSchool Palestine, Ramallah, Palestine DAAD in New York, USA
Selected lectures & teaching
2016 – 2020 Assistant professor at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Munich, DE
2019 Lecture „Pecha Kucha zum 100-jährigen Frauenwahlrecht“, Hearthouse, Munich, DE
2018 „Days of Future Past“, book presentation, NAK Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Aachen, DE
2016 Workshop, One Fine Day e.V., Nairobi, KE
„trail“, book presentation with Natascha Sadr Haghighian, Studio for Artistic Research, Düsseldorf, DE
Curatorial projects
2022
Curator of 'Think We Must' at Akademie Galerie – Die Neue Sammlung for düsseldorf photo+, Düsseldorf, DE
Co-founder, conceptualization and realisation of düsseldorf photo+ – biennial for visual and sonic media, Düsseldorf, DE
2020
Co-founder, conceptualization and realisation of düsseldorf photo+ – biennial for visual and sonic media, Düsseldorf, DE
2020
Curator of „Bodies that Matter – Yalda Afsah & Ginan Seidl, Talia Chetrit, Zanele Muholi, Collier Schorr, Pola Sieverding, Wolfgang Tillmans“, NRW Forum, Düsseldorf, DE
2019
L'artiste devant sa toile – 33 students of the Akademie der Bildenden Künste München, Kunstverein Marburg, DE
Selected exhibitions
2025
Polaroids, Helmut Newton Foundation, Museum für Fotografie, Berlin, DE
2024
Stigma, Setareh, Berlin, DE (s)
Being in the Garden of the Forking Paths, OFFICE IMPART, Berlin, DE
Tom of Finland, Art&Culture Festival 2024, Halle am Berghain, Berlin, DE
WAYS OF SEEING, Düsseldorf photo+, Biennale for Visual and Sonic Media, Düsseldorf, DE
Jorinde Voigt – Constant Vision, Max Liebermann Haus, Berlin, DE
Another Day at the Office, OFFICE IMPART, Berlin, DE
POLA & PABLO, Kunst Kunz Gallery Editions, Munich, DE
THE DELICATE THINGS THAT GIRLS DO, signs and symbols, New York, USA
Contact Zone, OPEN BERLIN and OFFICE IMPART, Berlin, DE (s)
2021
That was then, this is now, signs and symbols, New York, USA
artists and allies IV, signs and symbols, online
Berlin-Britzenale 2021, Berlin, DE
Paradise Lost. #gender shift, DG Kunstraum, Munich, DE
A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss, Bark Berlin Gallery, Berlin, DE
Points of Resistance, by KLEINERVONWIESE and MOMENTUM, Zionskirche, Berlin, DE
2020
we tell ourselves stories in order to live, signs and symbols, New York, USA
Nocturnal, with Orson Sieverding, Kanya & Kage, Berlin, DE
1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1 – VERSAMMLUNGSFREIHEIT – ART. 8 GG, Villa Schöningen, Berlin, DE
OPEN, curated by Amélie Esterházy, Open Berlin, Berlin, DE
PAS DE DEUX Part 2, Galerie Sabine Knust, Munich, DE
Part of the radio play YOU’RE SO PARANOID, YOU PROBABLY THINK THIS RADIO SHOW IS ABOUT YOU, Paranoia TV, Steirischer Herbst 2020, Online
CHEAP People Are Other People 1–5, Open Air Performance Screening, Akademie der Künste der Welt, Cologne, DE
Bodies that Matter – Yalda Afsah & Ginan Seidl, Talia Chetrit, Zanele Muholi, Collier Schorr, Pola Sieverding, Wolfgang Tillmans, NRW Forum, Duesseldorf, DE
Paradise Lost #gendershift, Deutsche Gesellschaft für christliche Kunst, Munich, DE
Body Check. Pola Sieverding and Jochem Hendricks, Seehof, Frankfurt, DE (s)
Conny Maier, Hannah Sophie Dunkelberg, Pola Sieverding, OFFICE IMPART, Berlin, DE
Interintimes Autoportrait, Lachenmann Art, Frankfurt, DE
Copines – Copains, Wentrup Gallery, Berlin, DE
Vertikalwinkel, Schaufenster, Berlin, DE
Demi-gros, KWADRAT, Berlin, DE
Bodies that matter, Knust✕Kunz+, Munich, DE (s)
Pola Sieverding, KSP Juergen Engel architects, Berlin, DE (s)
Gustav Peichl – 15 Bauten zum 90sten, MAK – Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna, AT(s)
The Epic – Pola Sieverding, Studio for Artistic Research, Düsseldorf, DE (s)
Video Art At Midnight – Festival ’18, Kino Babylon, Berlin, DE
Interlocal, Art Gallery of Uzbekistan, Tashkent, UZ
The Inverse Narrative, Lippische Gesellschaft für Kunst, Lemgo, DE
Von fremden Ländern in eigenen Städten, MAP Markus Ambach projects, Düsseldorf, DE
Ein Turm von Unmöglichkeiten, König Galerie, Berlin, DE
2017
CLOSE TO CONCRETE II – Video des Monats, Hartware MedienKunstVerein, Dortmund, DE (s)
Video Art at Midnight, Kino Babylon, Berlin, DE
MEASURES OF DISTANCE – A screening with works by Clark, Deleuze, Hatoum, Leckey, Liden, Sieverding, POTTS, Los Angeles, USA
Picha / Bilder – Zwischen Nairobi und Berlin, me Collectors Room, Stiftung Olbricht, Berlin, DE
*(s) solo exhibition
Collaborations & performances
2019 Palast der Republik. CHEAP 1+1 ungleich 1+1. Ein ausgeleiertes Konzert, Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Berlin, DE
2018 Düsseldorf Photo, VERSION featuring ORSON&POLA, Orson Sieverding und Pola Sieverding, Weltkunstzimmer Düsseldorf, DE
2013 pssst LEOPARD 2A7+, Natascha Sadr Haghighian, Johann König Galerie, Berlin, DE
2012 http://pfad.d13.documenta.de, Natascha Sadr Haghighian in Zusammenarbeit mit Pola Sieverding, dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, DE
Journal
Socials
Saleroom
Check out the Saleroom with current works of Pola Sieverding. For more information contact us.
