Julius von Bismarck’s work forces a perceptual adjustment, like going to see a mental chiropractor. His ultimate subject, in objects, images, performances, and the movement of land, is how we see the world, and in turn construct reality. This pursuit can take the form of a discrete object, such as Die Mimik der Tethys (2019), an encrusted buoy plucked from the Atlantic, and fixed, swaying with the currents from a ceiling or Fire with Fire (2019), a series of images made from and reshaping the California fires, bringing the beauty and terror of Romance to the twenty-first century. Von Bismarck’s diverse projects often require the artist to travel far and wide. For Talking to Thunder (2017), he spent time in a remote area of Venezuela on a quest to manipulate lighting bolts, and onward to the far reaches of Russia for his signature landscape paintings. Space Fish (2017) found von Bismarck teaching tropical freshwater fish to swim through the cold waters of the Antarctic Sea facilitated by a custom swimsuit.
The artist continues to work in the public realm. His Public Face (2010) has been installed on rooftops in Lindau, Berlin, and Vienna. In it, the artist uses advanced facial recognition software to control an oversized steel-backed smiley face with a flexible eye and mouth area reflecting the city’s mood. In 2021, the city of Essen will unveil a city park transformed by von Bismarck into a memorial for the city’s vanished twentieth-century buildings in the form of 1-to-8 scale steel replicas of each destroyed structure at 1-to-8.
Julius von Bismarck is a graduate of the Berlin University of the Arts (UDK) and the Institute for Spatial Experiments funded by Olafur Eliasson, with whom he studied for his 2013 Master’s Degree. He has mounted solo exhibitions at the Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, Germany; the Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France; Kunstpalais Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany; the Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg, Germany; Artothek Kunstverein Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany; Kunstverein Arnsberg, Arnsberg, Germany. He has also taken part in international group exhibitions, among them the Palais de Tokyo and the 1st Antarctic Biennale (2017) at the Venice Biennale. He was the winner of the Ars Electronica award in 2008 for his project, Image Fulgurator. In 2012 he was the first artist in residency at the CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research). He lives and works in Berlin.
Julius von Bismarck b. 1983, Breisach am Rhein, Germany
EDUCATION
2005 Visual Communication, Berlin University of the Arts, Berlin, Germany
2006 Visual Communication, Digital Class, under professor Joachim Sauter, Berlin University
of the Arts, Germany
2007 MFA, Hunter College New York, NY, USA
2009 Institute for Spatial Experiments, under professor Olafur Eliasson, Berlin University of
the Arts, Berlin, Germany
2013 Masters, under professor Olafur Eliasson, Berlin University of the Arts, Berlin Germany
GRANTS, AWARDS, RESIDENCIES
2018 Award of the Shifting Foundation, Beverly Hills, CA, USA
2017 Junge Stadt sieht Junge Kunst, Prize of the City of Wolfsburg, Germany
2013 IBB Photography Award, IBB Atrium, Berlin, Germany
2011 Prix Ars Collide@CERN, Linz, Austria, CERN, Switzerland
2010 Beep Electronic Art Award, Madrid, Spain
2009 Prix Ars Electronica Award with the Perpetual Storytelling Apparatus, Linz, Austria Selection of the Jury, Japan Media Arts Festival 2009, Tokyo, Japan
2008 Golden Nica Award with the Image Fulgurator at Prix Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2026 Yi Museum, Hangzhou, China (upcoming)
Australian Center of Contemporary Art, Melbourne, Australia (upcoming)
2025 KunstHaus Wien, Vienna, Austria
BeiQiu Museum, Nanjing, China
You Can Dance if You Willow, The Ranch, Montauk, NY
2024 Grenzen der Intelligenzen, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany
Grenzen der Intelligenzen, alexander levy, Berlin, Germany
Zwei Wölfinnen, Esther Schipper, Berlin, Germany
2023 Julius von Bismarck, La Pista 500, Pinacoteca Agnielli, Torino, Italy
In the Beginning, Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf, Germany
When Platitudes Become Form, Berlinische Galerie. Museum für Moderne Kunst, Berlin, Germany
2022 Whole Earth Archive, alexander levy, Berlin, Germany
2021 NEUSTADT, with Marta Dyachenko, Emscherkunstweg, Bochum, Germany
Landscape Painting, Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf, Germany
2020 Feuer mit Feuer, Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, Germany
2019 I Am Afraid, with Julian Charrière, Sies + Höke, Dusseldorf, Germany Die Mimik der Tethys, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
2018 Immer noch der Lauf der Dinge, alexander levy, Berlin, Germany I’m afraid I must ask you to leave, with Julian Charrière, Kunstpalais Erlangen, Germany
Public Face, with Benjamin Maus and Richard Wilhelmer, Hamburg, Germany
2017 Gewaltenteilung, Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg, Germany Talking to Thunder, Sies + Höke, Dusseldorf, Germany Good Weather, Marlborough Contemporary, New York, NY, USA
2016 Approximately Three Dimensions, alexander levy, Berlin, Germany
Desert Now, with Julian Charrière and Felix Kiessling, Steve Turner, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Objects in mirror might be closer than they appear, with Julian Charrière, Villa Bernasconi,
Grand-Lancy, Geneva, Switzerland
2015 Landscape Painting, Marlborough Chelsea, New York, NY, USA
2014 History Apparatus, Kunstverein Arnsberg, Arnsberg, Germany
Clockwork, with Julian Charrière, OBEN, Vienna, Austria
2013 Unfall am Mittelpunkt Deutschlands, alexander levy, Berlin, Germany
Les bêtes sont bêtes et les plantes le sont encore plus, Galerie Ilka Bree, Bordeaux, France
This is so romantic, IMO Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
2012 Punishment I, alexander levy, Berlin, Germany
LE DICTATEUR: These Peanuts are Bullets, Family Business, New York, NY
2011 5 Minute Museum, STRP, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
2009 Julius von Bismarck: IMAGE FULGURATOR, Kapelica Gallery, Ljublijana, Slovenia
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025 We Are Landscapes, Max Levai, New York, NY
GAMeC - Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Bergamo, Italy
Blickachsen Biennale 14, Bad Homburg, Germany
FIX IT!, UMBAU statt Abriss, nGbK, Berlin, Germany
Capítulo VII: Shifting Grounds, LagoAlgo, Mexico City, Mexico
Touch Nature, Lentos Kunstmuseum, Linz, Austria
Kin Is Not Kind, alexander levy, Berlin, Germany
2024 Böse Blumen, Sammlung Scharf-Gerstenberg, Berlin, Germany
Save Land, United for Land, Bundeskunsthalle Bonn, Germany
Messengers from above: Meteoriten - mysteriöse Boten aus dem All, ERES Stiftung, Munich,
Germany
Gaia Should Be Safe, Macalline Center of Art, Beijing, China
A Botanical Conversation, Harlan Levey Projects, Brussels, Belgium
Hello Nature: Wie wollen wir zusammen leben?, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nürnberg,
Germany
Arcadia!, Kewenig, Berlin, Germany
The Parliament of Marmots, Biennale Gherdëina, Ortisei, Italy
Arcadia, Bally Foundation, Lugano, Switzerland
When the Monster is Speaking, Beijing Inside-Out Art Museum, Beijing, China
Fiktion der Wirklichkeit, Bilker Bunker, Düsseldorf, Germany
20 Jahre Langen Foundation: Drei Generationen – Eine Leidenschaft, Langen Foundation,
Neuss, Germany
Horizon and Limits, CaixaForum, Barcelona, Spain
High Five, Kunstpalais, Erlangen, Germany
Heavy Water / of Coordinates, Containers and Containment, alexander levy, Berlin, Germany
2023 So wie wir sind, Weserburg Museum für moderne Kunst, Bremen, Germany
16: Bienal de Artes Mediales Santiago de Chile, Chile
Mexichrome: Fotografía y color en México, Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City,
Mexico
The Bright Side of the Desert Moon, Noor Riyadh Festival, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Horizon and Limit, CaixaForum, Madrid, Spain
Erde: Verwobenes Leben, Kunststiftung DZ Bank, Frankfurt, Germany
ENERGIE:ENERGEIA, Delphie Space, Freiburg, Germany
Artists for Nature, Museum Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany
Abenteuer Abstraktion, Sprengel Museum, Hannover, Germany
ANGST - Krisenindikator oder Überlebenstrieb, Künstlerverein Walkmühle, Wiesbaden, Germany
Ausstellung zum Wettbewerb des Hans-Purrmann-Preises, Kulturhof Flachsgasse, Speyer,
Germany
2022 Bienal do Mercusol: BIENAL 13, Porto Alegre, Brazil
Breathing Water, Drinking Air, Sammlung Philara, Düsseldorf, Germany
Chronicles of Disappearance, Mönchehaus Museum, Goslar, Germany
Forest Through the Trees, Adam Aronson Fine Arts Center, St. Louis, USA
Art Biesenthal, with Julian Charrière, Wehrmühle Biesenthal, Biesenthal, Germany
4. ART SAFIENTAL Biennale *von der Erde lernen, Tenna, Safiental, Switzerland
Landscape of Memory, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Conference Center, Paris, France
When the Wind Blows , Kunsthaus Wien, Vienna, Austria
Breathless, The Power Plant, Toronto, Canada
Sammlung Boros #4, Boros Collection, Berlin, Germany
2020 Lichtsicht 7 Projektions-Triennale, Bad Rothenfelde, Germany
K60, Wilhelm Hallen, Berlin, Germany
Studio Berlin, Berghain, Berlin, Germany
Als wir verschwanden. Vier Videoarbeiten, Bündner Kunstverein, Chur, Switzerland
NEUSTADT, Emscherkunstweg, Oberhausen, Germany
Féstival Images Vevey, Switzerland
Amish Quilts meet Modern Art. Staatliches Textil- und Industriemuseum Augsburg, Germany
Seestücke – Von der Romantik bis zur klassischen Moderne, Museum Kunst der Westküste,
Alkersum/Föhr, Germany
2019 Nowness Experiments: The Mesh, K11 Art Foundation, Shanghai, China
Just a bowl of cherries, 7th Thessaloniki Biennale, Experimental Center for the Arts, Thessaloniki,
Greece
Festival GAMERZ 15e Édition, Aix-en-Provence, France
The Third Bank, Anozero ’19 – Bienal de Coimbra, Portugal
Das Tier in der Kunst, Wurlitzer PTC, Berlin, Germany
No mould. Sculpture in the MUSAC Collection, Museo de La Rioja, Spain
Symposium at the 58th Venice Biennale – SPACE IS THE PLACE, Centro Culturale Don Orione
Artigianelli, Venice, Italy
Elementarteile. Grundbausteine des Sprengel Museum Hannover und seiner Kunst, Sprengel
Museum Hannover, Hanover, Germany
Ré-flexions. Autour des nouvelles acquisitions, FRAC Alsace, Sélestat, France
MASK. THE ART OF TRANSFORMATION, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany
Post-Water, Museo Nazionale della Montagna CAI Torino, Italy
Nature in Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Krakow (MOCAK), Poland
History Apparatus, Kunstverein Arnsberg, Germany
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Arken Museum, Ishøj, Denmark
Berlinische Galerie. Museum für Moderne Kunst, Berlin, Germany
Boros Collection, Berlin, Germany
Colección BEEP de Arte Electrónico, Spain
DZ BANK Kunststiftung, Frankfurt, Germany
ERES Stiftung, Munich, Germany
FRAC Alsace, Sélestat, France
Fundación Televisa, Mexico City, Mexico
Kunsthalle Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
MOCAK, Museum of Contemporary Art in Kraków, Kraków, Poland
Musac - Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León, France
Museum Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany
Sammlung Hense, Gescher, Germany
Sammlung Philara, Düsseldorf, Germany
Sammlung zeitgenössischer Kunst der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn, Germany
Sprengel Museum Hannover, Hannover, Germany
Stadtgalerie Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg, Germany
