Mark von Schlegell
born 1967 in New York City, USA.
American science fiction writer and cultural critic Mark von Schlegell, known for his novels, screenplays, essays and plays, often combines speculative fiction with experiments in language. With novels such as "Venusia" (2005), "Mercury Station" (2009), and "Sundogz" (2015), he has received international acclaim for his unique storytelling. In addition to his writing, he creates installations, sculptures and watercolors inspired by reading and writing — his portrait series often feature authors and book covers. His multidisciplinary practice spans multiple genres, combining literature, theory, art, film, criticism, comics, performance and theater. He has presented his work at the Kunsthal Aarhus; the Busan Biennale 2020; the Fridericianum, Kassel; the Kunsthalle Darmstadt; the Kunstverein Hannover, the Sprengel Museum, the Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover; The Kitchen, New York; the ZKM, Karlsruhe; the Halle fuer Kunst, Lüneburg; the Sandberg Institute, Amsterdam; the Museum Ludwig, Cologne; the Lenbachhaus, Munich; the Moderna Museet, Malmö; the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf; the WIELS, Brussels; the Whitney Museum, New York; the Artist's Space, New York; the Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw; the Chisenhale Gallery, London; the CAPC, Bordeaux; the Maxim Gorki Theater, Berlin and the Bergen Konsthal. His books have been published by the MIT Press, Sternberg Press and Semiotext(e).
Gallery exhibitions
Institutional exhibitions
Vita
Lives and works in Cologne Born 1967 in New York, USA
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2022 REAL / BOOKS, Tiny Mutual Admiration Societies, Vienna Exile on Mainstream, Halle für Kunst Steiermark, Graz (Lecture)
2021 Empathy When, Tropez, Berlin
2020 REAL/ BOOKS, Jan Kaps, Cologne Short Stories for Haus Esters Haus Lange, Marion Brasch, Matias Feldbakken, Mark von Schlegell. Online readings. Museum Haus Esters Haus Lange Urthworks (Three Films by Ben Rivers, written by Mark von Schlegell), Hestercombe Gallery, Somerset Urthworks, an Exploration: Ben Rivers, Mark von Schlegell and Sarah Shin with Josephine Lanyon and Tim Martin. Hosted by Gareth Evans, Hestercombe Gallery, UK
2019 Dreaming the Mainstream (artist talk) Art Sonje, Seoul. Secret Lifestyles of the Plants: a bouquet reading. with Sounds by Melissa E. Logan. Harburger Kunstverein. Hamburg. Soul of the White Ant. Lecture in honor of Ron Nagle: Euphoric Recall exhib. Fridericianum, Kassel. Dreaming the Mainstream. live reading/performance for "The Well" Radio program. De Ateliers, Amsterdam Robotique: Coming of Age. Book Launch reading/performance, with Guillaume Denervaud. Balice Hertling. Paris
2017 Der Tempest, for Planet 9 exhibition (full scale theater performance written, directed, performed and designed by Ellen Yeon Kim, and Pure Fiction seminar, Mark von Schlegell co-producing. Kunsthalle Darmstadt, Darmstadt CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE, (full theater production of Berthold Brecht play co-produced/co-written/co-performed with IMPURE FICTION collective for Made in Germany Drei’ exhibition), Kunstverein Hannover, Sprengler Museum, Kestner Geselleschaft, Hannover Frances Scholz: Amboy, (special Expanded Cinema version of Mark von Schlegell’s co-scripted film, with John Miller, Penny Arcade, Kath Bloom, Paul Giamatti), The Kitchen, New York Muenster Lecture: Mark von Schlegell, (hosted by Skulptur Projekte Muenster), Theatertreff Muenster, Muenster Mark von Schlegell, (performance for the "Condo Complex“), Union Pacific, London
2016 Moliere's THE MISANTHROPE, (co-produced/co-written/co-performed with IMPURE FICTION collective for the Montreal Biennial, curated by Philippe Pirotte), Société des Arts Technologiques, Montreal Mark von Schlegell, Dan Graham, Frances Scholz, Emily Harvey Foundation, New York Jacob Wren & Mark von Schlegell, Schatten und Walden, Cologne Roussel Returns, (with Daniel Buchholz), HBK Braunschweig, Klasse Scholz, Braunschweig Dreaming the Mainstream, HgB Karlsruhe, ZKM, Karlsruhe Venusia: a 2-d historo-holograph, Halle fuer Kunst, Lueneberg Artist Talk, Art Department, ZDHK, Zurich Artist Talk, Critical Studies Department, Sandberg Institute, Amsterdam Art/Science/Fiction, Keynote address at ART + SCIENCE + FICTION, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds Artist Talk, Kunstakademie Duesseldorf, Duesseldorf
2015 ROMEO AND JULIET (Reynaldo's Revenge), Pure Fiction, Staedelschule, Frankfurt a. M. Literary Roots of Contemporary Art: Raymond Roussel, Museum Ludwig, Cologne Mark von Schlegell & Marjolijn Dijkman, Lenbachhaus, Munich Writing Novels as a Way Not to Write Art Criticism, (with Chris Kraus), Forde, Geneva Hamlet: Mise en Scene, (hosted by Bridget Donahue and Barbara Gladstone Galleries, with Susan Ciancarlo), Bridget Donahue Gallery, New York Past the End, (with Erika Landström), Kuba Paris, Frankfurt a. M. Dreaming the Mainstream, Moderna Museet Malmo, Malmo Mark von Schlegell, Artist Talk, Art Academy, Malmo, Malmo POLITICS OF TIME, (reading by Sundogz), Berliner Festspiel, Berlin Noon on the Moon, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf
2014 Against Raymond Chandler, (in conjunction with Mark Leckey Exhibition), WIELS, Brussels Ickles, Etc., Schindler House, Los Angeles, MOMA PS1 artbook fair; Pro Quadratmeter, Berlin; King Georg, Cologne Fainnie Azul, (reading for Whitney Biennial performance series), Whitney Museum, New York Horologics, an Introduction, (with George Rippon), Artist's Space, New York Readings of Roussel, Staedelschule Frankfurt a. M.
2013 Dreaming the Mainstream, 21erHaus, Vienna That Column which…, The Book Lovers, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw Interpretations: Discerning Fictions, Columbia University Architecture Department, New York Impure Fiction, Currencies and Collectives: Frankfurt Positionen, Frankfurt Lab, Frankfurt a. M.
2012 HAMLET, mise-en-scène, Extra-Trouble: Jack Smith in Frankfurt festival, Portikus, Frankfurt a. M. Chrononautics: Then & Now, Kunsthochschule fuer Medein Köln, Cologne Dreaming the Mainstream: Science Fiction & Contemporary Art, Melbourne Art Fair, Melbourne Conference de Mark von Schlegell, Haute école d'art et de design, Geneva Starlite, (with Frances Scholz), Chisenhale Gallery, London The Mid-Lister*, Corner College, Zurich
2011 New Dystopia, Pro Quadratmeter, Berlin Beyond the Paperback Revolution: Jack Vance, Staedelschule Frankfurt, in conjunction with Frankfurt Book Fair, Frankfurt a. M. Towards the Physiological Novel, X Marks the Bokship, London Slow Action, (with Ben Rivers), Southbank Centre, London High Wichita, Maxim Gorki Theater, Berlin
2010 Case study: David von Schlegell, Museum Sztuki, Lodz The Paperback Revolution: An Introduction, (closing of John Miller Show) Galerie Christian Nagel, Cologne Dreaming the Mainstream, Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht
2009/2010 LOVE THE CLEAR DARK, (performed and directed with Alex Waterman) for the exhibition This Place You See Has No Size at All (scripted by Mark von Schlegell), Kadist Foundation, Paris; Bergen Konsthal, Bergen Inversions: Frances Scholz and Mark von Schlegell, Staedel School Frankfurt, Frankfurt a.M.; Paris Poe: The Insanity of Reason, Cabaret Voltaire, Zurich Scarlet Letters/Emily Dickinson, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin
2008/2009 A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Empire, HBK Braunschweig, School of Art, Braunschweig; Kunst Akademie, Duesseldorf Mark von Schlegell, Antenne Köln, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne Caribic Residency, (with Marcus Steinweg), Merve Verlag, Frankfurt Book Fair, Frankfurt a. M.
Selected Group Exhibitions
2023 13 for Luck, Jan Kaps, Cologne
2022 I am see, Kirchgasse, Steckborn Pure Fiction - Shifting theatre: Sibyl’s mouths. An Exhibition at the End of Performance, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne
2021 En Bid af Busan Biennalen, Kunsthal Aarhus, Aarhus
2020 Words at an Exhibition: Exhibition in Ten Chapters and Five Poems, Busan Biennale 2020, Busan
2018 (a.) Orality; or, a general assembly on delay, Jan Kaps, Cologne Iwillmedievalfutureu6, (curated by Jacob Fabricius), Kunsthall Aarhus, Aarhus The Plot Against Gravity, Ep, Sankt-Gallen
2017 Asymmetrical architectures, Kunstverein Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Hütti (curated by Veit Laurent Kurz and Ben Schumacher), Ludlow 38, New York The New Normal (organized by Hiba Farhat), The Hangar- Umam & Dawawine, Beirut; Istanbul
2016 A Stay in the Pahphos Loop, Online Exhibition in conjunction/celebration with release of Venusia audiobook, Xyz, Brooklyn Iwillmedievalfutureyou5, Kunsthall Aarhus, Aarhus Iwillmedievalfutureyou4, Museum of Contemporary Art, Roskilde
2014 Die ___Ausstellung, KIT, Düsseldorf World Music, (curated by Steve Bishop and Richard Sides), Carlos/Ishikawa, London
2013 S.O.A.P.Y. I, Neue Alte Bruecke, Frankfurt a. M. A Short History of Cologne, LTD, Los Angeles The Cage (curated by Mark von Schlegell), Galerie Nagel/Draxler, Cologne
2011 DYSTOPIA (An Exhibition written by Mark von Schlegell), CAPC, Bordeaux