Matthias Wagner K

Matthias Wagner K, born in 1961 in Jena and now based in Berlin, is an independent curator who specializes in light-based art as well as Icelandic art and culture.

In the field of contemporary art involving light, Matthias Wagner K has curated exhibitions by Michel Verjux, James Turrell, Gunda Förster and Mischa Kuball, among others. He has also organized exhibitions on themes of cultural history, such as “Licht und Verführung” (Light and seduction) and “Licht – die Magie des Bühnenraums” (Light – the magic of the stage), both in collaboration with S. Schirdewahn. Since 2002 he has been artistic director of a presentation of light-based artworks in the Hellweg region of the Ruhr area. During the European Capital of Culture year in 2010 Wagner K will be artistic director of the first Biennale for International Light Art on the theme of “open light in private spaces”.

In 2005 Wagner K co--directed (with C. Stahl) the festival “ISLANDBILDER” (Images of Iceland), the most comprehensive presentation to date of Icelandic art and culture outside Iceland. This was followed by further exhibitions on contemporary Icelandic art and design, such as “ISLAND::FILM” (with S. Schirdewahn) – a presentation on Icelandic film from 1904 to 2008 that was conceived as a travelling exhibition, “Nordlicht – Mythos und Melancholie” (Northern lights – myth and melancholy) and “Icelandic Fashion & Design – inspired by nature”. In 2006 he assumed a curatorial post at the Nordic Embassies in Berlin, and in 2008 he was appointed curator of the artistic and cultural programme to accompany Iceland’s appearance as Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2011.

Matthias Wagner K has written widely on critical issues in contemporary art. He co-edited the first publication on Icelandic fashion design and Icelandic film, and has also published a bibliophile edition with photographs by Halldór Laxness. His lecturing activities in Germany and abroad include topics such as “Nietzsche und der Mensch im 21. Jahrhundert” (Nietzsche and 21st-century man) and “Licht – Über Denk- und Empfindungsreservate im 20. und 21. Jahrhundert” (Light – on reserves of thought and sensation in the 20th and 21st centuries).