Annika Kahrs was born in 1984 in Achim. She studied Fine Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Hamburg. She currently lives and works in Hamburg and Berlin. In her videos, installations and performances, Annika Kahrs explores the margins of music and questions its cultural and social function, its communicative aspects and its formal composition. The relationship between man and nature, the poetic and aesthetic dimensions of natural science, and the representation of natural phenomena all play a part in this artistic process.

Project Description
Annika Kahrs deals with the acoustic recording of the gravitational waves, which were recorded for the first time in 2016 by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Waver Observatory (LIGO). In order to be able to represent these gravitational waves in isolation, all ambient noise must be recorded and subtracted. “In this way, on the one hand, an acoustic map of an everyday reality emerges and, on the other hand, a relationship to a distant event completely detached from human existence” (Kahrs). Phenomena that are completely independent of human cultural achievements are juxtaposed with human acoustic signals, which include not only everyday noises but also music. Annika Kahrs will use her stay in Los Angeles to meet LIGO scientists, with whom she has been in contact since 2018, and to initiate an exchange of scientific and artistic perspectives.  

Solo Exhibitions (Selection)
2019 | the billion year spree, Flat Time House, London, UK
2019 | No Longer Not Yet, Produzentengalerie Hamburg, Hamburg
2019 | Jahn und Jahn, München
2018 | Infra Voice, Kasseler Kunstverein, Kassel

Group Exhibition (Selection) 
2019 | 21ème édition Festival des Cinémas Différents et Expérimentaux de Paris
2019 | Max-Pechstein-Preis, Kunstsammlungen Zwickau Max-Pechstein-Museum, Zwickau
2019 | Fuzzy Dark Spot, Sammlung Falckenberg, Deichtorhallen Hamburg
2017 | VG Award 2017, Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover

Awards (Selection)
2019 | Scholarship / Kunststipendien der ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius
2019 | Residency / VILA SUL, Salvador Bahia, Brasil
2018 | Scholarship / Stiftung Kunstfonds  
2015/16 | Residency / Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris