Mimi Kunz is a visual artist and poet. A Buddhist monk once told her to ‘put the mind in the body’ — advice which has shaped her life and art. Curious about the body as a language, she observes its universal expressions and personal characteristics, pointing out the unconscious gestures through which we read each other’s bodies.
Mimi studied Painting and Graphics at the Staatliche Akademie Karlsruhe, Germany. Her poetry has been shortlisted for the Bridport and nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Her artwork has been shaped by residencies in Europe and Vietnam, exhibited in Brussels (Maison d’Art Actuel des Chartreux, ODRADEK) and internationally (Casa del Arte, Concepción, Chile, Nature Art Biennale, South Korea), and can be found in private collections across all continents. Mimi works with ODRADEK in Brussels and The Artling online. Her work has been supported by the Goethe Institut Hanoi and the European Union.
Living in Brussels with her young family, Mimi lets her life and work merge and inspire each other. This might mean that a child will crawl on stage while she’s reading her poetry.
RESIDENCIES
2024
Physicality, Migrant Landscapes Artist Residency, Pennabilli, Italy, IT
2022
Le fil des mots, Duo Artist Residency with Miriam Rose Gronwald, Odradek XL, Brussels, BE
2021
Time & Realities, Poet and artist in residence (virtual collaboration), invited by Undecided Productions, Vietnam, supported by the Goethe Institut Hanoi and The Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF)
2019
Symbiose, Duo Artist Residency with Stéfan Tulépo, R2D2, Brussels, BE
2018
live.make.share Artist Residency, Undecided Productions, Hanoi, VN
2017
Common Grounds, Artist Residency, Cairngorms National Park, Scotland, UK
2015
Mitten im Zwischen, Artist Residency, Haus am Wehrsteg, Heidelberg, DE
SCHOLARSHIPS, GRANTS
2024
Culture Moves Europe Mobility Grant, European Union and Goethe Institut
2018
Residency Grant, Goethe Institute Hanoi, Vietnam
2017
Alumni Project Scholarship, Graduiertenförderung des Landes Baden-Württemberg
PRIZES
2022
‘Congratulations’ shortlisted for the Bridport Prize
‘The mind in the body’ shortlisted for the Anthology Poetry Award
2021
‘Congratulations’ shortlisted for the Bridport Prize
‘Sharing’ longlisted for the Fish Flash Fiction Prize
‘Congratulations’ longlisted for the Fish Flash Fiction Prize
2020
‘Look’ nominated for a Pushcart Prize
‘Sharing’ longlisted for the Reflex Flash Fiction Prize
‘Complicity’ longlisted for the Grindstone Flash Fiction Prize
2011
Academy Award, State Academy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe, DE
LITERARY & ART PUBLICATIONS
2025
Wise eyes, New moves, paintings and poems, Porridge Magazine, UK
‘Did you see the great big tree?’, ‘Mother Tongue’ , artworks, Pictura Journal, Issue 3, USA
2024
‘Mona Lisa and Ronan Keating’, ‘If I was a singer, poems with paintings ‘Kiss me’ and ‘I feel like’, The Pomegranate London, Issue 7, UK
The O in Grow, poem, London Grip New Poetry, UK
Choreography, ink painting and poem, Ink Sweat & Tears, UK
So what’s it like, this love? IV, ink painting and poem, Ink Sweat & Tears, UK
2023
Sounds are only complimentary, drawing, Hedgerow, A journal of small poems, issue 144, UK
Drawings from ‘A Walk in the Park’, La Piccioletta Barca, online
2022
What your body tells me, All Becomes Art, Speculative Books, Glasgow, UK
2020
Look, Flash Fiction, MoonPark Review, USA
EllenAndHelen, Memoir-in Flash, Ellipsis, UK
Please Hold, Flash Fiction, Flash Frontier, NZ
Équinoxes, poems, editions Ishtar, BE
From Put the Mind in the Body, poems and drawings, The Adjacent Pineapple, UK
2019
April, always – A portrait of Brussels in parts, Prose essays, Brussels Express
2018
By a name I know not how to tell thee who I am, Brussels Writers Series VIII, Brussels Express
The Museum of Favorite Things, short story, The Circle, Harvard Square Editions
Things We Do (crazy about you), short story, Entropy Magazine, USA
2015
Independence Day, short story, Reciprocalturn, DE
STUDIES
2020
The Science of Well-Being, Yale, USA
2014-2015
Post-MA (Meisterschülerin), Graphics and Painting, Academy of Fine Arts Karlsruhe, Germany
2009-2014
MA Graphics and Painting, Academy of Fine Arts Karlsruhe, Germany, class Prof. Daniel Roth
2007-2009
BA-Studies in English Literature, Translation, Sociolinguistics and Art History, Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Germany
WORKSHOPS
2017
Workshop «rock, paper, line», Karlsruhe University, DE
2016
Open Studio Workshop, Musée des Beaux de Lyon, FR
SITE SPECIFIC COMMISSIONED WORK
2025
Where do I end and we begin? installation, The Nine, Brussels, BE
2017
Shapes of a day, wall painting, private collection, Brussels, BE
Birdmen, wall painting, private collection, Waterloo, BE
2016
Syllabary Tree, wall drawing, private collection, Bruxelles, BE
PRESS
Mimi Kunz: Mother Tongue, podcast, Laura Godfrey-Isaacs, Maternal Journal, S2E3, 2025
Interview with artist Mimi Kunz, Interview and book excerpt, Porridge Magazine, 2025
Contibuters Interview: Mimi Kunz, Interview, Pictura Journal, 2025
The Body as Our Universal Mother Tongue — A Conversation with Mimi Kunz, Interview, Christina Wunder, Tint Journal, 2025
Mimi Kunz: “So what’s it like, this love?”, Interview, Femke van Son, The Brussels Review, 2025
“So what’s it like, this love?”, A letter to new parents, Pregnant in Belgium, 2024
Art, poetry and Motherhood: Book launch and exhibition by Brussels artist MImi Kunz, Alia Papageorgiou, The Bulletin, 2024
Joint Creation: One Plus One Equals Three, Patrick ten Brink, travel tomorrow, 2023
A video view into the studio, Élisa Vandekerckhove, The Artcouch Belgium, 2020
Interview, Semantic Express, 2020
Le futur du passé. Zu einigen Beobachtungen von Mimi Kunz, Axel Heil, 2018 Deutsche Originalversion English version
Leaves. Portrait of a Tightrope Dancer in Autumn, Moritz Gansen, 2015 English version
SOLO AND DUO EXHIBITIONS
2025
Belonging, The Nine, Brussels, BE
2024
Between Mountains, Around Tables, Church, Casteldelci, IT
2024
Melodies, Alto Galleria, Brussels, BE
2024
The Mind In The Body, Studio Louise, Brussels, BE
2023
A Walk in the Park, with Alexandra Huddleston, Streetview, Brussels, BE
2022
Somewhere, Alto Galleria, Brussels, BE
2022
Dancing, Galerie Vertige, Brussels, BE
2021
The Shape of Us, Casa del Arte José Clemente Orozco, Concepción, CL
2021
Between Us, with Haleh Chinikar, the exhibit, online
2020
Je compte ses mouvements, with Clément Davout, MAAC, Brussels, BE
2020
Shapes of a Day, theexhibit, online
2020
Pedestrians, Muntpunt, Brussels, BE
2018
Fictions, Chapitre XII, Brussels, BE
2017
Blue and Snow, Museum of Contemporary Arts, Durbach, DE
2015
Bonsai, Labokube, Brussels, BE
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024
10 ans d’asémie, ODRADEK, Brussels, BE
2023
Something Beautiful, LaVallée, Brussels, BE
2022
Texte, texture, textil, ODRADEK, Brussels, BE
2021
Something Beautiful, LaVallée, Brussels, BE
Time&Realities, Goethe Institut Hanoi, VN
Transparence, Galerie Vertige, Brussels, BE
2020
La petite cosmogonie portative, LOTO, Brussels , BE
The female haze(d), Decoatelier Brussels, BE
WeArtXL, Brussels, BE
Nature Art Cube Exhibition, Geumgang Nature Art Center, Gongju City, KR
2019
Le Horla, Sterput Gallery, Brussels , BE
PAPER, Streetview Anderlecht, Brussels, BE
WeArtXL, Ixelles, Brussels, BE
Cube, Jeongseojin Artcube, Incheon, KR
Symbiose, R2D2, Brussels, BE
Something Beautiful, LaVallée, Brussels, BE
2018
Lms + Xbc = <3, Xom Bac Cau Cultural Space, Hanoi, VN
Open Day, the museum, Hien Van Village, VN
The Lion’s Face, The Pipe Factory, Glasgow, UK
Nature Art Cube Exhibition, Geumgang Nature Art Biennale , Geumgang Nature Art Center, KR
Asymmetrische Demobilisierung, Galerie Luis Leu, Karlsruhe, DE
Eau, Blasius Boekel-Zwalm, BE
Carte de Visite, Brussels, BE
Modules, Rome, IT
2017
Galerie Ahnen 5, Galerie Luis Leu, Karlsruhe, DE
Étude et métaphore du vivant, LeKabinet, Brussels, BE
Graduation scholarship exhibition, State Academy of Fine Arts Karlsruhe, DE
Zoveel Many Trees >< Abattre, LaVallée, Brussels, BE
Wildwuchs, Orangerie Wolfegg, DE
Mitten im Zwischen, Haus am Wehrsteg, Heidelberg, DE
Old & New masters, Galerie Bastien Art, Brussels, BE
2016
Katsika, MEDEX, Paris, FR
Graduation Scholarship Exhibition, State Academy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe, DE
If Wishes were Fishes, LaVallée, Brussels, BE
Entre les lignes, Galerie Bastien Art, Brussels, BE
NOW, Breitenbachstudios, Heidelberg, DE
Pavillon Calmo, Orgelfabrik, Karlsruhe, DE
2015
Graduation Scholarship Exhibition, State Academy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe, DE
Summer exhibition, State Academy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe, DE
TOP 15 Meisterschüler exhibition, Kunstverein, Reutlingen, DE
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