Aren’t we like leaves on a tree?
How do we see that a couple is in love? How do we recognise a friend in a crowd? The way we walk is like a hand-writing, the way we hold ourselves a signature.
Mimi Kunz is a visual artist and poet who explores the body as our mother tongue and movement as a universal expression of liveliness.
Her fascination with body language developed during a year spent working in Thailand. She didn’t know Thai at first, and was amazed by how much we can share through gestures and postures. ‘Put the mind in the body’, a Buddhist monk told her, an advice which shaped her life and art.
Opening the borders between abstraction and figuration, text and image, lines and bodies, she explores movement as a language and the body as our mother tongue.
“We humans learn to classify the things of the world at a young age. Like in the game: alive, lifeless, person, object, etc. Artist and poet Mimi Kunz, however, ignores this classification. And she does so with paper that we know is an object, but we also know it is a living creature. “
Marianne Csaky, curator
During her studies at the State Academy of Fine Arts Karlsruhe Mimi found her way of painting, sitting on the floor with calligraphy brushes, ink and paper, feeling into and recreating moments to share their lightness and joy. It has been 11 years since she started to transcribe movements into ink, and her paintings are in private collections across all continents. Her visual artwork as well as her writing were shaped by exhibitions and residencies in South Korea and Vietnam, where it was supported by the Goethe Institut Hanoi and Undecided Productions. Her writing has been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize and nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
RESIDENCIES
2022
Movements in time, Galerie Odradek, 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, B
2018
live.make.share Artist Residency, Undecided Productions, Hanoi, Vietnam
2017
Common Grounds, Artist Residency, Cairngorms National Park, Scotland, UK
2015
Mitten im Zwischen, Artist Residency, Haus am Wehrsteg, Heidelberg, DE
SCHOLARSHIPS
2018
Residency Grant, Goethe Institute Hanoi, Vietnam
2017
Alumni Project Scholarship, Graduiertenförderung des Landes Baden-Württemberg, DE
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 PUBLICATIONS
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
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
A video view into the studio, collaboration with Élisa Vandekerckhove, The Artcouch Belgium, 2020
Interview, Semantic Express, 2020
Le futur du passé. Zu einigen Beobachtungen von Mimi Kunz, catalog text, Axel Heil, 2018 Deutsche Originalversion English version
Leaves. Portrait of a Tightrope Dancer in Autumn., exhibition text, Moritz Gansen, 2015 English version
SOLO AND DUO EXHIBITIONS
2022
Dancing, Galerie Vertige, Brussels
2021
The Shape of Us, Casa del Arte José Clemente Orozco, Concepción, CL
Between Us, with Haleh Chinikar, the exhibit, online
2020
Je compte ses mouvements, with Clément Davout, MAAC, Brussels, BE
Shapes of a Day, theexhibit, online
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
2022
Texte, texture, textil, Galerie 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
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 2018, 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
mimikunz.com 