8 May 2024

“The Murmur of the Cosmos”
The Akademie der Künste presents an exhibition by Sandra Vásquez de la Horra, winner of the 2023 Käthe Kollwitz Prize

19 June – 25 August 2024
Award ceremony and opening: Tuesday, 18 June 2024
Press preview on 18 June 2024, 11 am
Akademie der Künste, Hanseatenweg

To coincide with the award of the 2023 Käthe Kollwitz Prize to Sandra Vásquez de la Horra, the Akademie der Künste is presenting the exhibition The Murmur of the Cosmos in the Akademie building on Hanseatenweg. A selection of the artist’s drawings, photographs and objects will be put on display in a site-specific installation. The exhibition opening will follow the award ceremony, which is due to take place on Tuesday, 18 June 2024.

The work of Chilean artist Sandra Vásquez de la Horra, who has been living in Germany since 1995, focuses on conflicts that society is obliged to deal with today around the globe: it marries questions relating to the gender hierarchy and sexuality, intercultural reflections and spiritual practices with archetypes from our collective consciousness and social taboos. The artist draws on dreams, the subconscious and memories to create poetic imagery centred on human existence – explicitly women and the female body. Her work is influenced not only by her country’s history but also by her examination of her own family history, the mythologies of the Indigenous population and European colonial rule in Central and South America.
De la Horra’s large- and small-format drawings on paper and cardboard rely on precision and are animated by the artist’s use of compression and colour. Some of her works executed with graphite, gouache and pencil are fixed in a wax bath, giving them a material and physical quality.

Sandra Vásquez de la Horra was born in 1967 in Viña Del Mar in Chile, where she studied visual communication before going on to study fine art at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, under the tutelage first of Jannis Kounellis and later of Rosemarie Trockel. She continued her education at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne, where she focused on photography, film and new media. She relocated to Germany in 1995. Her work featured at the 59th Biennale di Venezia in 2022 and can be seen actually in a large-scale solo exhibitions at the Denver Art Museum (2024) and in 2025 the Haus der Kunst in Munich.

A book is to be published in conjunction with the exhibition.

The Käthe Kollwitz Prize, which comes with an award of 12,000 euros, has been given to visual artists on an annual basis since 1960. Recent recipients include Nan Goldin (2022), Maria Eichhorn (2021), Timm Ulrichs (2020), Hito Steyerl (2019), Adrian Piper (2018) and Katharina Sieverding (2017).
The Käthe Kollwitz Prize has been co-funded by the Kreissparkasse Köln, which sponsors the Käthe Kollwitz Museum in Cologne, since 1992.

The Murmur of the Cosmos. Sandra Vásquez de la Horra
Käthe Kollwitz Prize 2023
Akademie der Künste
Hanseatenweg 10, 10557 Berlin
Tel. 030 200 57-2000

Award ceremony and exhibition opening
Tuesday, 18 June 2024, 7 pm
with Magdalena Atria Barros, Rolf Tegtmeier, Ulrike Grossarth, Jenny Graser, Sandra Vásquez de la Horra
Free admission

Exhibition
19 June – 25 August 2024
Tue – Fri, 2–7 pm; Sat & Sun, 11 am – 7 pm
Tickets: €6/4
Free admission for under-18s and on Tuesdays and the first Sunday of each month

>> Press preview: Tuesday, 18 June 2024, 11 am
Please register in advance by emailing presse@adk.de.

>> Press photos can be downloaded here.

>> Press contact:
Brigitte Heilmann, heilmann@adk.de, Tel. 030 200 57-1513
Mareike Wenzlau, wenzlau@adk.de, Tel. 030 200 57-1566