Johann König (art dealer)

German art dealer

Johann König

Born|  (1981-07-22) 22 July 1981 (age 44)

Cologne, West Germany

Occupation(s)| Art dealer and gallery owner
Parent(s)| Kasper König
Edda Köchl-König

Johann König (born 22 July 1981) is a German art dealer, and the founder of König Galerie.

## Early life and education

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König was born in Cologne in 1981 to Edda Köchl-König [de], an illustrator and actress,[1] and to Kasper König, an art professor, curator, and former director of Museum Ludwig.[2][3][4][5] In his youth König was already very influenced by the artists his father worked with – among others: Dan Graham, On Kawara, M.C. Escher, Richard Artschwager, Joseph Beuys, and Jörg Immendorff. After a childhood accident at the age of eleven, Johann became partially blind.[6]

## König Galerie

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The gallery's focus is on museum exhibitions.[7] König was repeatedly listed in ArtReview's "Power 100" list.[8] In 2011, he won FIAC's Prix Lafayette together with Helen Marten for the solo exhibition "Take a stick and make it sharp", on the grounds that it was considered to be "the best exhibition project presented by an emerging gallery".[9]

The gallery participates in international art fairs such as Art Basel,[10] Frieze Art Fair,[11] and Art Cologne.[12][13]

König describes the concept of his gallery as follows: "My strategy was always to have the best artists in their respective disciplines [...]. Some galleries try to focus on a school. They have a group of certain movements, say, Leipzig painters. I always try to have the most relevant representative from each field, so to speak."[14] Elsewhere he said: "I really try to avoid having a school."[15]

### Locations

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König Galerie was initially located at Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, then moved to Dessauer Straße near Martin-Gropius-Bau and Neue Nationalgalerie in 2006.

In May 2015, König Galerie took up a second location at St Agnes in Kreuzberg,[15][14][16] a former Catholic church complex that was built in the 1960s by the German architect and city planner Werner Düttmann and considered to be a prime example of Brutalism.[4][14][17][18] It provides an exhibition space of 800 m2 (8,600 sq ft).[2] In 2012, König signed a long-term lease for the complex, and it was converted by the German architect Arno Brandlhuber into an exhibition space for his gallery.[4][14][17] The project won the Berlin Architectural Prize 2016.[19] Today, the building also accommodates other tenants, including New York University Berlin’s art studio.[4][14][17][20][21]

In 2016, König Galerie reopened its original Dessauer Straße location for Gallery Weekend Berlin.[14][22] Since the gallery moved into St Agnes, the space at Dessauer Straße is also the studio of Jeppe Hein.[15]

In 2017, König Galerie opened a second location in a former 3,750 sq ft (348 m2) underground carpark in London.[23] In partnership with MCM Worldwide, the gallery later maintained space at MCM branches in Tokyo (2019–2020)[24] and Seoul (since 2021).[25]

In 2023, König Galerie opened a second space in Berlin, in a complex that once housed the postal service’s telegraph office.[26]

### Programming

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Since 2017, König Galerie has been publishing the KÖNIG Magazine, covering mostly artists from the gallery and also launched design and merchandise articles under the name KÖNIG Souvenir. In 2019, König published his autobiography Blinder Galerist, which was co-written with Daniel Schreiber.

In March 2020, right at the beginning of the newly enforced lockdown measures amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany, König began a Live Talk series on Instagram, 10am Series, featuring daily conversation with artists, collectors, and curators.[27]

In June 2020, following the cancelation of Art Basel, König decided to hold his own art fair in his Berlin gallery. The fair offered more than 200 artworks from the first and secondary market and attracted about 4,000 visitors.[28] Responding to the success of the first one, further editions were held.

### Artists

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König Galerie represents among others the following artists:[12][14][29][30] Koo Jeong A, Kathryn Andrews, Micol Assaël, Evelyn Axell, Norbert Bisky, Claudia Comte, Jose Dávila, Tue Greenfort, [31] Jeppe Hein, Karl Horst Hödicke, Robert Janitz, Annette Kelm, Manfred Kuttner, Alicja Kwade, Justin Matherly, Anselm Reyle, Michael Sailstorfer, Andreas Schmitten, John Seal, Chiharu Shiota, Monira Al Qadiri, Bosco Sodi, Matthias Weischer, Johannes Wohnseifer, David Zink Yi, and Erwin Wurm.

## Other activities

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König was a member of the jury for the 2020 Berlin Architectural Prize.[32] He is also part of the jury of the Berlin Masters Foundation, which annually awards the TOY BERLIN MASTERS AWARD,[33] and of PArt, an initiative of the Spiegelberger Foundation in support of artists during the COVID-19 pandemic.[34]

König's memoir, The Blind Gallerist, was first published in 2019 and later translated into English in 2022.[31]

### Lawsuits

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Since 2019 he has faced multiple allegations of sexual misconduct.[35] König's attorney obtained an injunction (Az. 324 O 397/22) from the Hamburg Regional Court because of false factual allegations and inadmissible reporting of suspicions. With the judgment of the court, essential parts of the reporting are prohibited.[36]

## References

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1. ^ "Edda Köchl". IMDb. Retrieved 2016-08-28.
2. ^ a b "Johann König". 2014-08-27. Archived from the original on 2020-08-05. Retrieved 2016-08-17.
3. ^ "Johann & Lena König". Apartamento Magazine (17): 34. 2016.
4. ^ a b c d Williams, Gisela (May 2014). "A Decommissioned Catholic Church in Berlin is Reborn as a Hub of Creativity". T Magazine. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
5. ^ Ludwig, Museum. "History - Museum Ludwig, Cologne". www.museum-ludwig.de. Archived from the original on 2016-01-21. Retrieved 2016-03-07.
6. ^ "Grilling the gallerist: Johann König interviewed by Jordan Wolfson - Features - art-agenda". www.art-agenda.com. Archived from the original on 2018-10-07. Retrieved 2020-08-25.
7. ^ "Johann Koenig on the Art Market, Art Careers and Making Money Quickly". Bast Magazine. Archived from the original on 2016-09-14. Retrieved 2016-05-03.
8. ^ "Johann König / Power 100 / Art Review". artreview.com. Archived from the original on 2016-04-02. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
9. ^ "Metropolis M » Features » The Making of Helen Marten". metropolism.com. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
10. ^ Basel, Art. "Art Basel". Art Basel. Retrieved 2016-03-07.
11. ^ "König Galerie". frieze.com. Retrieved 2016-08-17.
12. ^ a b "See What sold at Art Cologne 2016 - artnet News". 2016-04-15. Archived from the original on 2017-02-15. Retrieved 2016-08-19.
13. ^ "artcologne". www.artcologne.com. Archived from the original on 2016-02-26. Retrieved 2016-03-07.
14. ^ a b c d e f g "Between Art And Architecture With Gallerist Johann König". 28 April 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-08-07. Retrieved 2016-08-17.
15. ^ a b c "Johann & Lena König". Apartamento Magazine (17): 37. 2016.
16. ^ "König Galerie / About". König Galerie. Archived from the original on 2016-03-14. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
17. ^ a b c Velardi, Marco (2014-10-14). "Brutalism, Family Style". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2016-08-22. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
18. ^ Wilder, Charly (2015-09-25). "The $2,000-a-Day Berlin". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2016-07-16. Retrieved 2016-08-17.
19. ^ "Architecture Prize Berlin EV". www.architekturpreis-berlin.de. Archived from the original on 2020-09-27. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
20. ^ "NYU Berlin / Facilities & Services". Archived from the original on 2016-04-03. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
21. ^ "St. Agnes Immobilien- und Verwaltungsgesellschaft - Aktuell". www.st-agnes.net. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
22. ^ "The Gallerists Of Gallery Weekend: Interview with Johann König – sleek mag". Archived from the original on 2016-09-19. Retrieved 2016-08-17.
23. ^ "Berlin Dealer Johann König Plans a New London Gallery—and Explains Why Brexit Will Help It Thrive". artnet News. 2017-09-15. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
24. ^ Magazine, Wallpaper* (2019-11-13). "Berlin gallerist Johann König heads east with Tokyo outpost". Wallpaper*. Archived from the original on 2020-08-12. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
25. ^ Catherine Hickley (March 15, 2021), Berlin dealer Johann König opens new space in Seoul Archived 2021-03-18 at the Wayback Machine The Art Newspaper.
26. ^ Catherine Hickley (14 December 2023), Dealer Johann König opens second Berlin gallery in former telegraph office The Art Newspaper.
27. ^ Freeman, Nate (12 May 2020). "'It Was a Long Day': We Spent 18 Frenzied Hours With Art Dealer Johann König as He Raced to Reopen His Berlin Gallery Post-Lockdown". artnet news. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
28. ^ "KÖNIG GALERIE | Messe in St. Agnes". Archived from the original on 2020-10-01. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
29. ^ "Johann & Lena König". Apartamento Magazine (17): 30. 2016.
30. ^ "Artists". König Galerie. Archived from the original on 2016-02-25. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
31. ^ a b Kristina Foster (10 June 2022), Gallerist Johann König: ‘The art market is progressive in its content, but conservative in its performance’ Archived 2022-07-26 at the Wayback Machine Financial Times.
32. ^ "Architekturpreis Berlin". Archived from the original on 2020-10-08. Retrieved 2020-10-05.
33. ^ "AWARDS | BERLIN MASTERS". www.berlinmastersfoundation.com. Archived from the original on 2020-09-22. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
34. ^ "PArt".
35. ^ "German Dealer Johann König Is Accused of Sexual Misconduct in Die Zeit Report". ARTnews.com. 2022-08-31. Archived from the original on 2022-09-03. Retrieved 2022-09-03.
36. ^ Gehrke, Christian (2022-11-04). "Die Zeit verliert vor Gericht gegen Berliner Galeristen Johann König". Berliner Zeitung (in German). Archived from the original on 2022-11-10. Retrieved 2022-11-09.

## External links

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* KÖNIG GALERIE
* "Take a stick and make it sharp", exhibition by Helen Marten, Johann König, Berlin, 2011 (Prix Lafayette 2011).

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* Germany

Other|

* Yale LUX