Johann König (art dealer)

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Johann König

Born 22 July 1981 (age 41)

Cologne, West Germany

Occupation 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. Since 2019 he has faced multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. [1] 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. [2]

Contents

 1Early life and education

 2König Galerie
o 2.1Locations
o 2.2Programming
o 2.3Artists
 3Other activities
 4References
 5External links

Early life and education[edit]

König was born in Cologne in 1981 to Edda Köchl-König, an illustrator and actress,
[3]
 and to Kasper König, an art professor, curator, and former director of Museum
Ludwig.[4][5][6][7] 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. [8]

König Galerie[edit]
The gallery's focus is on museum exhibitions.[9] König was repeatedly listed
in ArtReview's "Power 100" list.[10] 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".[11]
The gallery participates in international art fairs such as Art Basel,[12] Frieze Art Fair,
[13]
 and Art Cologne.[14][15]
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."[16] Elsewhere he said: "I really try to avoid having a school." [17]
Locations[edit]
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,[17][16]
[18]
 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.[6][16][19][20] It provides an exhibition space of 800 m2 (8,600 sq ft).[4] 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. [6][16][19] The project
won the Berlin Architectural Prize 2016. [21] Today, the building also accommodates
other tenants, including New York University Berlin’s art studio.[6][16][19][22][23]
In 2016, König Galerie reopened its original Dessauer Straße location for Gallery
Weekend Berlin.[16][24] Since the gallery moved into St Agnes, the space at Dessauer
Straße is also the studio of Jeppe Hein.[17]
In 2017, König Galerie opened a second location in a former 3,750 sq ft (348 m2)
underground carpark in London.[25] In partnership with MCM Worldwide, the gallery
later maintained space at MCM branches in Tokyo (2019–2020)[26] and Seoul (since
2021).[27]
Programming[edit]
Since 2017, König Galerie has been publishing the biannual 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.[28]
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. [29] Responding to the success of
the first one, the next fair, Messe in St. Agnes, will be held from the 8th until the 20th
of September, during Berlin Art Week and Gallery Weekend.
Artists[edit]
König Galerie represents the following artists: [14][16][30][31] Koo Jeong A, Kathryn Andrews,
Micol Assaël, Evelyn Axell, Norbert Bisky, Monica Bonvicini, Claudia Comte, Jose
Dávila, Peter Dreher, Tue Greenfort, Katharina Grosse,[32] Jeppe Hein, Camille
Henrot, Karl Horst Hödicke, Robert Janitz, Johannes Kahrs, Annette Kelm, Friedrich
Kunath, Manfred Kuttner, Alicja Kwade,[32] Helen Marten,[32] Kris Martin, Justin
Matherly, Amalia Pica, Anselm Reyle, Michael Sailstorfer, Andreas Schmitten, John
Seal, Jeremy Shaw, Chiharu Shiota, Tatiana Trouvé, Daniel Turner, Rinus van de
Velde, Jorinde Voigt, Corinne Wasmuht, Matthias Weischer, Johannes
Wohnseifer, David Zink Yi, Erwin Wurm and Elmgreen & Dragset.[32]

Other activities[edit]
König was a member of the jury for the 2020 Berlin Architectural Prize. [33] He is also
part of the jury of the Berlin Masters Foundation, which annually awards the TOY
BERLIN MASTERS AWARD,[34] and of PArt, an initiative of the Spiegelberger
Foundation in support of artists during the COVID-19 pandemic. [35]
König's memoir, The Blind Gallerist, was first published in 2019 and later translated
into English in 2022.[32]

References[edit]
1. ^ "German Dealer Johann König Is Accused of Sexual
Misconduct in Die Zeit Report". ARTnews.com. 2022-08-
31. Retrieved  2022-09-03.
2. ^ Gehrke, Christian (2022-11-04). "Die Zeit verliert vor
Gericht gegen Berliner Galeristen Johann
König".  Berliner Zeitung  (in German). Retrieved  2022-11-
09.
3. ^ "Edda Köchl".  IMDb. Retrieved  2016-08-28.
4. ^ Jump up to:a b "Johann König". 2014-08-27.
Retrieved 2016-08-17.
5. ^ "Johann & Lena König". Apartamento Magazine (17):
34. 2016.
6. ^ Jump up to: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.
7. ^ Ludwig, Museum. "History - Museum Ludwig,
Cologne".  www.museum-ludwig.de. Retrieved 2016-03-
07.
8. ^ "Grilling the gallerist: Johann König interviewed by
Jordan Wolfson - Features - art-agenda".  www.art-
agenda.com. Retrieved 2020-08-25.
9. ^ "Johann Koenig on the Art Market, Art Careers and
Making Money Quickly".  Bast Magazine. Retrieved 2016-
05-03.
10. ^ "Johann König / Power 100 / Art
Review". artreview.com. Retrieved  2016-03-06.
11. ^ "Metropolis M  » Features  » The Making of Helen
Marten".  metropolism.com. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
12. ^ Basel, Art. "Art Basel". Art Basel. Retrieved  2016-03-
07.
13. ^ "König Galerie". frieze.com. Retrieved 2016-08-17.
14. ^ Jump up to:a b "See What sold at Art Cologne 2016 -
artnet News". 2016-04-15. Retrieved  2016-08-19.
15. ^ "artcologne". www.artcologne.com. Retrieved  2016-03-
07.
 16. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g "Between Art And Architecture With
Gallerist Johann König". 28 April 2016. Retrieved 2016-
08-17.
17. ^ Jump up to:a b c "Johann & Lena König".  Apartamento
Magazine  (17): 37. 2016.
18. ^ "König Galerie / About".  König Galerie. Retrieved 2016-
03-06.
19. ^ Jump up to:a b c Velardi, Marco (2014-10-14).  "Brutalism,
Family Style". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.
Retrieved 2016-03-06.
20. ^ Wilder, Charly (2015-09-25). "The $2,000-a-Day
Berlin".  The New York Times.  ISSN  0362-4331.
Retrieved 2016-08-17.
21. ^ "Architecture Prize Berlin EV".  www.architekturpreis-
berlin.de. Retrieved  2020-08-19.
22. ^ "NYU Berlin / Facilities & Services".
23. ^ "St. Agnes Immobilien- und Verwaltungsgesellschaft -
Aktuell". www.st-agnes.net. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
24. ^ "The Gallerists Of Gallery Weekend: Interview with
Johann König – sleek mag". Retrieved  2016-08-17.
25. ^ "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.
26. ^ Magazine, Wallpaper* (2019-11-13). "Berlin gallerist
Johann König heads east with Tokyo
outpost".  Wallpaper*. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
27. ^ Catherine Hickley (March 15, 2021), Berlin dealer
Johann König opens new space in Seoul The Art
Newspaper.
28. ^ 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.
29. ^ "KÖNIG GALERIE | Messe in St. Agnes".
30. ^ "Johann & Lena König". Apartamento Magazine (17):
30. 2016.
31. ^ "Artists".  König Galerie. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
32. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Kristina Foster (10 June
2022), Gallerist Johann König: ‘The art market is
progressive in its content, but conservative in its
performance’ Financial Times.
33. ^ "Architekturpreis Berlin".
34. ^ "AWARDS | BERLIN
MASTERS". www.berlinmastersfoundation.com.
35. ^ "PArt".

External links[edit]
 KÖNIG GALERIE
 "Take a stick and make it sharp", exhibition by
Helen Marten, Johann König, Berlin, 2011 (Prix
Lafayette 2011).
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