RESUME

Kim Collmer is an interdisciplinary artist working with painting, sculpture, and video. Currently living in Cologne, she grew up in both the US and Germany. Collmer received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Sculpture. Here she developed her first animations combined with installation. Since then she has expanded her work to include collage and painting. She has taught at the School of the Art Institute, the University of Arts Berlin and the University of Arts Bremen.

Kim Collmer has exhibited internationally with art exhibitions in the US and Europe and film screenings worldwide. Her animations have been described as having "an epic sweep" by the New York Times and she has been compared to Alexander Calder for her films' childlike charm by the New Yorker. 

When working in her Cologne studio, Collmer fluctuates between screen and real-time creation. Often employing found materials such as old books, art magazines, and painted cut-outs, she creates collages that are both sculptural and pictorial, playing with spatial perception and environments. These collages focus on patterns, textures, and forms and playfully reference repetition found in minimalism, time-based media, and machinic production. This work has evolved into paintings that explore imagined rooms and cities, very reminiscent of her early film work. Additionally, she has returned to 16mm which was inspired by a workshop she attended at the Oberhausen Film Festival led by the film collective, Film Farm. Film Farm supports ecological filmmaking techniques and collaboration. This has led to new works focusing on plants and hidden ecological spaces. 

Contact at kim.collmer@gmail.com

Education
MFA, Sculpture, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2001
Post-Baccalaureate, Art & Technology, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1999

Awards and Honors (selected)
2023 Medien- und Filmstiftung NRW, Animation Film- 20,000 Euro
2020-25 Städtische Atelier / City Studio, Kulturamt, Köln
2020 Mikrostipendium, Frauenkulturbüro NRW
2019 Best Animation, Geelong Intl' Film Festival, Australia
2019 Second Place, Bilderbeben Film Festival, Bielefeld, Germany
2016 Städtische Atelier / City Studio, Kulturamt, Köln
Kultur und Schule, Film und Neue Medien, NRW
2015 Mentoringprogramm, Universität der Künste, Berlin
2012 Artists with Children, 5000 Euro Grant, Frauenkultur Büro & Ministry of Culture, NRW, Germany
2007 1. Preise, Flik International Festival of Moving Images
2005 Nominee, Rockefeller Film & Video Grant
2001 Albert Murray Fellowship
1998 Post-Baccalaureate Scholarship, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
1992 Phi Beta Kappa National Honor Society

Solo exhibitions and screenings(selected)

2024 With Sara Moriyasu for Seattle Art Fair at the Grovery Studios
2021 Carried Landscapes, Q18 Galerie, Cologne
2020 Solo Film Presentation, Directors Lounge, Berlin
2019 Spaces real or imagined, Q18 Galerie, Cologne
2017 Solo Film Presentation, Temporary Gallery, Cologne
2017 Lines dividing…, Q18 Galerie, Cologne
2016 Conquering Place, Q18 Galerie, Cologne

Group Exhibitions- Selection 2024-2007

Club Eigelstein, Cologne / Human Resources, Los Angeles/ Art Piq Showroom at Susanne Neuberg Gallery Duesseldorf/ Wasser, Bethlehem Kirche, Meerbusch/ Schaufenster, Berlin/ KUNSTHALLE, Weißensee University, Berlin / Mentoring Program Exhibition, Universität der Künste, Berlin / Köln um halb acht, Temporary Gallery, Köln / Kreuzberg Pavilion, Berlin / Bronx Art Space, New York / Surface Tension: the Museum, Kitchener, Canada; World Science Festival, Eyebeam, New York; Science Gallery, Trinity College, Dublin / Newton Art Center, Massachusetts / Museum of New Art, Detroit / Tracing Mobility, Haus der Kultur der Welt, Berlin / Temporary Space, Houston / Gallery 801, New York / Boot’s Contemporary Arts Space, St. Louis / Post-Cinema, RMIT University, Melbourne / Arizona Museum for Youth, Tucson / Platform Animation Festival, Pacific Northwest College of the Arts, Portland

Film Presentations and Festivals- Selection 2024-2007

Oberhausen Film Festival, Film Farm Workshop participant / Indy Film Library 2022 Selection: Best Director, Best Film (Silver Seeds) / Lausanne Underground Film Festival / Ce l'ho Corto Film Festival, Bologna (Best Animation Audience Award) / Geelong Underground Film Festival / Anthology Film Archives, New York- AWX Screening / Dortmunder Tresen Festival / Animationen- Loops and Projections, Kunstverein Malkasten, Düsseldorf / Ann Arbor Film Festival/ Geelong International Festival, Best Animation/ Bielefeld Film Festival, Second Place/ Black Maira Film Festival Finalist/ The Screening Room, Solo Presentation, Temporary Gallery, Köln / Artist Television Access, San Francisco / College Arts Association, Chicago Cultural Center / Tricky Women Animation Festival, Vienna / Lange Nacht den Museen, Düsseldorf Filmmuseum / Directors Lounge Film Festival, Berlin / Iota Center, UCLA, Los Angeles / Loop Festival, Barcelona / Trampoline Urban Screens: BBC Screens; Glastonbury Festival; Melbourne City Center; Nottingham; Tokyo / Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibition / University of Chicago / 20th Instants Video Festival, Aix-en-Provence, France / Némo: International Biennial of Digital Arts, Paris

Press and Publications- Selection

Grund, edited by Professor Susanna Lorenz, Unversity of Arts Berlin, Textem Verlag, 2021; New York Times; New Yorker; University of Chicago Press; Creative Capital; Der Standard, Wien; Kölner Stadtrevue; Houston Press; Slobodna Dalmacija, Split; Mouth to Mouth Magazine, Chicago

Filmography

shadow language, 2024 / arise, shine, 2021 / Rhein- Opening (Music Video), 2020 / Too Big to See, 2020 / Conquering Place, 2019 / Der Dicke Heinrich In the Hollow, 16mm short film/installation film, 2023 / Mischpoke #1, music video, 2022 / Arise, Shine, short film, 2021 / Eröffnung, Rhein, music video, 2020/ Too Big to See, short film, 2020 / Conquering Place, short film, 2019 / Der Dicke Heinrich (Big Heinrich), animation, 2019/ Silver Seeds, animation, 2018 / I before not I, music video, 2017 / The Conversation, short film, 2013/ Almost There, short film, 2013/ Headroom, animation, 2011 / the Lighthouse, short film, 2011 / the Water that Danced, short film, 2010 / Postcards from the Deep, experimental/ animation, 2010 / Danger in the Streets of the Sky, VJ set, 2007 / Berlin Skin, animation, 2007 / the Pin Ups, installation film, 2007 / Camera in a Glass Bowl, short film, 2007 / Lichtwelten, short film, 2006/ Pod, experimental/ animation, 2006 / The Fold, animation, 2005 / Mercury Moon, animation, 2001 / Stars of the Lid, animation, 2001 / Warm Jets, animation, 2000 / Portal, animation,1999 / Big Sky, short film,1999