CV

Gabriel Hensche *1986 in Dresden (DE), lives and works in Berlin. 
He works with moving image, performance, and constructed situations that explore possibilities for community and digital intimacy in the face of current technological developments. He creates exercises, rituals and games collectively with other artists sharing the belief that ‘play’ can be a destabilising action that loosens the social code and potentially revivifies habituated, reflex-tending forms of life.

Since 2023: Member of the leadership team, School of Commons, Zurich University of the Arts (CH); Lead, Peer Learning Program.
2024: Co-founder, University of Tiny Moments — a community learning initiative at the Casino for Social Medicine, Berlin.
2017–2022: Managing Director, Campus Gegenwart (DE); established and developed a transdisciplinary center for networks of practice and critical reflection at the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart. 

His work has been presented offline and online in museums, biennials, galleries, film festivals, residencies and public spaces including: Kunst-Werke Berlin (DE), Project Anywhere (NY), B-Tour Festival (DE, SRB), Nida Art Colony (LT), Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris (FR) Art Cube Jerusalem (IL), Viafarini, Milan (IT), Akademie Schloss Solitude (DE), Württembergischer Kunstverein (DE), Sinopale (TR), Brooklyn Film Festival (US), Slamdance Film Festival (US), (CH), Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rijeka (HR), Manifesta 11, Cabaret der Künstler, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (HR)

Scholarships/grants/residencies/awards

2022 Project grant, School of Commons, Zhdk, Zurich
2021 Project grant, Goethe-Institut Hanoi
2021 Project grant, 10qm/CoronaKatalyse, Kulturamt Stuttgart
2021 Aesthetica Art Price, shortlisted
2021 Project Grant, Neustart Kultur, BBK
2021 Residency, Gleis 70, Zurich
2018 Winner, special mention One-Reeler Short Film Competition
2018 Residency, Viafarini, Milan
2018 Travel and project grant, AG Kurzfilm
2017 Step travel grant, European Cultural Foundation
2017 Residency, LowRes, Art Cube, Jerusalem
2016 Publication grant, Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst
Baden-Württemberg
2016 / 17 Residency, Cité Internationale des Arts Paris
2016 Project grant, Netzwerk Neue Musik, Baden-Württemberg Foundation
2015 Project grant, S-K-A-M, state capital Stuttgart
2015 Project grant, Nida Art Colony
2014 Study Abroad Scholarship, Heinrich Böll Foundation
2014 Project grant, Musik der Jahrhunderte e.V. Stuttgart
2014 Residency, Techno-Ecologies, Nida Art Colony
2013 Prize, Open Mind, Kreativitäts- und Innovationsring des Landes
Baden-Württemberg
2011 Prize of the State Academy of Art and Design, Stuttgart
2010 Study Abroad Scholarship, Heinrich Böll Foundation
2009 – 2016 Fully-funded Degree Studentship, Heinrich Böll Foundation

Exhibitions (selection)
2025
– Mentally I’m Here, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMSU), Rijeka, HR
– Mentally I’m Here, Cube Commons’ Gallery on Voxels, digital
– Echopraxia, Kunstverein Kiss e.V. Schloss Untergröningen, DE
2023
– Glowing Globe, Changes and Challenges, Gallery Kortil Rijeka, HR
– Démodé, SKC Gallery, Rijeka HR
– Crta za Beskraj: how to love many in many ways, Galerija Događanja, Zagreb, HR
2022
– How to Love Many in Many Ways, c/o Engy Mohsen, Iron Velvet Gallery, New York, US
2021
– The Ignorant Schoolmaster, Goethe Institut ReConnect program, Toong, Ho Chi Minh City, VN (duo show)
– Studio Bosporus, Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, DE
– Aesthetica Art Prize Exhibition, York Art Gallery, York, UK
– Point of Oversight, European Capital of Culture, Rijeka, HR
– Address Unknown, Edicola Radetzky, Milan, IT /online
– Almost Heaven, Gleis 70, Zurich, CH
2020
– “Open Studios” - Artists for Artists IG takeover with Engy Mohsen, EG
– This Is An Intervention, public space, Berlin, DE
2019
– Tracks in a Box, Aufbau Haus, Berlin, DE
– Unsupervised Curiosity, Insight, Stuttgart, DE
2018
– Looking at a Zebra, Viafarini, Milan, IT(solo show)
– Like Father, Like Son, CCFA, Karlsruhe, DE (solo show)
– Paris Paris Paris Paris Paris Paris Paris Paris Paris, RAUM2, Wuppertal, DE
2017
– It felt like walking into the TV, Galerie L’inlassable, Paris, FR (solo show)
– Transposition, SINOPALE (6. Sinop Biennial), Sinop, TR
– Last One Out Turns off The Lights, Galerie L’inlassable, Paris, FR
– Sinkholes, Contemporary Art Centre, Arad, IL
– Jacqueline et Pierre, private apartment, Paris, FR
– Micro Salon # 7, Gallery L’inlassable, Paris, FR
– Open Yard, Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, FR
– Flux virtuels et réels contemporains, Cité internationale des Arts, Paris, FR
2016
– Der Vierte Pol, Im Burrow, Berlin, DE (solo show)
– The Movement, Manifestina goes Palermo, Palermo Gallery, Stuttgart, DE
– Workshop - Improvisation in drei Akten, Kunst & Projekte Sindelfingen e.V. DE
– Manifestina, Artbox Thalwil, Zurich, CH
2014
– Portmanteau, Loving Art Making Art, Tel Aviv, IL
– Liminal Dome, Nida Art Colony, Nida, LT
– Op.10, No.12, Neue Kunsthalle Stuttgart, DE (solo show)
– Anonymous Lives, BAT ART LAB, Iluh Gallery, Batman, TR
2013
– Casual Friday, Querung, Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart, DE
– Utopia Now: Adapt! Triennial of small-scale sculpture, Fellbach, DE
– No Place To Hide, Job Centre, Stuttgart, DE
– Großplastik + Kleinplastik = Neuplastik, public space, Warsaw, PL
– Deadly nightshade, Gallery L’inlassable, Paris, FR
2012
– Nachbarschaftsgut, Kunstbezirk, Gustav Siegle Haus, Stuttgart, DE
– Hyprise, Galerienhaus Stuttgart, DE (solo show)
– UND7, international art initiatives, Alter Schlachthof Karlsruhe, DE
– Neue Klasse, Wiensowski & Harbord, Berlin, DE
2011
– Hyprise, Finally a Big Group Show. Part I, Hafen 2, Frankfurt, DE
– Doch hart im Raume stoßen sich die Sachen, Gallery 14-1, Stuttgart DE
2010
– Looming, Words & Sounds, Hafen 2, Frankfurt, DE


Performances, constructed situations (selection)
2025
– Intimacy in the Algorithmic Age, Atelje Jagoda, Zagreb, HR
2024
– Game Gone Wrong, Drugo More, Rijeka, HR 
2023
– Crta za Beskraj: how to love many in many ways, Galerija Događanja, Zagreb, HR
– How to Love Many in Many Ways, STIFF,  Rijeka, HR
– Proto-Club4: Timing-Out - Rehearsing Horizontalities, Shedhalle Zurich, CH
– Commopoly: Serious Game, public space, curated by CCPA, Berlin, DE 
2022
– If it is a garden that has become wilderness, Toni Areal, ZHdK, Zurich, CH
– City as University, Floating U̶n̶i̶v̶e̶r̶s̶i̶t̶y̶, Berlin, DE
– Grande Saison SanuaK, Ekskursas/B-tour, Vilnius, LT
– Kitchen Sessions, School of Commons, online
2021
– Incident Reports: of Art, project space, GlogauAIR, Berlin, DE
– How To Love Many In Many Ways”, Rote Fabrik Zurich, CH
2020
– Der Vierte Pol, Material, Zurich, CH
2018
– Sabra Festival, Soma Galeria, Oscar Niemeyer Museum, Curitba, BR
2017
– Horst & Maria, Istanbul Biennale, public program, Istanbul, TR
– The Embassy, Art Cube Artists’ Studios, Jerusalem, IL
– Interview, Honeymoon in Paradise, Cité Internationale des arts, Paris, FR
– Horst’s open studio, Kulturakademie Tarabya, Istanbul, TR
2016
– Fourth Pole Edition, Cabaret der Künstler, Manifesta 11, Zurich, CH
– Der Vierte Pol, Ein Loch im Meer, Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart, DE
– The Movement, Manifestina, public space, Zurich, CH
2015
– Totermann, public space, Stuttgart, DE
– The Fourth Pole, public space, Dead Sea, IL
– Sonata for a Lighthouse, Inter-format Symposium on time and inter-formativity, Nida Art Colony, LT
2014
– Project Anywhere, Parsons the New School for Design, New York, US
– Wardian Case, Der Sommer in Stuttgart, Theaterhaus Stuttgart, DE
– Die Wohnung, B_tour Festival, Tel Aviv / Zurich / Berlin / Belgrade CH, DE, SRB
2013
– No Place to Hide – Return to Sender! Kunst-Werke, Berlin, DE
– Punch, Open Mind Festival, Alte Feuerwache, Mannheim, DE
– Pillars of Creation, Tanzlokal Festival, Stuttgart, DE
2012
– Bionic LAB for Performing Arts, Neue Töne Open, Stuttgart, DE
– Speak it's not a conversation, Werkstatt festival, University of Music and Performing Arts, Stuttgart, DE
– Umhören I / II / III, Sankt Elisabeth, Stuttgart / University Stuttgart, DE
– Chor der Arbeit, Kreuzberg Pavillon, Kassel, DE


Film festivals/screenings

2025
– Gold Coast, Bogiaisso Festival, 4th edition, Palazzo Grassi Chioggia, Venice, IT
– Intimacy in the Algorithmic Age, Shhh Project, Seoul/Incheon, KR

2021
– I’m Not Sure, International Festival of Science Documentary Films Academia Film Olomouc (AFO)

2020
– I’m Not Sure, Labocine, #Data Powers (March issue), NY, US

2019
– I’m Not Sure, Labocine, #Body Images (May issue), NY
– I’m Not Sure, Buenos Aires Film Festival, Buenos Aires, AR

2018
– I’m Not Sure, Slamdance Film Festival, Park City, US
– I’m Not Sure, Madeira Film Festival, Madeira, PRT
– I’m Not Sure, Berlin Short Film Festival, DE
– I’m Not Sure, Flatpack Film Festival, Birmingham, UK
– I’m Not Sure, Brooklyn Film Festival, New York, US


Education

2009 – 2014 Fine Arts program, Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design (class of Christian Jankowski. Further teachers: Ulf Aminde, Felix Ensslin, Rainer Ganahl, Gregor Schneider and Mike Bouchet)
2010 – 2011 research in Syria and Egypt
2011 – 2012  Studies in musical composition, visiting student, Stuttgart State University of Music and Performing Arts
2014 State examination in German literature and linguistics, Stuttgart University
2014 – 2015 MFA program, exchange student, Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Tel Aviv/Jerusalem
2016 Diploma in Fine Arts, Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design
2020 Artists for Artists (AfA) Masterclass: Radical Care
2022 School of Commons, READ Lab, located at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK)

Teaching and Other Professional Activities

2010–2014
Member of an interdisciplinary working group on art and politics, funded by the Heinrich Böll Foundation.

2012
Co-founder of UMHÖREN, a concert format conceived as an experimental platform at the intersection of visual art and music.

2013
Co-founder of the art ensemble PUNCH & JUDY, recipient of the Jury Prize at the Open Mind Festival, Mannheim.

2012–2014
Head of the Art Mediation Program, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart (Museum of Contemporary Art), Stuttgart.

2016
Active contributor to MANIFESTINA, a movement investigating formats of demonstrations, initiated by Maurizio Cattelan.

2017–2018
Workshop leader for art students at the Academy of Applied Arts Rijeka (HR) and the Academy of Arts Novi Sad (SRB).

2017–2022
Managing Director, Campus Gegenwart (DE), a center for networking in artistic practice and reflection at the Stuttgart State University of Music and Performing Arts, established in cooperation with the Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design and the Merz Akademie.
Within this framework, four years of teaching experience with multidisciplinary student groups from diverse artistic backgrounds.

2023
Workshop leader, Institute of Architecture, Technical University Berlin (DE).

Since January 2023
Member of the leadership team, School of Commons; responsible for various strategic and programmatic areas, including the SoC peer learning program at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK).

2024
Co-founder of the University of Tiny Moments, a community-based learning initiative at the Casino for Social Medicine, Berlin; ongoing co-organization and program development.


Words

Mentally I Am Here, Museum for Modern and Contemporary Art Rijeka (catalog)
How to Love Many in Many Ways, HumDrumPress (artist publication)
The Fourth Pole, Edition Taube (artist book)
Incident Reports, Verlag für Moderne Kunst VFMK (artist book)
sundance, slamdance 2018, archpaper (review)
Interview, Formcontent (his own writing)
Journey to Liminal Dome in the Context of Techno Ecologies (review)
Liminal Dome, Project Anywhere (catalog)
Liminal Dome, Nida Art Colony (catalog)
Words & Sounds, Revolver Publishing (catalog)
Manifestina (online publication)
Liminal Dome (online publication)
No Place To Hide (catalog – print only)
Casual Friday, Chronicles of Work, Akademie Schloss Solitude (online publication)
Horst & Maria, Walther Koenig (collaborative artist book)
Tag des Zorns, Copternetz (his own writing)