Julian-Jakob Kneer
*1992, lives and works in Berlin

Julian-Jakob Kneer received his MFA from the Universität der Künste Berlin (Meisterschüler, Prof. Monica Bonvicini). He explores how social symbols and categories shape desire, behaviour, and judgement. His work moves between the unconscious and the codes through which taste is produced and policed, drawing on everyday pop culture as well as more intimate, idiosyncratic obsessions. Working across installation, film, sculpture, and self-portraiture, he brings together references that don’t normally coexist, creating a tension between attraction and discomfort.

His works have been exhibited across Europe and the United States, including Kunsthalle Košice (2024), Miettinen Collection (2023), Shore Gallery (2023, 2020), Schinkel Pavillon (2021), Kunsthalle Basel (2020), ICA London (2020), Lubov Gallery, New York (2019), PS120, Berlin (2019), Lucas Hirsch, Düsseldorf (2019), fffriedrich, Frankfurt am Main (2018), and BIKINI, Basel (2018), among others.

Education
MFA from the Universität der Künste, Berlin (Prof. Monica Bonvicini)

Selected solo exhibitions
2025 FANATICS II, Blue Velvet at Villa Nomad, Zurich, Switzerland
2024 Prodigy, Kunsthalle Košice, Košice, Slovakia
2023 BASTARDS, Blue Velvet, Zürich, Switzerland
2023 SHOOTING STAR: ENCORE, Miettinen Collection, Berlin, Germany
2023 BASTARDS (NEVERLAND), Shore Gallery, Vienna, Austria
2022 SHOOTING STAR, Blue Velvet, Zürich, Switzerland
2021 Solo Booth, Liste Art Fair, Shore Gallery, Switzerland
2021 Julian-Jakob Kneer, Galerie brunand brunand, Berlin, Germany
2021 High-Rise Berlin, Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin, Germany
2020 Ever After, Shore Gallery, Vienna, Austria
2019 Frottage, Limbo, Berlin, Germany
2019 Sublime, Galerie Lucas Hirsch, Düsseldorf, Germany
2018 Wicked games, ROOM E-10 27, Berlin, Germany
2018 Jugend ist Trunkenheit ohne Wein, BIKINI, Basel, Switzerland
2017 Sub rosa, 1.1., Basel, Switzerland
2017 Ushirode, Geddert Hronjec Collection, Berlin, Germany
2016 International blood drinker (with Clémence de La Tour du Pin), Gärtnergasse, Vienna, Austria
Selected group exhibitions
2026 Anti Heroes. Jakob Collection, Villa Merkel, Esslingen am Neckar, Germany
2024
2020 Situation 1 und andere, Kunsthalle Basel, Basel, Switzerland
2019 3hd / Creamcake, Postbank-Hochhaus, Berlin, Germany
2019 Tending Towards, AMOQA, Athen, Greece
2019 Cold Prey, Lubov Gallery, New York, USA
2019 Teen Ranch, Main Street, Toronto, Canada
2019 In-visible Realness, PS120, Berlin, Germany
2018 Gentle Heterodoxy – Social Body and its Enchantments, fffriedrich, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2017 CRIB 2 (in cooperation with Yves Scherer), Galerie 95, Biel, Switzerland
2016 Episode 9: Dinner Room Terravore, Oslo10, Basel, Switzerland
2016 TransArt Triennale, Uferstudios, Berlin, Germany
NADA Miami 2025 (group)
2 — 6 December 2025
FANATICS II (solo)
14 June — 26 July 2025
Art Genève 2025 (group)
30 January — 3 February 2025
Honey (group)
2 — 30 September 2023

BASTARDS (CAREGIVERS) (solo)
9 June — 29 July 2023

NADA New York (duo)
18 — 21 May 2023
SHOOTING STAR (solo)
2 April — 28 May 2022
Website
Instagram