Agnes Scherer

Agnes Scherer (born in 1985, Germany) lives and works in Salzburg and Berlin. She studied painting at the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf with Peter Doig and Enrico David and is currently a professor of painting at Mozarteum University Salzburg.

Scherer’s work addresses power relations and their psychosocial foundations, female experience, the uncanny afterlife of historical systems of order in the present, as well as inner states shaped by capitalist realities. Combining sculpture, painting, and collage, she creates narrative installations and forms of performative object theatre in which a central role is often played by the marionette: as a real or conceptual figure of entanglement, it brings complex interrelations into view that would otherwise remain beyond immediate perception. Scherer’s holistic arrangements require the audience’s active engagement: only through the interpretive assembling of all elements does the actual image emerge in the mind’s eye. Her explorations of format draw on art-historical and anthropological studies, as well as a particular interest in popular art forms of the early modern period, especially within the context of showmanship and fairground artistry.

–

In May 2026, the artist will have a solo exhibition at Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg and at Nicoletta Fiorucci Foundation, London in March 2027.
Previous solo shows include Sadie Coles HQ, London (2024); Meyer Kainer, Vienna (2024); ChertLüdde, Berlin (2024); Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen (2023); Heidelberger Kunstverein (2023); PAGE (NYC) at Bel Ami, Los Angeles (2023); Sans titre, Paris (2025, 2022 & 2020); PAGE (NYC), New York (2022); Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Dusseldorf (2021); Cabaret Voltaire, Zurich (2020); Horse & Pony, Berlin (2019); Philipp Haverkampf, Berlin (2019).

Agnes Scherer’s first operetta “Cupid and the Animals”, was awarded the Nigel Greenwood Art Prize in 2015 and performed in, among other places, the Museum Ludwig in Cologne (2017) and TRAMPS in New York (2018). In 2019, her second elaborate work within this format, “The Teacher”, was presented by Kinderhook & Caracas in Berlin, at Cabaret Voltaire, Zurich (2020) and in Italy for the festival ART CITY Bologna (2023). Also in 2020, Scherer presented the first part of her third operetta project “The Salty Testament” at 1646 in The Hague. The artist’s narrative installation “The Very Hungry” at the Berlin project space Horse & Pony was granted the Berlin Art Prize (2019).

In May 2026, the artist will participate in a group show at Moderna Museet, Stockholm and at HALLE FÜR KUNST Steiermark, Graz. She will also participate in the De Papier Biënnale 2026 at Museum Rijswijk in June 2026 and the Rhizoma Biennial at MASEREEL, Kasterlee in June 2027. Previous group presentations include the 12th SITE SANTA FE International, Santa Fe (2025); Frac Île-de-France, Paris (2025); Frac Champagne-Ardenne (2025); Temnikova & Kasela Gallery, Tallinn (2025); Maison Populaire, Montreuil (2024); CAPC Musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux (2023); Lore Deutz - Atelierhaus Kunstwerk Köln e.V., Cologne (2022); CAL (Centre d’Archive Laïque), Charleroi (2022); Kinderhook & Caracas, Berlin (2022); Petzel Gallery, New York (2021); Kunstverein Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf (2019); Casa Cristea Schneider, Berlin (2019); TRAMPS, New York (2018); Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2017); Kunstmuseum Solingen, Solingen (2015); Künstlerverein Malkasten, Düsseldorf (2013).

Agnes Scherer’s works are featured in the permanent collections of important institutions and museums, including Moderna Museet, Stockholm; The Long Museum, Shanghai; FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Reims; Sigg Art Foundation; KOLUMBA Museum, Cologne and Kunsthaus NRW Kornelimünster, Aachen.