Finja Sander

Finja Sander (b. 1996 in Hildesheim, Germany) lives and works in Berlin. She studied Fine Arts at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK) in the classes of Ursula Neugebauer and Valérie Favre, graduating in 2022 as Meisterschülerin. In 2023, she received the UdK Berlin Art Award, followed by the Artheon Art Prize in 2025 for her performative series Für Morgen.

In her work, Sander confronts ritualized commemoration, outdated heroic narratives, and increasingly formalized remembrance cultures through her own physical presence. Working “with machines and muscle power,” she investigates the aesthetics, rituals, and procedures that shape religious and political ceremonies.

Through photography, site-specific installations, and performance, she reveals mechanisms of glorification and nationalist narration, critically examining the structures of collective memory. Her recent artistic research has been deeply influenced by her engagement with Ernst Barlach’s Der Schwebende (1927), as well as the mountain films of Arnold Fanck and Leni Riefenstahl from the 1920s and 1930s.

Residency dates: 27.04. – 30.06.2026

RESIDENCY PROJECT 

During the residency, Finja Sander will initiate Lastenverschiebung, a sculptural-performative series based on oversized wooden rods that translate the structural logic of the Mikado game into spatial installations and performative actions. Through these setups, she investigates systems of order, collapse, and control, in which the wooden rods begin to shape and constrain both the individual and the collective body. The stay in Prague creates a productive distance from her usual working environment and allows her to further develop her ongoing artistic research on collective memory and national narratives beyond a single national context.

EDUCATION

2022    Meisterschülerin in Fine Arts, Berlin University of the Arts (UdK) in the classes of Ursula Neugebauer and Valérie Favre 

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS & PERFORMANCES 

2026    Solo Exhibition Kunstverein Wilhelmshöhe Ettlingen DE (upcoming)
2026    Performance 41 Public collective performance Aschaffenburg DE

2025    Für Morgen_standort_14 IG-Farben-Haus Frankfurt am Main DE
2025    Wovon träumt der Stein wovon die Wand with Tatjana Stürmer Hospitalhof Stuttgart DE
2025    Barlach X Sander Barlach Museum Güstrow / galerie burster Berlin DE

2024    In einem Land vor unserer Zeit Kunstverein Augsburg DE
2024    Performance Für Morgen Villa Hügel Essen DE
2024    Performance 40 Arco Madrid Galerie Jochen Hempel Madrid ES

2023    Für Morgen_standort_12 Enthüllt Zitadelle Spandau Berlin DE
2023    Performance 39 KVOST Berlin DE
2023    Für Morgen_standort_11 Gedenkstätte Karlsaue Kassel DE
2023    Für Morgen_standort_10 Wallraf-Richartz-Museum Köln DE
2023    FELSENFEST galerie burster Berlin DE
2023    Für Morgen_standort_09 Seelower Höhen Brandenburg DE
2023    Für Morgen_standort_08 Willy-Brandt-Haus Berlin DE
2023    Tat es weh als du vom Himmel gefallen bist Kunstverein Schwäbisch Gmünd DE
2023    Für Morgen_standort_07 Johanniskirche Schwäbisch Gmünd DE
2023    Für Morgen_standort_06 Skulpturen Triennale Bingen am Rhein DE
2023    Für Morgen_standort_05 Universität der Künste Berlin DE
2023    Für Morgen_standort_04 Olympiastadion Berlin DE
2023    Performance 38 Gallery Weekend Out of Office Berlin DE
2023    Performance 37 galerie burster Karlsruhe DE
2023    Fernab jeglicher Schwere galerie burster Karlsruhe DE

2022    Performance 36 colorado projects Galerie Jochen Hempel Leipzig DE
2022    Performance 34 colorado projects Galerie Jochen Hempel Leipzig DE
2022    EINFREMDUNG galerie burster Berlin DE
2022    Performance 31 Grisebach Auction House Berlin DE

2021    Performance 29 Spoiler Aktionsraum Berlin DE
2021    Performance 27 Hamburger Bahnhof Berlin DE
2021    Performance 26 Museum of Photography Berlin DE

2020    Performance 24 Studio 1 Kunstquartier Bethanien Berlin DE
2020    PRÄPOSITION with Daniel M E Schaal galerie burster Berlin DE

2019    Performance 18 Rundgang Universität der Künste Berlin DE
2019    Performance 16 Gustav Adolf Kirche Berlin DE
2019    Performance 14 C O Museum Berlin DE

all information is accurate as of March, 2026