Christian Jankowski

Christian Jankowski is a contemporary multimedia artist primarily focusing on video, installation, and photography. His artistic style has been linked to New Gothic Art.

Biography of Christian Jankowski

Christian Jankowski was born in Göttingen, Germany, in 1968. He attended Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Hamburg from 1992 to 1998. 

During his artistic career, Jankowski received numerous grants, including Venedig-Stipendium des italienischen Innenministeriums (1998), Stipendium der Deutschen Genossenschaftsbank (2001), Stipendium der Freunde der Villa Aurora, Pacific Palisades (2004), Videopreis der Videonale.14 (2014), and Kunstpreis Finkenwerder (2015) among others. 

In 2016, Jankowski curated the 11th edition of Manifesta, marking the first time an artist had taken on this role.  

His recent solo exhibitions include "Neue Malerie: Cultural Cubism" at Suprainfinnit Gallery in Bucharest (2023), "I was told to go with the flow" at Kunsthalle Tübingen in Tübingen (2022), "Defense Mechanism" at Geothe-Institut Bucharesti in Bucharest (2021), and many more. 

Christian Jankowski's artworks have also been featured in various group exhibitions, including "Passport to the Future" at Kunst Museum Bonn in Bonn (2021), "5 Artists 5 Walls" at Grieder Contemporary in Zürich (2020), "RAM Highlights" at Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai (2019), among others. 

Additionally, Jankowski has participated in Bangkok Art Biennal (2020), 55th Venice Biennale (2013), Taipei Biennial (2010), Sydney Biennial (2010), and the Whitney Biennial (2022).

Currently, the artist lives and works in Berlin and New York. 

Christian Jankowski's Art Style

Jankowski's artistic practice revolves around performative interactions involving himself and non-art professionals, bridging the gap between contemporary art and the world beyond its confines. These interactions offer insights into the public's perception of art while addressing key themes prevalent in contemporary society, such as lifestyle, psychology, rituals, self-perception, competition, and consumerism.

Collaborating with individuals ranging from magicians to politicians and members of the Vatican, Jankowski grants them a degree of control over the development and final form of his work. He documents these collaborations using mass media formats native to the contexts in which they occur — including film, photography, television, and print media — imbuing his work with a populist appeal.

Jankowski's art can be interpreted as both a reflection and a critique of a society immersed in spectacle, as well as a reflection and critique of art itself, which risks diluting its critical potential by embracing spectacle.