Joachim Koester

Joachim Koester is a highly acclaimed Danish contemporary artist, recognized as one of the most significant conceptual photographers of his generation.

Biography of Joachim Koester

Joachim Koester was born in 1962 in Copenhagen, Denmark. From 1987 to 1993, he studied at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. 

His work has garnered international recognition and has been exhibited in various locations across Europe, North America, and Africa. Notable solo and group exhibitions of Koester's work include Baghuset, Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Aarhus, Denmark (1992), The Agency, London, UK (1994), Morning of the Magicians and other works, Galleri Nicolai Wallner, Copenhagen, Denmark (2006), Wild Signals, Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany (2008), Climax Redux, BAC, Batiment d’Art Contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland (2010), Sound + Vision: Crossroads, Plug In ICA, Winnipeg, Canada (2012),  The Ghost Shop, Camera Austria, Graz, Austria (2014), Things That Shine And Things That Are Dark, Beirut Art Center (BAC), Beirut, Lebanon (2018), Summer Show, Galleri Nicolai Wallner, Copenhagen, Denmark (2021), and many more. 

In 2008, Joachim Koester was shortlisted for The Hugo Boss Prize, administered by the Guggenheim Foundation. Additionally, in 2013, he was honored as a winner of The Camera Austria Award for Contemporary Photography, presented in Graz, Austria.

Today, Koester lives and works in Copenhagen, Denmark and New York, USA.

Joachim Koester's Art Style

Joachim Koester is known for his ability to weave fact and fiction, skillfully blurring the boundaries between reality and myth. With a particular focus on exploring the realms of mysticism, the occult, and surreal moments from our cultural and social histories, Koester examines events in time that have become more than the sum of their parts.

Joachim Koester's artistic endeavor revolves around capturing remnants of the past, serving as both documentation and a thought-provoking commentary on what happens to the places left behind once these moments have passed. By critically examining narratives and identities, Koester employs the mediums of photography and film to explore how our shared histories are established, consequently challenging the inherent ambiguity of these artistic forms.