M presents Alicja Kwade

Preview and press conference Wednesday 08.10.25

June 26, 2025

‘In Ewig den Zufall betrachtend’, Alicja Kwade, 2014 © Alicja Kwade, Courtesy of the Artist

10 October 2025 – 22 February 2026

Curator: Eva Wittocx - Assistant curator: Ralph Collier

M Leuven is proud to present the first Belgian solo exhibition by the internationally acclaimed Polish-German artist Alicja Kwade. Her monumental and poetic work will fill seven of the museum’s rooms from 10 October 2025. This exhibition is the highlight of M’s autumn programme, and is part of KU Leuven’s 600th anniversary celebrations.

Kwade creates installations that inspire wonder and reflection. Her sculptures and spatial interventions blur the lines between art and science, as well as between intellect and intuition. Through reflections, repetitions, and a blend of natural materials and everyday objects, she invites viewers to examine how they perceive, make sense of, and structure the world. Her work raises profound questions: What is reality? What is time? What does it mean 'to know'?

Her research is closely linked to ‘the poetics of not knowing’ and how this plays a central role in both science and the arts.

M’s exhibition provides a curated overview of her recent work and features new installations created specifically for this exhibition.

‘The exhibition is part of KU Leuven’s 600th anniversary celebrations, which focus on reflection. What is the relationship between science, time, and human insight? Kwade’s work offers a poetic and critical response to this question.’ — Bert Cornillie, Alderman for Culture and Chair of M Leuven’s Board of Directors.

An internationally recognized artist

Alicja Kwade (b. 1979, Katowice, Poland) lives and works in Berlin. She rose to international prominence wither her work for the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017. ‘WeltenLinie’ (2017), a labyrinthine installation fashioned from steel, mirrors, stone, bronze, aluminium and wood, created a sensation at the end of the Arsenale. Another work, ‘Pars pro Toto’ (2017),comprising thirteen large natural stone spheres, was exhibited outdoors on the Arsenale quay. The stone was sourced from all over the world. A poetic reflection on material, gravity and perspective.

In 2019, Kwade was awarded the prestigious Roof Garden Commission by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. There she installed ‘ParaPivot’, a piece with steel structures in which solid stones appear to float in a delicate balance. The work invites reflection on our place in the universe.

More recently, her work could be seen at the Museum Voorlinden (the Netherlands) in the solo exhibition ‘Die Notwendigkeit der Dingen’ (The Necessity of Things).

New site-specific works for M Leuven

We are thrilled that M. is presenting Alicja Kwade’s first solo exhibition in Belgium. Her work succeeds in translating philosophical questions about time, reality, and perception into an extraordinarily visual and tangible form.’ — Eva Wittocx, Curator

Kwade is developing new work for the exhibition at M. For ‘Blue Days Dust’, she is transforming a room into an immersive deep-blue space, using paint mixed with real lapis lazuli. At the centre will be a giant block of the mineral weighing 2,180 kg.

Lapis lazuli is a deep blue rock from which the pigment ultramarine has been extracted since ancient times. It was – and still is – mined in what is now Afghanistan. From there, it spread to Europe via the Silk Road. Only 20 to 30 grams of ultramarine can be extracted from one kilogram of lapis lazuli. The pigment was therefore very expensive, even more valuable than gold during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. It was reserved for images of saints and, in particular, for the cloak of the Virgin Mary. Synthetic variants appeared in the 19th century.

Kwade sees the installation as a time capsule that transports us back to geological processes from millions of years ago. At the same time, she invites reflection on how we assign value to objects and materials such as precious stones. In her view, this value is not absolute but culturally determined.

Other works (in progress)

Other works in the exhibition – which is still in preparation – include ‘Sub-stance’, an installation of steel frames with mirrors and diverse objects. This is a variation on the well-known ‘WeltenLinie’, which Kwade first presented at the Venice Biennale in 2017 and more recently exhibited at Museum Voorlinden.

A new work, ‘Superheavy Skies’, will also be on display. Boulders of various sizes are suspended from these impressive, monumental mobiles. Despite their apparent weight, they seem to hover gently in space.

The exhibition also features video works and drawings by the artist.

A foretaste in the public space

Before the exhibition opens at M in October, you can discover a new sculpture by Alicja Kwade in Leuven’s Stadspark from 17 May. This is part of the art project ‘And So, Change Comes in Waves’, for which sixteen national and international artists have created works in the public domain.

Kwade’s contribution is a monumental sculpture: a boulder supported by a circle of chairs.These are replicas of the seats that Kwade collected from various faculties and buildings at KU Leuven, including lecture halls, professors’ offices, and even the historic salon of the rector. They represent all strata of the university community.

^{Alicja Kwade, 'Carriers' (2025), Stadspark, Leuven, photo: © Marijke 'T Kindt for M Leuven}

In this work, Kwade makes the weight of ‘not-knowing’ tangible by visualizing the absence of scientific knowledge as a boulder. Science is confronted with an ever-expanding array of global challenges for which there are no answers (yet). At the same time, ‘not-knowing’ is the driving force behind scientific research and the greatest source of wonder.

Kwade emphasizes that this state of ‘not-knowing’ is carried by a variety of people, including researchers, managers, administrators, students, and support staff. Collectively, they enable the institution to engage in research, thereby expanding understanding and disseminating knowledge. Ultimately, science is an inherently human pursuit: a never-ending journey, marked by highs and lows.

Biography

Alicja Kwade was born in Katowice, Poland, as the daughter of a cultural scientist. When she was eight, the family fled to West Germany. In 2005, she graduated with a degree in sculpture from the Universität der Künste in Berlin. Her work has been shown at the Louisiana Museum(Denmark), Whitechapel Gallery (London), MIT List Visual Arts Centre (USA), Hamburger Bahnhof (Berlin), the Espoo Museum of Modern Art (Finland), Lehmbruck Museum(Duisburg), the Langen Foundation (Neuss), and Haus Konstruktiv (Zurich), among others.

Kwade’s work is included in prominent public collections, such as the Centre Pompidou(Paris), the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (Washington), LACMA (Los Angeles), Mudam (Luxembourg), and mumok (Vienna).

PRACTICAL INFORMATION

Alicja Kwade
10 October 2025 – 22 February 2026

Press conference: Wednesday 8 October (tbc)

Press contact:

Nica Broucke – nica.broucke@mleuven.be

Ellen Verhelle – ellen.verhelle@mleuven.be

An accompanying publication will be released to coincide with the exhibition. At the same time as Kwade’s exhibition, M is presenting ‘The Pursuit of Knowledge’, which features highlights from KU Leuven’s research collections.

Combiticket

As part of the 600th anniversary of KU Leuven, three exhibitions are scheduled for this autumn. In addition to Alicja Kwade’s solo exhibition, M is also hosting ‘The Pursuit of Knowledge’. A complementary exhibition, ‘Routes to Knowledge’ can be seen at the University Library.

In addition to the solo exhibition by Alicja Kwade, M is also hosting At the University Library, the exhibition 'Routes to Knowledge' will be on display. For this special occasion, we are launching a combiticket, available for purchase starting June 23.

Price: Discounted rate of €19 (instead of €24)

The pursuit of knowledge | M Leuven

The galleries of M highlight the University of Leuven’s study collections, showcasing an array of fascinating and diverse objects.