Photo by Rica Rosa
VITA
Marlene Bart is an artist whose work pushes the boundaries between art and science, weaving together natural history, anatomy, and forward-thinking visual art. At the heart of her practice is a deep inquiry into what happens when the lines between humans, nature, and technology start to blur. Bart’s bold questions—How can we rethink our human-centered worldview? How can we build a future that embraces non-human perspectives?—are the driving force behind her art. Her practice is as multifaceted as the themes she explores, spanning printmaking, artist books, sculpture, taxidermy, installations, and immersive VR/AR experiences. Bart blends the past with the future, fusing the history of science with modern aesthetics to create a shared visual language between art and science, opening up new ways of imagining technology and the world around us. Her collaborations include partnerships with leading institutions like the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, the Zeiss Planetarium, and the Max Planck Institute, and she is a frequent speaker at international conferences. In 2023, she completed her PhD at Bauhaus University Weimar with a groundbreaking project, "The Artist's Book as a Multimedia Encyclopedia," which explored how visual systems in art and science intersect. She also served as Managing Director of Extended Reality Berlin-Brandenburg e.V., where she strengthened networks within the XR community. Bart’s academic journey led her to HBK Braunschweig, Villa Arson in Nice, and the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. With a master’s degree in “Art in Context” from UdK Berlin, she also taught at HBK and Bauhaus University Weimar. As the founder and editor of the transdisciplinary book series Atlas of Databodies, published by transcript Verlag, Bart continues to push the dialogue surrounding the digital and physical body. She also co-founded TURBA, an international artist collective, and is represented by Peter Gaugy Gallery in Vienna and Brussels. Her work has been exhibited internationally in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France, Korea, and the USA.
Exhibitions (selection of solo and duo exhibitions)
2024
Ordnungswut (Galerie Peter Gaugy, Vienna, AT)
Interactions 9, Marlene Bart / Alexander Iskin (Sexauer Showroom, Berlin, DE)
Machined Minds:Nature Unscripted (SOMA Art Berlin, Berlin, DE)
Materia Prima, Marlene Bart / Johannes Post (Villa Heike, Berlin, DE)
2023
Theatrum Radix (Tieranatomisches Theater & Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, DE)
Theatrum Radix (Screening at Zeiss Planetarium, Berlin, DE)
2022
Theatrum Radix (Recto Verso Festival, Bateau Lavoir Saint-Julien, Laval, FR)
Hoch wie nie: imaginary landscapes and the creatures who live there (Galerie Peter Gaugy, Vienna, AT)
2021
Taxa & Theater of Memory (Allgemeiner Konsumverein Braunschweig, Braunschweig, DE)
Je, je suis si fragile (Spazio Norbert Salenbauch, Venice, IT)
2020
Naturdinge (Sprengel@Feinkunst, Feinkunst e.V. & Sprengelmuseum, Hanover, DE)
2019
the tableau of a dead bird (Art Quarter Budapest, Budapest, HU)
Novum Organum (metavier Galerie, Hanover, DE)
2018
ORBIS PICTUS (4D - Projektort des BBK LEIPZIG e. V.,Leipzig, DE)
2016
SYSTEMS - a reconstructed encyclopedia (HBK, Brunswick, DE)
2015
Ora et labora – Labora et ora (Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, USA)
Exhibitions (selection of group exhibitions/festivals)
2024
re:publica, Who cares? (STATION Berlin, DE)
KIAF Art Fair (Coex, Seoul, KOR)
Holitopia (Berlin, DE)
2023
Berlin goes Austin, Immersive space (South by Southwest (SXSW), USA)
UNLEASHED UTOPIAS,VR ART PRIZE (Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin, DE)
VRFestMx (Muv Lab, Mexico City, MEX)
Berlain (Räume.Art, Berlin, DE)
2022
Theatrum Radix (VRE - Virtual Reality Experience festival, MEET, Milan, IT)
2021
Naturae (Galerie Peter Gaugy, Vienna, AT)
Fragments of Hybrid Soup (oMo artspace, Berlin, DE)
2020
Environmental Crisis Exhibition (Gerald Moore Gallery, London, UK)
Charity art auction (Federation of Austrian Industry, Vienna, AT)
Fresh...essays on Nature! (Galerie Kuchling, Berlin, DE)
International and Different (Network of Arts, Luzern, CH)
2019
MyPrivateParadise (Kunstverein Ludwigshafen, Ludwigshafen DE)
Elsewhere is here : Anderswo ist hier (Centrespace Gallery, Bristol, UK)
Mini Maxi Print Berlin (Galerie Kuchling, Berlin, DE)
2018
Leere sockel / Entfernte Monumente (Organ kritischer Kunst, Berlin, DE)
MyPrivateParadise (Neuer Pfaffenhofener Kunstverein, Pfaffenhofen, DE)
Elsewhere is here : Anderswo ist hier (TURBA Gallery, Hanover, DE)
2017
EREIGNIS DRUCKGRAPHIK 2017 (Tapentenwerk, Leipzig, DE)
VOYAGE VOYAGE REISE REISE I (Galerie vom Zufall & vom Glück, Hanover, DE)
Voyage Voyage Reise Reise II (Aître Saint-Maclou, Rouen, FR)
Upcoming empires - Meisterschüler 2017 (Städtische Galerie, Wolfsburg, DE)
TURBA CUX (Künstlerhaus im Schlossgarten, Cuxhaven)
ALL YOU NEED IS MORE (Anna Klinkhammer Galerie, Düsseldorf, DE)
2016
PER ASPERA AD ASTRA (Lokal-int, Biel, CH)
Wunderkammer (Galerie Schmalfuss, Berlin, DE)
2015
Inversion (Museumsabtei, Liesborn, DE)
International Project (Bolu Art Gallery, Bolu, TR)
87. Herbstausstellung (Kunstverein Hannover, Hannover, DE)
TURBA | efficere (Montserrat DTLA, Los Angeles, USA)
2014
IF YOU BELIEVE THAT PRINT IS DEAD YOU ARE DEAD (Verein für Originalradierung München e.V., Munich, DE)
HOME Street HOME („Vermittlungsraum“, Kunstverein BS, Brunswick, DE)
2013
Re-Produktion (Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Brunswick, DE)
Awards / Scholarships / Residencies (selection)
2023
Publication grant from the Bauhaus University Weimar (equal rights office) for the artist's book as a multimedia encyclopaedia
DKB working grant for visual artists who work with virtual reality (Nominees of the VR ART PRIZE)
2022
Residency and exhibition (Recto Verso Festival, Laval, FR)
INITIAL 2 – Neue Kooperationen, Special Grant (Akademie der Künste, Berlin, DE)
2021
Grant for transparatizing taxidermy (Alexander Tutsek Stiftung, Munich, DE)
2020
"Kunststipendium" (German Study Centre Venice, IT)
Production scholarship (Berengo Studio, Murano, IT)
Bauhaus PhD Scholarship (Bauhaus-Universität, Weimar, DE)
2023
Jury: XR Unites (HTW, Berlin) DE
Mentoring: Pause / Play: Culture under Pressure (Yerevan, ARM)
2022
Mentoring: Pause / Play: Culture under Pressure (Untitled Gallery, Tbilisi, GEO)
2021 - 2023
Lecturer at the TU Braunschweig for experimental printmaking
2020 - 2021
Lecturer at the Bauhaus University in Weimar on "Atlas of Databodies"
2017 - 2019
Lecturer at the HBK Braunschweig for digital and analog artist books
Artist books, exhibition catalogues & publications
2024
Monograph: Das Künstlerbuch als multimediale Enzyklopädie, Marlene Bart, transcript
2021
Je, je suis si fragile, Petra Schaefer (German Study Centre Venice) (eds.), exhibition catalouge
Atlas of Databodies - Issue 1, Marlene Bart, Johannes Breuer & Alex Leo Freier (eds.), Journal for Interdisciplinary Research on Images of the Body, transcript
2020
Naturdinge, Feinkunst e.V., Sprengelmuseum (eds.), artist book
2018
Orbis Pictus, artist book
2016
SYSTEMS - a reconstructed encyclopedia, artist book
2013 - 2015
KRISTEL- Issue 1 - 3, Marlene Bart, Lena Lamprecht (eds.), Interdisciplinary Magazine for Students of the Braunschweig University of Fine Arts
Contributions in
2022
Imagining Life, Artworks and descriptions: Amy Karle, Text: Marlene Bart, Alex Leo Freier, Atlas of Databodies - Issue 1, Marlene Bart, Johannes Breuer & Alex Leo Freier (eds.), Journal for Interdisciplinary Research on Images of the Body, transcript
Milimeterarbeit der Natur, Atlas of Databodies - Atlas of Databodies - Issue 1, Marlene Bart, Johannes Breuer & Alex Leo Freier (eds.), Journal for Interdisciplinary Research on Images of the Body, transcript
A little bit nasty, Artworks and descriptions: Marius Mathisrud, Text: Marlene Bart, Atlas of Databodies - Issue 1, Marlene Bart, Johannes Breuer & Alex Leo Freier (eds.), Journal for Interdisciplinary Research on Images of the Body, transcript
Gunga, Maxim Gunga, diploma catalouge
CONTEMPORANEA 2020/1973, Maria Bremer (eds.), exhibition catalouge
2020
A little other, Rui Zhang, Feinkunst e.V., Sprengelmuseum (eds.), exhibition catalouge
2018
Artistic contribution in: Un/Certain Futures – Rollen des Designs in gesellschaftlichen Transformationsprozessen, Marius Förster, Saskia Hebert, Mona Hofmann, Wolfgang Jonas (eds.), transcript