Represented artist
Katharina Maderthaner
Meerbusch, Germany, 1982. Based in Düsseldorf
Statement
Katharina Maderthaner’s artworks draw inspiration from bizarre everyday situations in which the false mimics the real and the copy attempts to supplant the original, oscillating between good taste and bad.
This focus triggers a need in the artist to rework her experiences through an act of synthesis and sublimation, ultimately leading to the creation of something absolutely new. Banality mirrors solemnity, the duplicate mirrors the unique article, the fake and the imitation mirror the authentic in a conflation of quotidian pastiche and hidden genius, of the masterpiece and the mass-produced, of design and disaster. The artist passes between these opposed worlds by transforming one into the other and smearing their boundaries. Maderthaner’s works thus arouse an uneasy déjà-vu in their viewer, recalling things seemingly familiar; in her installations, her images and her objects, references appear that point in turn to other references. Long genealogies of taste unfold before the observer of her art, akin to a symbolic current that draws forth objects, images, ideas and motifs, leaving a rich, heterogeneous and bizarre resonance.
Maderthaner thus opens a startling door to the new, to the perception of an unexpected beauty, “Because beauty," according to Katharina, "is not something that is in things; it is between them – and between them and us.”
She trained at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf under Richard Deacon, also becoming his assistant.
She has participated in solo and group exhibitions in public and private venues since 2008. Chief amongst them: Hallraum/Gasthof Worringer Platz, Düsseldorf; Works and Presentation by Katharina Maderthaner, Yerevan, Armenia; Deacon-Maderthaner – Museo Riso, Palermo; Très Chic – Kunstverein, Ludwigsburg (Baden-Württemberg); Grosse Kunstausstellung NRW – Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf.
Public collections include Kunsthaus NRW, Kornelimünster, Aachen; Museum Kunstpalast (Glas Sammlung), Düsseldorf; Museum im Busch, Etaneno, Namibia; Gustav-Lübcke-Museum, Hamm.
Installation views
ArtVerona, 2017
Deacon – Maderthaner, bi-personal with Richard Deacon, Museo Riso, Palermo - Italy - 2019
Double Eye Trouble, Katharina Maderthaner & Jochen Mühlenbrink, RizzutoGallery, Palermo - Italy - 2023
Double Eye Trouble, Katharina Maderthaner & Jochen Mühlenbrink, RizzutoGallery, Palermo - Italy - 2023
LAGUNA, bi-personal with Francesco De Grandi, RizzutoGallery, Düsseldorf - Germany - 2024
FIESTA, RizzutoGallery, Düsseldorf - Germany - 2026
Chi dice A, deve anche dire B, RizzutoGallery, Piazza San Francesco d’Assisi, Palermo - Italy - 2017Works
Ceramic, gravel, metal grids
500 × 70 × 30 cm
Drawing on paper, ceramic, glass
148 × 65 × 21 cm
Ceramic
41 × 6 × 3 cm
Ceramic
25 × 9 × 3 cm
Ceramic
37 × 3.5 × 3.5 cm
Ceramic
38.5 × 11.2 × 3.8 cm
Ceramic
29 × 18 × 18 cm
Ceramic
37 × 19.5 × 18 cm
Ceramic
44 × 24 × 24 cm
Acrylic on wood
40 × 30 cm
Acrylic on wood
40 × 30 cm
Acrylic on glass, aluminium camping table
80 × 60 cm
Exhibitions
- DüsseldorfFIESTAKatharina Maderthaner, Francesca Polizzi, Luigi Presicce, Sebastian Bartel and 9 more12 June – 18 July 2026
- DüsseldorfLAGUNAFrancesco De Grandi, Katharina Maderthaner30 August – 28 September 2024
- PalermoDOUBLE EYE TROUBLEKatharina Maderthaner, Jochen Mühlenbrink9 September – 4 November 2023
- PalermoEditionsRichard Deacon, Katharina Maderthaner27 April – 8 June 2019
- PalermoDEACON - MADERTHANERRichard Deacon, Katharina Maderthaner26 April – 26 June 2019
- PalermoAll You Can SeeKatharina Maderthaner, Maxim Brandt, Stefano Cumia, Ben Edmunds and 6 more29 April – 27 May 2018
- Palermoquantum leapAntonio Catelani, Francesco De Grandi, Jáchym Fleig, Katharina Maderthaner and 4 more18 March – 11 June 2017
- PalermoMiracoli!Katharina Maderthaner9 June – 9 July 2016
News
- 13 October 2026ExhibitionKatharina Maderthaner in KREISLAUF 5 at Museum Katharinenhof, KranenburgKatharina Maderthaner is one of fourteen artists in KREISLAUF 5, on view in Kranenburg from 4 October 2026 to 3 January 2027.Museum Katharinenhof, Kranenburg
- 12 June 2026Curatorial projectFIESTA, a group show organised by Katharina Maderthaner at RizzutoGallery DüsseldorfKatharina Maderthaner organises FIESTA, a group show of thirteen artists at RizzutoGallery Düsseldorf, 12 June – 18 July 2026.RizzutoGallery, Düsseldorf
- 9 April 2026FairRizzutoGallery at Art Düsseldorf 2026RizzutoGallery at Art Düsseldorf 2026 with Daniele Franzella, Francesco De Grandi, Richard Deacon and Katharina Maderthaner.Art Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf
- 9 March 2026ProjectFungi Orchestra, made with Katharina Maderthaner's students, analysed as a Good Practice by transform.NRWtransform.NRW analyses Fungi Orchestra, a sound installation prepared with Katharina Maderthaner's students, as a Good Practice.transform.NRW, Wuppertal
- 24 February 2026ProjectKatharina Maderthaner's installation Pangasius analysed as a Good Practice by transform.NRWtransform.NRW presents Katharina Maderthaner's installation Pangasius (2021) as a Good Practice of sustainable transformation.transform.NRW, Wuppertal
- 23 December 2025ExhibitionAntonio Catelani, Daniele Franzella, Francesca Polizzi, Francesco De Grandi, Mattia Barbieri, Katharina Maderthaner, Lucio Pozzi, Luigi Presicce, Marcello Buffa, Linda Carrara, Anna Capolupo, Andrea Di Marco, Richard Deacon, Tania Giordano, Pietro Leone, Gabriele Massaro and Cosimo Rizzuto in Gallery Party 2025 at RizzutoGallery, PalermoLucio Pozzi shows the painting Liminal pass (2017) in Gallery Party 2025, at RizzutoGallery in Palermo from 23 December 2025 to 31 January 2026.RizzutoGallery, Palermo
- 13 November 2025TalkKatharina Maderthaner at the transform.NRW-Symposium, Bundeskunsthalle, BonnKatharina Maderthaner speaks in a salon and a panel of the transform.NRW-Symposium at the Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, 13–14 November 2025.Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn
- 18 October 2025ExhibitionKatharina Maderthaner in MELTING SANDS at Sammlung Philara, DüsseldorfKatharina Maderthaner is among fifteen artists in MELTING SANDS – Glas in der zeitgenössischen Kunst, Sammlung Philara, until 25 January 2026.Sammlung Philara, Düsseldorf
- 17 October 2025ProjectPractic_Transform'25, a project led by Katharina Maderthaner, in EX NIHILO at Kunsthalle BarmenA student project led by Katharina Maderthaner is part of EX NIHILO at Kunsthalle Barmen, Wuppertal, 17 October – 14 December 2025.Kunsthalle Barmen, Wuppertal
- 23 May 2025Curatorial projectKatharina Maderthaner in the curatorial team of Do Worry Be Happy at Kunsthalle BarmenKatharina Maderthaner is part of the curatorial team of Do Worry Be Happy, Kunsthalle Barmen, Wuppertal, 23 May – 31 August 2025.Kunsthalle Barmen, Wuppertal
- 10 April 2025FairRizzutoGallery at Art Düsseldorf 2025RizzutoGallery at Art Düsseldorf 2025 with Daniele Franzella, Francesco De Grandi, Katharina Maderthaner and Francesca Polizzi.Art Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf
- 24 January 2025Curatorial projectKatharina Maderthaner co-curates Fruchtbare Strukturen at Kunsthalle Barmen, WuppertalKatharina Maderthaner and Martina Fineder curate Fruchtbare Strukturen at Kunsthalle Barmen, Wuppertal, 24 January – 23 February 2025.Kunsthalle Barmen, Wuppertal
- 18 October 2024AppointmentKatharina Maderthaner in the team of the new Kunsthalle Barmen, WuppertalKatharina Maderthaner is a member of the team of Kunsthalle Barmen, reopened by Bergische Universität Wuppertal on 18 October 2024.Kunsthalle Barmen, Wuppertal
- 30 August 2024ExhibitionLAGUNA: Francesco De Grandi and Katharina Maderthaner open RizzutoGallery's space in DüsseldorfRizzutoGallery opens its second space, in Düsseldorf, with LAGUNA, a double solo exhibition by Francesco De Grandi and Katharina Maderthaner.RizzutoGallery, Düsseldorf
- 19 October 2023ExhibitionDouble Eye Trouble by Katharina Maderthaner and Jochen Mühlenbrink in the programme of I-Design PalermoDouble Eye Trouble, with Katharina Maderthaner and Jochen Mühlenbrink at RizzutoGallery Palermo, is part of I-Design 2023; on view until 4 November.RizzutoGallery, Palermo