Jonathan Meese

Jonathan Meese was born in Tokyo in 1970. In 1993 he studied under Franz Erhard Walter at Hamburg’s art academy, the Hochschule für bildende Künste. Even as a student he began covering the atelier walls with his works and taking part in performances. He had his first solo exhibition in 1997 at the Kunstverein Kehdingen. He broke off his studies in 1998. The exhibition of his controversial installation Ahoi de Angst at the 1st Berlin Biennale in 1998 led to his breakthrough. His performances, collages, paintings, photographs, videos, sculptures and installations were henceforth shown in numerous national and international solo and group exhibitions. In 2004 he designed the sets for Frank Castorf’s staging of Pitigrilli’s Cocaïne at the Berlin Volksbühne. That was the start of an increasing commitment to the theatre. In 2006 Meese formulated his goal of a “dictatorship of art”, which he then further developed and promoted. Meese lives and works in Berlin and Hamburg.