Katarzyna Badach
Katarzyna Banach is a painter who dedicates herself to peripheral spaces, niches, and wasteland beyond the over-capitalized. She portrays places where people, plants, and things come together and unpredictable interactions arise – spaces of possibilities. Small-format works on paper are created in situ, on the basis of which she realizes large-format canvases in her studio. She frequently visits the locations over extended periods and paints them at different times of day and seasons. Her paintings show traces of human activity in dialogue with nature and simultaneously serve as a repository for memories, narratives, and imaginations.
Like the motifs themselves, Banach's works are surfaces that evade control, where unplanned events can occur. In her studio, she explores how perceptions can be translated into tactile and sensory experiences through paint application and gesture.
Work
career
2003
Postgraduate Studies in Fine Arts, Instituto Superior de Arte, Havana, Cuba
1999 – 2001
Master student of Prof. Helmut Dorner, State Academy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe, Germany
1994 – 2001
Studies in Fine Arts, State Academy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe, Germany
solo exhibition
2024
Berlin Whispers, Studio Badach / Ramos Fernandez; 48 Stunden Neukölln, Berlin, Germany (with Alfredo Ramos and weRstories)
2019
Until We Grow Wings, Kunsthaus Raskolnikow, Dresden, Germany (with Alfredo Ramos)
2017
Caída Libre, Centro de Desarrollo de las Artes Visuales, Havana, Cuba
2015
Umstülpungen, Das Esszimmer Raum für Kunst, Bonn, Germany (with Alfredo Ramos)
Cubanscapes, Christa Burger Gallery, Munich, Germany (with Nathalie Grenzhäuser / AdidalAbou-Chamat)
2014
Paradiso, Galería La Moderna, Havana, Cuba (with Alfredo Ramos)
2012
Globos de Verde, Proyecto Linea 106, Havana, Cuba, as part of the Havana Biennale (with Alfredo Ramos)
2006
Lugares, Centro Provincial de Artes Plásticas y Diseño, Havana, Cuba
Kachita, Mango y el Jim, Gaia Art Center, Havana, Cuba (with Fransisco Alejandro Vives / Jorge Luis Marrero)
2003
Recent Works, Poly Galerie, Karlsruhe, Germany (with Karoline Walther)
1997
Ozelot, Galerie von Walden, Berlin (with Sabine Strauß / Dorothee Rosenbauer)
Exhibitions
2025
Participation, Neuköllner Salon, Berlin
2024
Navigating the Waves, MFAH, Houston, USA
Borde, Galería Collage Habana, Havana, Cuba
Nostalgia, Michael Horbach Stiftung, Cologne, Germany
2022
The Light in Cuban Eyes, Phillips Museum of Art, Philadelphia, USA
InterAktion, Screening, Sacrow Palace, Potsdam, Germany
2020 – 2019
Bunch of Kunst in Quarantine, Virtual Exhibition, @marajohanna.kolmel
The Drowned World, Toronto Biennial of Art, Ontario Place, Toronto, Canada
500 x 500, Centro Provincial de Artes Plásticas y Diseño, Havana, Cuba
2017
Compositions, Horst Merkle Gallery, Stuttgart, Germany
Hope, ESMoA, Los Angeles, USA
2016
Wasserfest, Ausstellungsraum Klingental, Basel, Switzerland
Viceversa, Museo Provincial, Holguín; Lloyd’s Register, Havana, Cuba
Esszimmer goes Weltraum, Weltraum, Basel, Switzerland
Kunstboulevard, Boulevard Berlin, Germany
2015
Embodied, Nikolaj Kunsthal, Copenhagen, Denmark
Still Still Still, Horst Merkle Gallery, Stuttgart, Germany
Campos de Batalla, PuNcTuM & Studio 8, Havana, Cuba; Espacio PuNcTuM, Mexico City, Mexico
Videoarde, Casa de las Américas, Havana, Cuba
2014
Dios los Cría, Factoría Habana, Havana, Cuba
Sans Serif, Kesselhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany
2013 – 2012
Brujos y Brujas, Museo de Arte Maníaco, Havana, Cuba
Mentes, Museo de Arte Maníaco, Havana, Cuba
Reditus II, Raymaluz Art Gallery, Madrid, Spain
2008 – 2012
Videoarde, Traveling Exhibition; Instituto Cervantes: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Athens, Greece; Istanbul, Turkey; Casablanca, Morocco
2011 – 2010
Soft City, Alan Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey
Recent Acquisitions from the Shelley and Donald Rubin Private Collection, 8th Floor Space, New York, USA
2009 – 2007
Love, Jacob Karpio Gallery, San José, Costa Rica
Antes Que Nada, ASFA Vulcan Materials Gallery, Alabama, USA
On Board, Huntington Beach Art Center, Huntington Beach, USA
Cuba_Exchange, Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe, Germany
2006 – 2003
Home, One Night Gallery, Havana, Cuba
The Other Shore; Current Reflections on Landscape, Rotary Club Strasbourg: CCI Strasbourg, France; Centre Culturel Français, Karlsruhe, Germany
1999 – 2002
Landscapes of One Century from the Collection Deutsche Bank, Traveling Exhibition; Museum Moderner Kunst, Passau, Germany; Museum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, St. Annen-Museum, Lübeck, Germany; Kunstverein Offenburg, Offenburg, Germany; South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Prizes and Scholarships
2025
Research Grant, Berlin
2020
Artist in Residence, Karl Hofer Gesellschaft, Berlin, Germany
2012
Grant from Kulturprojekte Berlin / Special Program of the Senate Department for Culture and Europe
2005
Grant from the Ministry of Science and Art Baden-Württemberg for graduates
