Julia Klemm

Julia Klemm (b. 1983 in Backnang, Germany) is a sculptor working primarily with ceramics. She lives and works in Munich.

Klemm’s practice centers around experimental ceramic processes, combining hand-modeled and glazed clay with objets trouvés—everyday or symbolic found objects such as second-hand kitsch figures and stuffed animals. Her recent works focus on reinterpreting public lion monuments from European cities through digital 3D scanning and ceramic translation. By reducing these symbols of power to cat-sized sculptures, she addresses contemporary iconoclasm, feminism, and the instability of meaning in historical imagery.

Her assemblage sculptures emerge as unstable forms—fragmented, layered, and subjected to multiple firings—evoking the tension between control and collapse. Drawing from both form and formlessness, Klemm’s work examines human existence and the emotional states that arise from ambiguity, alienation, and transformation. She invites viewers to confront the unresolved and fill in narrative or emotional “gaps” through their own interpretations.

2017
Diploma as a Meisterschülerin (Master Schoolar) of the class Prof. N.N. Prangenberg/ Karstieß,
Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Munich

2015
Art studies, Institute of Ceramic and Glass Arts, Coblenz

2014
Study exchange at Mason Gross School of the Arts, New Jersey (USA)

2012
Assistant of Prof. Giuliana Stella, Accademia di Belle Arti, Rome (I)
Assistant of Arlene Shechet, Meißen artCampus, Meißen

2005
Wood Sculpting School, Munich

Exhibitions

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2025
A chimera is not a pet, The Tiger Room, Munich

2024
Blended spheres, Artothek Munich

2023
Dimensions, curated by Julia Holzmann, Neue Galerie im Höhmannhaus, Augsburg

2019
Cigales, Open Studio exhibition, Cité internationale des arts Paris (FR)

2018
Uncanny likeness, Galerie GEDOK (Debütantinnenförderung), Munich

2016
BULK, at the Annual Exhibition, AdBK Munich

2012
Strati, curated by Giuliana Stella, Lasituazione, Rome (I)

EXHIBITIONS (SELECTION)

2025
Pracownia Portretu, Łódź (PL)

2024
Micro Art Gallery, Neues Rathaus, Munich
Jahresgaben Empfangshalle, Munich
X/y/z Kunstverein Wagenhalle, Stuttgart
Reverie reset, Gallery The Tiger Room, Munich

2023
Think before you print, Galerie von Empfangshalle, Munich
World of Art A(u)ktion, MPark, Munich
Large-size terracotta sculptures from the 41st international terracotta sculptures symposium, Kikinda (SRB)

2022
Jahresgaben, Kunstverein Augsburg
Jahresgaben, Kunstverein Munich
Animals on my mind, with Zuza Piekoszewska, curated by GIG Munich, in collaboration with
Łęctwo Galery Poznan, Lothringer13, Munich
In Situ Paradise, 1. Biennale Lindau, Lindau
Identität nicht nachgewiesen, Neuerwerbungen der Sammlung des Bundes, Bundeskunsthalle Bonn

2021
Perplex, with Magdalena Waller, curated by Sophie-C. Bombeck, Centercourt Munich
Jahresgaben, Kunstverein Munich
Jahresgaben, Verein zur Förderung urbaner Kunst, Munich
End-of-year-exhibition, Peripheral Alliances, Inning
Biennale Lindau Preview, Kunstmuseum Lindau
Lost and found, GiG Munich
Jahresausstellung, Kunstverein Rosenheim

2020
Manipulation of Delphi, Kunstarkaden Munich
Jahresgaben, Kunstverein Munich
Distantceramics, ungoing international ceramic online exhibition by Thomas Stollar
International ceramic exhibition and symposium, Bhopal (IND)

2019
By Side, with Tijana Todorovich, Open Studio exhibition, Cité internationale des arts Paris (FR)
Layers, Open Studio exhibition, Cité internationale des arts Paris (FR)

2018
Signs, creatures and forms, Galerie Ambacher Contemporary, Munich
Migration, Art Ichol – Visual Arts Centre, Madhya Pradesh (IND)

2017
Too soon to tell, Färberei, Munich
Missed Connections, with Justin Lieberman, curated by Andri Bischoff, PartOne, Cologne
Tacker, Galerie der Künstler, Munich

2015
Weltraum – # Finale, Rathausgalerie, curated by Tina Hudelmaier and Maresa Bucher, Munich
Sculpture as performance, Botanikum, curated by Quirin Brunnmeier, Munich
Raumgewinn, Institute for Ceramic and Glass Arts, Coblenz
One day exhibition, Klasse Karstieß and friends, Weltkunstzimmer, Dusseldorf

2014
KUNST SICHERt – Notenfelder, Zurich Bezirksinspektion, curated by Mehmet Dayi, Munich

2013
Gimnosofisti, Bibliothé, Rome (I)
Orgeln, with Lotte Lindner & Till Steinbrenner, AkademieGalerie, Munich
Art books, cooperation with Recto Verso Library, Galerie Pièce Unique, Beirut (LIB)

2012
Chemical Moon Baby, Villa Katrin Bechtler, Zurich (CH)
ROMance, Temple University, Rome (I)

2011
Suitcase, Rutgers Gallery, New Jersey (USA)
Irgendeiner wartet immer, BBK Galerie der Künstler, Munich

Promotions / Awards

GRANTS/ PRIZES

2025
Scholarship Stiftung KUNSTFONDS

2023
Stipendium für Bildende Kunst, State Capital Munich
Studio grant, Government of Upper Bavaria

2022
Scholarship Stiftung KUNSTFONDS, NEUSTART KULTUR

2021
Grant Bayern Innovativ, Bavarian State Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and the Arts
Grant of the Erwin und Gisela von Steiner-Stiftung Munich
Catalogue grant, lfa Förderbank

2020
Atelier sponsorship program, state capital Munich

2018
Paris-Scholarship, Bavarian Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and the Arts
GEDOK catalog grant, Debütantinnenförderung Munich

2017
Grant of the Erwin und Gisela von Steiner-Stiftung Munich
Atelier sponsorship program of the state capital Munich

2015
Prize of the Danner-Foundation, Munich

2014
Scholarship of the Bavarian State Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and the Arts

2013
Jubilee Scholarship Foundation of Munich

2012
Erasmus-scholarship, Rome (I)

COLLECTIONS

COLLECTIONS

Terra Center Museum and Collection, Kikinda (SRB)
Collection of Contemporary Art, Federal Republic of Germany
Collection Reydan Weiss, Dusseldorf
Villa Katrin Bechtler, Zurich (CH)
Erwin und Gisela von Steiner-Stiftung, Munich
HGA Collection Munich
Collection Born Munich
various private collections