elisa r. linn       

(she/they)


@email kmtemporaer.de                                  Film Club der polnischen Versager*innen e.V.


Elisa R. Linn (Elisa Linn Roguszczak) is a writer, exhibition maker, and educator from Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin. Since 2022 she is the Co-Director and Curator of the Halle für Kunst Lüneburg e.V. and teaches at the Leuphana University. In her practice, she is concerned with politics of self-organization, representation, collectivity, migration, non-essentialist notions of identity, and the minor, challenging modernist conceptions of the state and the 'great man.' 


She studied sociology, art history, visual culture and film studies, and curatorial studies and is a graduate of the Whitney Independent Study Curatorial Program. Linn is pursuing her PhD in philosophy with Marina Gržinić at AdbK Vienna and has held the interim professorship of the chair of Art Theory and Mediation (Prof. Dr. Kerstin Stakemeier) at the Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg for the summer semester 2022. In her research, she examines the impact of “border thinking” and "borders" on marginalized communities and how their strategies of self-organization from below can dismantle necropolitical conditions. In this context, she is interested in how the Berlin Wall was utilized as a "condom” against the “Other” during the AIDS pandemic and in the Cold War confrontation.


Since 2012, with architect and curator Lennart Wolff, she has been jointly running the curatorial and artists project km temporaer. She is co-organizing the Film Club der polnischen Versager*innen at the Club der polnischen Versager in Berlin-Mitte.  


Linn has worked with and curated exhibitions at The Kitchen, South London Gallery, The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Bronx Museum of the Arts and the National Gallery Prague among others. She has given lectures and taught at the Umeå Academy of Fine Arts, TU Berlin, Pratt Institute, Royal Academy of Arts in London, Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig, The New School, Eugen Lang College of Liberal Arts, Barnard College/Columbia University in New York among others. She has contributed to publications and magazines such as Frieze, Starship, artforum, Texte zur Kunst, BOMB, and Jacobin

 recent exhibition projects

– Irma Hünerfauth: Speaking Boxes in dialogue with Planned City Cinema, a moving image program, SIMIAN, Copenhagen, May 19 Jul 9, 2023

KP Brehmer – Welt im Kopf [World in Mind], Maxwell Graham Gallery & Petzel Gallery, New York, March 1 April 29, 2023

the future looms, Emanuel Layr, Vienna, curated by, September 10 – October 8, 2022

With works by Anna Andreeva, Jordan/Martin Hell, Charlotte Johannesson, Lorenza Longhi, VNS Matrix, Melika Ngombe Kolongo            

the state I am in, Capitain Petzel, Berlin, June 23 – August 6, 2022

With works by James Gregory Atkinson, Noah Barker, Nicolas Ceccaldi, Peter Fend, Lea Grundig, Jacqueline de Jong, Laura Langer, Louise Lawler, Oswald Oberhuber, Li Ran, Lotty Rosenfeld, Bruno Serralongue, Bri Williams and Leyla Yenirce 

– Building Information, organized by Kadambari Baxi, Elisa R. Linn, Klaus Platzgummer and Lennart Wolff, Architekturmuseum, Technische Universität Berlin, opening March 31, 2022

Mit Parallelität von Widersprüchen wird Komplexes missverständlicher, 

an exhibition conceived by Elisa R. Linn, Sophie Reinhold and Ariane Müller, Schiefe Zähne, January 20 – February 27, 2022

Noor Abuarafeh, Ariella Azoulay, Linda Bilda, Bertolt Brecht, KP Brehmer, Vlassis Caniaris, Larry W. Cook, Josefin Fischer, Michèle Graf & Selina Grüter, Matthias Groebel, Elisabeth Hauptmann, Tiphanie Kim Mall, Ariane Müller & Verena Kathrein, Marlies Pahlenberg, Genesis P-Orridge, Ronald M. Schernikau, LeRoy Stevens, ariella tai, Sophie Reinhold, Agnès Varda

– Blue Gloves, White Gloves, AA Visiting School Zurich, Kunsthalle Zurich, August 2021

– Fire demands its Fuel, at the invitation of Markus Lüttgen & Drei, An der Stadtmauer 6, Mönchengladbach, April 2021

Noah Barker, Erica Baum, Juan Downey, Rochelle Feinstein, Irma Hünerfauth, Jean Katambayi Mukendi, Kitty Kraus, Phung-Tien Phan, Schmelzdahin, Geschichtswerkstatt Mönchengladbach

– Filzengraben Boulevard, Performance-lecture with Julia Scher in collaboration with the Center For Experimental Lectures, Kunsthaus Glarus, DREI, November 2020

– Vera Molnár, Wanda Czełkowska, Milena Usenik, Laibach Kunst, Tadej Pogačar, Sanja Ivekovic, Eva Bodnar, fotoform, Diet Sayler, André Verlon, Tamás Konok, Explorations, viennacontemporary, Vienna, September 24 - 27, 2020

– KP Brehmer Song of Growth, Weiss Falk, Basel, Switzerland, June 27 - September 5, 2020

– Carolyn Lazard, Julia Heyward, Weekend & Plaste, Nicolás Guagnini, Screening, Kino Süd, 2020

– House of Sleep in collaboration with Frances Scholz and Klasse Scholz, HBK Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig, 2020

Peter Fend AFRICA-ARCTIC FLYWAY, Museo Nivola, Sardinia, Italy, 2019-2020

When you’re on the Net, are you lost? Or found? And the rest of us—lost or found—are we on it, or in it?, Museum für Fotografie Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 2019

Absolute Thresholds curated by John Miller, Elisa R. Linn and Lennart Wolff

with Patricia L. Boyd, Rochelle Feinstein, Dan Graham, Matt Keegan, Yves Klein & Claude Parent,  

Nina Könnemann, Carolyn Lazard, John Miller, Kaspar Müller, Karin Schneider, Greg Parma Smith,

Aura Rosenberg, Camilla Wills, Galerie Francesca Pia, Zurich, 2019

– Straying from the Line, Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin, 2019

Vito Acconci, Lynda Benglis, Dara Birnbaum, Jenna Bliss, Pauline Boudry & Renate Lorenz, Teresa Burga, Tom Burr, Claude Cahun, Ellen Cantor, Tony Cokes, Anna Daučíková, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Nicole Eisenman, Ellen Gallagher, Jef Geys, Guerilla Girls, Barbara Hammer, Eva Hesse, Irma Hünerfauth, Mike Kuchar, Maria Lassnig, Leigh Ledare, Alice Lex-Nerlinger, Klara Lidén, Lee Lozano, Sarah Lucas, Ulrike Müller, Gabriele Münter, Anna Oppermann, Charlotte Posenenske, Tim Rollins & K.O.S., Aura Rosenberg, Betye Saar, Heji Shin, Marianna Simnett, Jack Smith, Nancy Spero, Diamond Stingily, Sturtevant, Martine Syms, Rosemarie Trockel, Anna Uddenberg, Raphaela Vogel, Constantina Zavitsanos & Park McArthur

Archive Fever with Özgür Kar, Adriana Lara, Dena Yago, Emalin, London, 2018

Daily Operation with Anna Daučíková, Zbyněk Baladrán, Julia Heyward, Georgie Nettell, John Smith,

and Will Benedict, National Gallery Prague, 2018

Michèle Graf & Selina Grüter: One against All [Uno contro tutti], Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, 2018

Omnipresence, With works by: Peggy Ahwesh, Ei Arakawa and Miho Hatori, Ericka Beckman, KP Brehmer,

Olga Chernysheva, Selina Grüter and Michèle Graf, Jason Hirata, Ho Rui An, Alan Ruiz,

Carey Young, Jessica Vaughn, and Constantina Zavitsanos

curated by Elisa R. Linn, Joseph Lubitz, Ellen Pavey, and Manabu Yahagi, The Kitchen, New York City, 2018

– Peter Fend/Yona Friedman - Filling the absence, Pinksummer Contemporary Art, Genova, 2019

– Architecture of Storage, DAZ German Center for Architecture, Berlin, 2018

With contributions by: Studio Christian Wassmann, Alice Creischer, Martti Kalliala, Gili Tal, Hollwich Kushner & Liam Gillick,

Kaspar Müller, Aaron Flint Jamison, MyPlace, Atelier d'Architecture 3bm3, Petra Beck, John Kelsey,

DAZ German Center for Architecture Berlin, 2018

– Julia Heyward, Nothing Random Access Memory, Bronx Museum, New York City, 2018

– John Russell, Doggo, British School at Rome, 2018

– Julia Heyward, Nothing Random Access Memory, South London Gallery, London, 2018

– To a Body, Shoot the Lobster, New York City, 2017

Debo Eilers, No Pushing No Stealing, WNTRP, Berlin, 2017

– Real Life, Galerie Bernhard, Zurich, 2017

– Cos only difference can return my friend, 83 Pitt Street, New York City, 2016

– Genesis BREYER-P-ORRIDGE, Vosberg, Cologne, 2016

– I Pledge Allegiance, On Stellar Rays, New York City, 2016

– Rosa Aiello / Cooper Jacoby, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, 2015

– Grand Opening Reception, Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Aachen, 2015



recent teaching, talks, lectures & seminars


 –   (De-)Politicising Art Studies. Marxist Traditions Since 1968, TU Berlin, 2023

 –   The State I am In, Seminar and Lecture with Lennart Wolff, Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, 2022

–  Reading, Das Lachen der Lämmer, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, January 23, 2022

Reading "da ich nichts weiter tue als mich in mir umzutun,”

an essay on the rebellious material aesthetics of punks and their song lyrics in the GDR, Galerie Auslage Berlin, November 2021

– Exhibiting Architecture, Architectural Association School of Architecture, Visiting School Zurich, Kunsthalle Zurich, 2021

– SEMANTIC POLLUTION - VISUALIZATION PROBLEMS AFTER KP BREHMER, Kunstverein Hamburg July 22, 2021 

– Lecture/Workshop: Michèle Graf & Elisa R. Linn, On Collectivity, Self-Organization and Being Without, AdBK Nürnberg, 2021

Exhibiting Architecture - Media, Methods, Agents, Architectural Association School of Architecture, Visiting School Zurich, 2020  

– Guest Crit, Junior Research, Pratt Institute, Berlin, 2020

– ART CAN PRODUCE HISTORY – lecture with Peter Fend, The New School, Eugen Lang College of Liberal Arts, New York City, 2020

– Public Lecture, Umeå Academy of Fine Arts, Sweden, 2019

Exhibiting Architecture – Media, Methods, Agents, Architectural Association School of Architecture, Visiting School Zurich, 2019   

– The Coming Community – Self-Organization, Collectivity and Representation in Exhibition Making – Public Talk / Workshop,

HBK Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig, 2019

– Workshop and public lecture, Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik, Berlin, 2019

Architecture of Painting – Rochelle Feinstein, Elisa R. Linn and Lennart Wolff in conversation Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2018

 – Lecture National Centre for Contemporary Arts, NCCA/Nemoskva, Khabarovsk, 2018

– Public Lecture, Xitek New Talent Award, Beijing, China, 2018

– Guest Lecture Art Criticism, Department of Art History, Barnard College/Columbia University, New York City, 2018

– Guest Lecture Junior Research, Pratt Institute, New York City, 2017

– Conversation with Christian von Borries, Ben Kaufmann, Lennart Wolff, Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Aachen, 2015

– Reading with Rosa Aiello, Hannah Black, Tess Edmonson, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, 2015



selected texts & publications


– Leyla Yenirce: Ich krieg Geschwindigkeit, exhibition text, Capitain Petzel, Berlin, November 2023

– A History of Conflicts after WWII: Beyond the Nation State: Towards an Epistemology of Transitional Justice, Journal for the History of Knowledge (To be published)

 – The Margins of Events: Bruno Serralongue by Elisa R. Linn & Lennart Wolff, Mousse 82, 2023

– Peter Fend: AFRICA-ARCTIC FLYWAY I PHYSIOCRATIC STATES, Sternberg Press, MIT Press 2022

 – Strichjungen dürfen nicht Präsident werden, Elisa R. Linn über Jürgen Baldiga bei Cordova, Barcelona, Texte zur Kunst, HEFT #125, 2022

– Sophie Reinhold, MENACE, exhibition text, Sophie Tappeiner Gallery, Vienna, 2021

 Mikołaj Sobczak, Illiberal Arts, booklet, edited by Anselm Franke, Kerstin Stakemeier and HKW, Berlin, 2021

– A Collective Effort in Sensecore, Elisa R. Linn & Nicholas Grafia in dialogue about Gaze Faze I & II, and Times New Romans 

(As Page Turning As Eye Opening), Illiberal Arts, booklet, edited by Anselm Franke, Kerstin Stakemeier and HKW, Berlin, 2021

– Complicating Meaning: Jibade-Khalil Huffman, BOMB Magazine, 2021

– Raphaela Vogel, Interview, Triennale Beaufort, 2021

 – No Next Time, Nina Könnemann, High Art, Paris, 2021

– Europe Divided Into Its Kingdoms, Julian Irlinger, Damien & The Love Guru, Brussels, 2021

– KP Brehmer, VERLORENE ARBEITSTAGE, Galerie Volker Diehl, Berlin, 2020 - 2021 

– On Nicolás Guagnini, Galerie Max Mayer, 2020

– Vessel, Piotr Łakomy, Simian, Copenhagen, 2020 - 2021

– Gegen die Roboter? Jean-Marie Straub’s and Georges Bernanos’ France Against Robots, Jacobin Magazin, 2020

– KP Brehmer Song of Growth, Edited by Elisa R. Linn and Lennart Wolff, Including a conversation with Hans Haacke,

Designed by Anne Stock, 124 pages, colour, Hacienda Books, Weiss Falk Basel, 2020

– Cage of Eden, Essay Richard Sides, ars viva-Preis, Museum Angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, 2020

– Bugs in Amber, Essay Jan Vorisek, Dorothea von Stetten-Kunstpreis, Kunstmuseum Bonn, 2020

Interview Sarah Schulman, What ACT UP Can Teach Us About the Current Health Emergency, Frieze, 2020

The Ecology of Visibility, Julia Scher, DREI, Cologne, 2020

Sung Tieu, Kaleidoscope, Issue SS20, 2020

– VON BALKEN UND SPLITTERN, León Ferrari, Texte zur Kunst, Issue no. 117 March 2020

– da ich nichts weiter tue als mich in mir umzutun, Starship Magazine 19, 2020

A Decade Of Submission, Özgür Kar, Édouard Montassut, Paris, 2020

– ANDERE ORTE, Ariane Müller, Texte zur Kunst, Issue no. 116 December 2019

– A True Mirror Nina Beier & John Miller, Hunt Kastner, Prague, 2019

Searchers And Sifters, Julia Scher, Texte zur Kunst, 2019

– The Thin Red Line, Sprüth Magers / Mousse Publishing, 2018

Catalog Essay: Within Abstraction: Manifesting the Manifold. Seele und Gefühle eines Arbeiters by KP Brehmer,

Whitney Museum of American Art, edited by Elisa R. Linn, Joseph Lubitz, Ellen Pavey, and Manabu Yahagi, 2018

– Johannes Paul Raether, Kaleidoscope, Issue #32 Spring/Summer 2018

– KP Brehmer, Spike Art Quarterly, #54 WINTER 2018

– Michael E Smith, ARTFORUM, 2018

– Catalog Essay: Andy Boot, Floating Opera Press, 2017

– Interview Alexandra Bircken, Kaleidoscope, #31 Fall/ Winter 2017

– Michel Majerus, ARTFORUM, 2017

– Tina Braegger, The Great Fool Braegger, Weiss Falk, Basel, 2017

– Interview Pamela Rosenkranz, Kaleidoscope Berlin Gallery Weekend 6/6, 2017

– Kaspar Müller, ARTFORUM, 2017

– Amelie von Wulffen, ARTFORUM, 2017

– Timothée Calame, Frieze d/e, Issue 25, Autumn 2016

– Amy Sillman, Frieze, Issue 181, September 2016

– Focus: Anna Zacharoff, Frieze d/e, Issue 20, March, 2016



fellowships, residencies & awards


 –  Institut Ramon Llull, Barcelona, October 2021

 –  Fabio Mauri Studio, Research Residency, co-hosted by Hauser & Wirth, Rome, October 2021

 – Curatorial Research Programme, Danish Arts Foundation, 2021

– Research Fellowship Mexico City, Goethe-Institut, Munich, 2020

– Nomination Lorenzo Bonaldi Award for Art, GAMeC, Bergamo, 2019

Residency Jindřich Chalupecký Society, Prague, 2018

– Helena Rubinstein Curatorial Fellow Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program (ISP), New York City, 2017-18



Information in accordance with § 5 TMG For address information and privacy protection please contact: elisa.r.linn(at)gmail.com