Nicole Wermers

In her sculptures, photographs and collages, Nicole Wermers connects formal considerations with a discussion about urban space and its social, economical and psychological aspects. Combining references to art history with modern surfaces and materials, the artist explores fine art aesthetics within the design of daily life, specifically the ways it has been appropriated by consumer culture. Combining and reconfiguring familiar objects into new material forms, Wermers addresses the structures of ritualised social relations and the material objects through which these associations are communicated. These works transform, contain, and frame their environment, prompting a deeper consideration of how surface and design read as social and cultural indicators.

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Born in 1971 in Emsdetten, Germany, Wermers is currently based in London. She studied at the Academy of Fine Arts of Hamburg (Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg) from 1991-1997 and received an MFA from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, University of the Arts London in 1999. She has participated in residencies at Delfina Studio Trust in London (2004) and Camden Arts Centre in London (2005), and received a fellowship at Villa Massimo, the German Academy in Rome (2012). In 2015, Wermers was nominated for the Turner Prize.

Important solo exhibitions include Marathon Dance Relief, St. Carthage Hall, Lismore Castle Arts, Ireland (2025); Day Care, The Common Guild, Glasgow (2024); Reclining Fanmail, Kunsthaus Glarus, Switzerland (2022); Emscher Folly, Emscher Kunstweg, Oberhausen, Germany (permanent public art commission - 2020); Women between Buildings, Kunstverein Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany (2018); The London Shape, Stanley Picker Gallery, Kingston upon Thames, UK (2014); Manners, site-specific commission for Tate Britain, London, UK (2013); Food in Space, curated by Luca Lo Pinto, Pigna Project Space, Rome (2012); Il Dehors, Villa Massimo, German Academy, Rome (2012); Hôtel Biron, Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Germany (2011); Masse und Auflösung, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, Colorado, USA (2007); Earring, site-specific sculpture, Camden Arts Centre, London, UK (2006); Chemie, Secession, Vienna, Austria (2005).

Her work was also included in A Women Qualities, Kunstmuseum Moritzburg, Halle (Saale), Germany (2021); Magical Soup, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2020); the Turner Prize exhibition at Tramway, Glasgow (2015-2016); The Kids Want Communism, curated by Joshua Simon (2016-17); Quiz 2, curated by Robert Stadler & Alexis Vaillant, MUDAM Luxembourg (2016); Display Show, curated by Celine Condorelli, Stroom den Haag, The Hague, The Netherlands (2016); Function Follows Vision, Vision Follows Reality, Kunsthalle Wien Karlsplatz, Vienna, Austria (2015); Überschönheit, Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg, Austria (2015); A Singular Form, Secession, Wien, Austria (2014); Villa Massimo Stipendiaten, Martin-Gropius Bau, Berlin, Germany (2013); Perspectives On Collage, Photographers Gallery, London, UK (2013); Re-generation, Museo d'Arte Contemporanea (MACRO), Rom, Italy (2012);Crazy House at Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt (2012); The New Décor, Hayward Gallery, London and the Garage Centre in Moscow, Russia in (2010-2011); A wavy line is drawn across the middle of the original plans, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, Germany (2012); Weltempfänger, Galerie der Gegenwart/ Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany (2007); Tate Triennale, Tate Britain, London, UK (2006).

Wermers work is included in the permanent collections of Tate Britain in London, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, Kunsthalle Hamburg, Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt, Mont Blanc Collection, Haumburg, Government Art Collection, London, Karl-Ernst Osthaus Museum in Hagen, Germany, the DGZ Bank Collection in Düsseldorf, and Bundeskunstsammlung, Bonn, Germany, among others.

Nicole Wermers: Women Between Buildings