Biography

Magdalena Cichon studied painting and textile arts at Burg GIebichenstein, University of Art and Design, while also exploring the scientific mind through the study of Psychology, which she uses to inform and develop not just the figures but character of her work. Her mostly figurative paintings are researching anthropological constants, as well as human differences – with bodies and their various expressions via shape, posture, and movement, serving as symbols for the range of what it means to be human. During her studies, Magdalena traveled to China to deepen her understanding of Taoist philosophy. She developed her technique of blurring the lines of consciousness between an acting subject and external influences and creating her figurative paintings at the center of those two states.

Magdalena is a frequent winner of work grants as well as an exhibitor in domestic and international art fairs. Her work has been seen in China, Germany, France, Italy, UK, and Israel, with solo shows in Leipzig, Jena, Halle, and Berlin. With her Jena-based gallery, she regularly travels to symposia throughout Europe.

Since graduating magna cum laude in 2014, she has deepened her practice and continued to challenge herself by extending the technical vocabulary of her work through intangibles, such as her own cultural philosophy and social justice work, or the distinctly tangible textile interventions used to extend and expand the notion of what a canvas is.

Born 1987 in East Germany, Magdalena went to her first political protests at the age of only 2 years old. This event prefigured the kind of adult Magdalena would grow to be, and the kind of work she would do. Magdalena’s work as an artist revolves around the notion of epistemic injustice within the postmodern multitude of narratives, mirrored in the multiple levels of the abstraction/ figuration spectrum in her work.

Artistic Statement

Apart from the traditional way of acting that we usually imagine as a goal-oriented process exerted by a definable subject, Taoist philosophy knows another way – some kind of conscious laissez-faire blurring the lines between an acting subject or agent on the one hand, and spontaneous impulses or external influences on the other. In my paintings, I’m striving for a balance between these two strategies – by making use of the natural traits of the painting material and selecting the outcomes of accidental processes; by playing with depiction and abstraction; by letting the unconscious form the figures without a model or photo present; by investigating human traits and behaviours unknown and strange to me, searching to distill anthropological constants.

Education

2015 - 2019

Ph.D. studies at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Faculty of Art and Design Title: How Can Art Be Research? Intuitive Re exion and Philosophic Daoism in Painting

2014

Diploma of Painting and Textile Art at Burg Giebichenstein, University of Art and Design Title: hazard material

2007 - 2014

Studies of Painting and Textile Art at Burg Giebichenstein, University of Art and Design

2010 - 2013

B.Sc. in Scientic Psychology at FernUniversität Hagen

Permanent Gallery
Cooperations

since 2022

Atamian Hovsepian Curatorial Practice, New York City, USA
https://www.atamianhovsepian.art/magdalena-cichon

2020 - 2022

since 2011

Kunsthandlung Huber & Treff, Jena
https://www.huber-treff.de/kuenstler/magdalena-cichon/

Exhibitions

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2023

LAINA
City Museum Halle
Halle, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany

NECTO
Huber & Treff Gallery
Jena, Thüringen, Germany

2022

BBKarium
BBK Sachsen-Anhalt e.V.
Halle (Saale), Germany

TACOMA
321residence
Buffalo, NY, USA

2017

PARACAS
Stadtwerke Jena
Jena, Germany

2016

FEDYA
Federal Art Foundation Saxony-Anhalt
Halle (Saale), Germany

RONYA
Huber & Treff Gallery
Jena, Germany

2015

DUNYA
Federal Art Foundation Saxony-Anhalt
Halle (Saale), Germany

2014

hazard material
Villa Rosenthal
Jena, Germany

hazard material, Diploma exhibition
Gallery of Burg Giebichenstein, University of Art and Design
Halle (Saale), Germany

2013

ANIMUS
Gallery Queen Anne, SpinnereiGalleries
Leipzig, Germany

BAHAMOUT
Huber & Treff Gallery
Jena, Germany

Selected Group Exhibitions

2025

Art in a global context – Weimar, Barcelona y el Mundo, Part II (upcoming)
Weimarer Galerie in cooperation with Ettersburg Castle
Weimar, Germany

2024

Art in a global context – Weimar, Barcelona y el Mundo
Palau Martorell, in cooperation with Weimarer Galerie and Royal Artistic Circle
Barcelona, Spain

Wir Sind Kunst
Federal Art Foundation Sachsen-Anhalt
Halle, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany

Permanent Showroom
Atamian Hovsepian Curatorial Practice
New York City, NY, USA

2023

Permanent Showroom
Atamian Hovsepian Curatorial Practice
New York City, NY, USA

2022

Little Piece of
Galerie Intershop interdisciplinaire, SpinnereiGalleries
Leipzig, Germany

37 x 33 cm The Third
Red Gate Gallery
Beijing, China

2021

Hegel Now!
Uni Roma Tre
Rome, Italy

2020

REA! Arte
Art Fair
Milano, Italy

60 Days Lockdown Life
Luxelakes A4 Art Museum
Chengdu, Sichuan, China

2019

Tba
Juntels Binjiang Hangzhou
Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China

2018

Rot Rot Rot
Galerie Intershop interdisciplinaire, SpinnereiGalleries
Leipzig, Germany

International Pleinair-Symposium
Huber & Treff Gallery, in cooperation with Galérie Palladion
Toulouse, France

2017

Malen. Weben. Wirken
Galerie Intershop interdisciplinaire, SpinnereiGalleries
Leipzig, Germany

International Pleinair-Symposium
Huber & Treff Gallery
Jena, Germany

2016

WAND / BILD / TEXTIL
Studio S
Berlin, Germany

International Pleinair-Symposium
Huber & Treff Gallery, in cooperation with Museum Ein Harod
Kibbutz Ein Harod, Israel

2015

Hängung #1
GersonHöger Gallery
Hamburg, Germany

22ND FEDERAL COMPETITION – Art Students Display Their Work
ART AND EXHIBITION HALL OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY
Bonn, Germany

2014

Art Fair Berliner Liste
Huber & Treff Gallery
Berlin, Germany

International Pleinair-Symposium
Huber & Treff Gallery, in cooperation with Beit Jala Municipality
Beit Jala, West Bank, Israel

2013

Art Fair Liste
Huber & Treff Gallery
Berlin, Germany

2012

Wettiner Schule
Villa Bösenberg
Leipzig, Germany

2011

International Pleinair-Symposium
Huber & Treff Gallery, in cooperation with Gallery 113
Castelnaudary, France

2010

ping pang means ping pong
Burg Giebichenstein, University of Art and Design
Chengdu, China

Artistic Projects

2022

Tacoma
2-week artistic residence
Buffalo, NY, USA

2020

Creative Minds Project
in cooperation with MUK Design
London, United Kingdom

2019

Artistic Residency
Juntels Binjiang
Hangzhou, China

tba
4-week artistic residence, Juntels Binjiang Hangzhou
Hangzhou, China

2017

Sprungturm-Festival
Hoffart Theater
Darmstadt, Germany

2012

envia.M Kunstkalender
in cooperation with Ondrej Atelier for Lithography
Leipzig, Germany

2010

Saxony-Anhalt on Expo 2010
Burg Giebichenstein, University of Art and Design Halle, with Goethe Institute Shanghai and Fissler China
Shanghai, China

Awards and stipends

2024

Member of „re:balance – Gender Equality in the Arts“; Mentee of Thole Rotermund, Treasurer of the Federal Association of German Galleries and Art Dealers
Rudolf Augstein Foundation

2023

Kultur ans Netz III, working grant of IB Sachsen-Anhalt
Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany

2022

AIR at 321residence
Buffalo, NY, USA

2021

Kultur ans Netz II, working grant of IB Sachsen-Anhalt
Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany

Arbeitsstipendium, working grant of Federal Art Foundation of Sachsen-Anhalt

2020

Kultur ans Netz, working grant of IB Sachsen-Anhalt
Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany

2019

AIR at Juntels Binjiang Hangzhou

2015

Yearly Award of Jenacon Foundation

Publications

2014

hazard material (diploma thesis)

Publications (Contributions)

2024

Verortungen 2019–2023
Federal Art Foundation Sachsen-Anhalt
Halle, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany

2021

Hegel Now! – accompanying catalogue

2016

Grenzgänger – Winners of the Jenacon Foundation Art Prize

MAGDALENA CICHON – Monography

2015

22. FEDERAL COMPETITION – ART STUDENTS DISPLAY THEIR WORK – accompanying catalogue

2014

Weimar, Barcelona y el Mundo – accompanying catalogue