König takes over London with two new locations, and the help of Jeremy Shaw

Iconic brutalist building 180 Strand is an apt setting for video vanguard Jeremy Shaw’s latest 70s-inspired exhibition, which opens today in collaboration with König Galerie and The Vinyl Factory. ‘We love presenting exhibitions in unlikely locations, and we plan to do it across London,’ says Katharina Worf, König Galerie’s London director.
The German gallery, which represent an impressive catalogue of artists including like Katharina Grosse, Elmgreen & Dragset and Helen Marten, has this week opened the doors of its first permanent London location in a 3,750 sq ft, underground Marylebone carpark. Currently filled with a selection of works from the gallery’s archives, it’s ‘a space for Londoners to come and indulge in our artists, and really get to know us as a gallery’.
Installation view of König Galerie’s inauguating group show at its new Marylebone location.
Across town on the Strand, Shaw is flying the gallery’s flag off-site, where the nebulous, pseudo-documentary Liminals is on show, after its debut at this year’s Venice Biennale. The 20-minute film inhabits a cinéma vérité aesthetic, using experimental flourishes to reveal new truths about so-called ‘spiritual gatherings’ popular in the 1970s.
We bare witness to a group of eight dancers as they enact ecstatic rituals in an attempt to access a new realm of consciousness. Master of visual trickery, Shaw has kept our perceptions on their toes. Much of the footage is actually new, interspersed with found imagery, and washed in grainy grey-scale to trick us into thinking we're watching something historic.
It’s a technique that Shaw carries into ‘optical sculptures’ also on display from his Towards Universal Pattern Recognition series, which juxtaposes found, archival photos of people in various states of religious rapture, framed in custom-machined prismatic acrylic.
This a bold London lift-off for König, which is already a formidable force in Berlin. Shaw is the ideal calling card, representing the gallery’s progressive, multimedia focus. ‘He’s gained momentum of late across Europe,’ Worf explains. ‘His work is perfect for London.’
After the city has become well acquainted with the gallery’s style, history, and artists, Worf is planning a fearless programme that spans different London spaces, as well as the new Marylebone hub. She tells of an exhibition in the works dedicated entirely to the gallery‘s female artists. Watch this (underground, cross-city, off-site) space.
Installation view of König Galerie’s inauguating group show at its new Marylebone location
Towards Universal Pattern Recognition (National Day of Prayer, 1992), by Jeremy Shaw, 2017
Self portrait, by Jeremy Shaw, 2017
Towards Universal Pattern Recognition (New Covenant Church prayer meeting, Pray IV Jun 8 1980), by Jeremy Shaw, 2017
Installation view of König Galerie’s inauguating group show at its new Marylebone location.
Towards Universal Pattern Recognition (Baptism Bayfront Center), by Jeremy Shaw, 2016
Towards Universal Pattern Recognition (John 316 Cook), by Jeremy Shaw, 2016. Right, Towards Universal Pattern Recognition (Detroit Riot Anniversary Prayer, 1987), by Jeremy Shaw, 2016.
INFORMATION
‘Liminals’ is on view until 10 December at The Store Studios. For more information, visit the König Galerie website
ADDRESS
The Store Studios
180 Strand
London WC2R 1EA
König London
259-269 Old Marylebone Road
Winchester House
London NW1 5RA
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Elly Parsons is the Digital Editor of Wallpaper*, where she oversees Wallpaper.com and its social platforms. She has been with the brand since 2015 in various roles, spending time as digital writer – specialising in art, technology and contemporary culture – and as deputy digital editor. She was shortlisted for a PPA Award in 2017, has written extensively for many publications, and has contributed to three books. She is a guest lecturer in digital journalism at Goldsmiths University, London, where she also holds a masters degree in creative writing. Now, her main areas of expertise include content strategy, audience engagement, and social media.
-
The Macbeth, an icon of indie sleaze, goes from grotty to gastro
An East End legend meets Portuguese small plates in Jamie Allan’s ambitious revival of a beloved Hackney watering hole
-
Around the world in brutalist interiors – take a tour with this new book
'Brutalist Interiors' is a new book exploring the genre's most spectacular spaces; we speak to its editor Derek Lamberton, and ask for his top-three must-sees
-
Exclusive: Thom Yorke and artist Stanley Donwood reminisce on 30 years of Radiohead album art
As the pair’s back catalogue of album sleeves, paintings, musings and more goes on show at Oxford’s Ashmolean, Radiohead singer-songwriter Yorke and his longtime collaborator Donwood talk exclusively to Wallpaper’s Craig McLean
-
Artists imbue the domestic with an unsettling unfamiliarity at Hauser & Wirth
Three artists – Koak, Ding Shilun and Cece Philips – bring an uncanny subversion to the domestic environment in Hauser & Wirth’s London exhibition
-
Inside the fight to keep an iconic Barbara Hepworth sculpture in the UK
‘Sculpture with Colour’ captures a pivotal moment in Hepworth’s career. When it was sold to an overseas buyer, UK institutions launched a campaign to keep it in the country
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the week
Another week, another flurry of events, opening and excursions showcasing the best of culture and entertainment at home and abroad. Catch our editors at Scandi festivals, iconic jazz clubs, and running the length of Manhattan…
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the week
The Wallpaper* team immersed themselves in culture this week, attending theatre, music and art performances and exhibitions at some of London’s most esteemed establishments. Along the way, we may have discovered the city's best salad…
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the week
It’s been another week of Wallpaper* being first through the door – visiting, sampling and reporting back on the freshest in art, design, beauty and more. Highlights included a new rental development, skincare residency and Edinburgh hotel…
-
Get the picture? A new exhibition explores the beautiful simplicity of Japanese pictograms
The simple, minimalist forms of a pictogram are uniquely Japanese, as new exhibition 'Pictograms: Iconic Japanese Designs' illustrates
-
From Snapchat dysmorphia to looksmaxing, have digital beauty standards made us lose sight of what's real, asks a new exhibition
AI, social media and the ease with which we can tweak our face mean we're heading towards a dystopian beauty future, argues 'Virtual Beauty' at Somerset House
-
Take a rare peek inside eighties London's most famous club
From George Michael to Boy George, photographer David Koppel captured a who's who of celerities at Eighties nightclub Limelight