Born in Teschen, Silesia in 1943, Inge Mahn graduated in 1972 from the Academy of Arts in Düsseldorf, studying under Joseph Beuys.

She made her first sculptural works from about 1969 while at school, and presented her installation, Schulklasse (School-class) at the final exhibition of Beuys’ master student class at the Academy in 1970. The work was then prominently exhibited in documenta 5 in Kassel, curated by Harald Szeemann in 1972. This was Mahn’s first participation in a major exhibition. Her interest in social behavior continues to develop, confronting the relations between everyday objects and particular subjectivities.  In 2012, Mahn set up a “Cowshed museum” in Gross Fredenwalde as a production site and think tank, away from the influences and distractions of the art world.

Mahn has had solo exhibitions at the Gropius House, Bauhaus Dessau; Villa Salve Hospes, Kunstverein Braunschweig;  K21, Düsseldorf;  Akademie-Galerie, Die Neue Sammlung, Düsseldorf; Kunstverein Schwerin, Schwerin; Kunstverein Loitz, Loitz; Schweinfurt Museum, Schweinfurt, and the Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart, among others. Her work is in the collections of ARTER, Istanbul; Hamburger Bahnhof; Collection Egidio Marzona, Berlin; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington; Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, Stuttgart; Kiasma – Finnish National Gallery, Helsinki; Kunsthalle Schweinfurt, Schweinfurt; Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf; Sammlung der Kunstakademie Stuttgart, Stuttgart; and the Sammlung des Landes, Baden Württemberg.

Portrait : screenshot from a video interview, January 2019, courtesy of Max Hetzler Gallery