About
Kata Kovács and Tom O’Doherty have worked as a collaborative duo since 2011. Their work combines elements of durational and time-based art, minimalist movement, and electroacoustic music and sound. This work often applies rigorous processes to simple but frequently-overlooked phenomena — they are interested in processes, sounds, and movements that come close to imperceptibility, and the ways in which this material can be transformed through repetition, patterning, layering, and archiving.
They have exhibited and presented work at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California; Serralves Museum, Porto; National Museum of Contemporary Art (Chiado), Lisbon; Kunstquartier Bethanien, Berlin; Kunstkraftwerk, Leipzig; Digital in Berlin’s Kiezsalon series, Berlin; and Ausland, Berlin, among others. They have been recipients of the LACMA Art + Technology Lab Award, and of the Tanzstipendium award of the Berlin Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa. They live and work in Berlin, Germany.
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Selected exhibitions and events:
| 09.12.2018 | Nearness — New Sound and Performance Works Shared event | ausland, Berlin, Germany Presenting the process-based performance 1–100, alongside work by plan b. |
| 29.10.2017 | 1–100 Performance | Studio 2, Kunstquartier Bethanien, Berlin, Germany Process-based performance presented as part of the 60_minutes series of impro.per.arts. |
| 21.–24.09.2017 | Signal Tide Sound and extraterrestrial radio installation | Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, USA Installation presented by the Art + Technology Lab at LACMA. With musical collaborators David Bryant (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Hiss Tracts), Drew Barnet, James Hamilton. Full details available here. |
| 12.–13.04.2017 | Projecto P! Group exhibition, conference, festival | Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea do Chiado, Lisbon, Portugal Presenting the durational installation Increments, at Chiado Museum (MNAC), Lisbon, as part of the exhibition, conference, and festival Projecto P!, curated by Pedro Rocha and Ana Pais. |
| 23.02.2017 | Duo :: Duo Shared performance event | Wesleyan University, Connecticut, USA Presenting the performative installation Accompanied Walk, as part of a shared event presenting duo collaborations, together with Abigail Levine and Paula Matthusen, at Beckham Hall, Wesleyan Center for the Arts. |
| 19.–25.01.2017 | Minute/Year (2016) Solo exhibition | Lite-Haus Galerie, Berlin, Germany Exhibition presenting works derived from the 2016 iteration of the multi-year durational installation Minute/Year. |
| 08.10.2016 | Afterglow Site-specific installation | Musikbrauerei, Berlin, Germany As part of the closing event of the current Digital in Berlin Kiezsalon series of concerts. |
| 1.–24.04.2016 | Restructuring the Axis – Temporal and Spatial Investigations: Three Perspectives (Achsendenken – Fragen zu Zeit und Raum: Drei Perspektiven) Group exhibition | Kunstkraftwerk, Leipzig, Germany Presenting the durational installation Increments (as a five-hour-long event on April 2. and 3., 2016, and thereafter as a photo series and hourly audio remnant, for the duration of the Restructuring the Axis exhibition). Group exhibition, together with David Augusto Rios Alomia and Takahiro Ueda. Curated by Candace Goodrich. |
| 21.-23.03.2016 | Kovács/O’Doherty: Increments und Minute/Year Solo exhibition | Collegium Hungaricum Berlin (CHB), Berlin, Germany Presenting Increments (as open rehearsal of durational installation) and Minute/Year (as video projection). Presented as part of the series Practice and Performance, curated by Kata Krasznahorkai and Lena Szirmay-Kalos. |
| 01.01.2016–present | Minute/Year Multi-year durational installation | Currently: grüntaler9, Berlin, Germany Multi-year, automated durational installation, running since January 1., 2016, and currently ongoing. |
| 06.12.2015 | XB Trio Performance | XB-Liebig, Berlin, Germany As part of the XB Matinee series. |
| 19.–20.09.2015 | The Museum as Performance Group exhibition | Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto, Portugal Presenting the durational installation Increments, as part of the exhibition The Museum as Performance, curated by Pedro Rocha, Cristina Grande, and Ricardo Nicolau. With Alex Cecchetti, Anastasia Ax & Lars Siltberg, Isabel Carvalho, Loreto Martínez Troncoso, Maria Hassabi, Musa Paradisiaca, New Noveta, and Vivo. |
| 24.05.2015 | 3AM Group exhibition and event | Flutgraben, Berlin, Germany Presenting the durational installation Accompanied Walk, as part of the 3AM series, curated by Julian Weber. |
| 04.05.2015 | Montag Modus Performance series event | Collegium Hungaricum Berlin (CHB), Berlin, Germany Presenting the performative installation Accompanied Walk, as part of the inaugural event of the Montag Modus series, curated by Kata Krasznahorkai. |
| 06.–07.11.2014 | Increments Durational installation | Ausland Berlin, Berlin, Germany Presenting the durational installation Increments, over two evenings, as part of the Place Rhythm. Pulse series. Curated by Gretchen Blegen. |
| 05.05.2013 | Neither Here Nor There: Contemporary Irish Events programme of group exhibition | Grimmuseum, Berlin, Germany Presenting the performative installation Echoes (presented in the inner courtyard of Jägerstraße 51, Berlin, on 5. May, 2013) as part of the events programme of the exhibition Neither Here Nor There: Contemporary Irish, curated by Jane Hughes and Enda O’Donoghue. |
| 12.01.2012 | My Body Engages in Work Group performance event | Sophiensæle, Berlin, Germany Presenting the performance Feet, as part of the evening programme My Body Engages in Work, one of the evenings of the Tanztage Berlin 2012 festival, curated by Peter Pleyer. |
Interviews, lectures, and talks:
| 27.02.2018 | Interview, Berliner Runde Interview | Colaboradio, Berlin Interview, with Rosanna Lovell, discussing Signal Tide and other recent work. Broadcast live on on 27. February, 2018, on Colaboradio’s Berliner Runde programme. Listen to the complete interview on SoundCloud. |
| 08.06.2017 | Self-surveillance and Pervasive Data Lecture, discussion | Panke, Berlin, Germany As part of Scope Sessions #66. A version of the talk is available on Medium. |
| 07.01.2016 | A daily moment Interview | Lütticher 5, Berlin Interview with Johanna Gilje about Minute/Year. View on Medium. |
| 17.11.2014 | Kovács/O’Doherty: The Berlin Agenda Interview Interview | Berlin Interview with Fridey Mickel about Increments. View on Medium. |
| 28.09.2014 | Sound, Movement, and Silence Artist talk | NAH DRAN: Tanzstipendiaten, ada Studio Berlin, Berlin, Germany As part of Nah Dran Extended. |
| 23.04.2013 | Beyond The Ring #9 Artist’s talk | Beyond The Ring, Berlin, Germany As part of the Beyond The Ring artists’ talk series. |
Grants, awards, and residencies:
| 16.04.–10.05.2017 | Residency | Queens Collective, Marrakesh, Morocco Research residency in Queens Collective, Marrakesh |
| 25.05.2016 | LACMA 2016 Art + Technology Lab Award | Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, USA Research process for new project, supported by the LACMA 2016 Art + Technology Lab Award. |
| 01.09.2015 | Award and grant | Berliner Senat, Berlin Förderprogramme Internationaler Kulturaustausch, Berliner Senat |
| 20.09.–01.10.2013 | Residency | Bakelit Multi Art Center, Budapest Residency with presentation of work |
| 05.09.2013 | Award and grant | Berlin Tanzstipendium |
| 01.07.–05.08.2012 | Residency | Ponderosa, Stolzenhagen Residency with presentation of work |
Curatorial and organisational work:
| 16.10.2015 | Erik DeLuca + Kovács/O’Doherty Event | KK19, Berlin, Germany |
| 04.03.2015 | Scissor #3 Group exhibition | Nachbarschaftsgalerie, Berlin, Germany Curatorial organisation of Scissor #3 |
| 04.06.2014 | Scissor #2 Group exhibition | Nachbarschaftsgalerie, Berlin, Germany Curatorial organisation of Scissor #2 |
| 26.02.2014 | Scissor #1 Group exhibition | Team Titanic Gallery, Berlin, Germany Curatorial organisation of Scissor #1 |
| 23.11.2012 | Ciarán Walsh and Kovács/O’Doherty Group exhibition | ESDIP Berlin, Berlin, Germany |
Research, work-in-progress presentations:
| 05.09.2013 | Drone Pattern Research process | Rummelsberger Bucht, Berlin, Germany |
| 01.12.2011 | Ice Research process | Berlin, Germany Ongoing research process since 2011. |