Leon Kahane often explores themes of migration, identity, and the dynamics between majorities and minorities in a globalized society through video works, photographs, and installations, drawing from his personal experiences and family history. Kahane’s contribution to the n.b.k. Editions program – a limited edition porcelain sculpture of two intertwined wrestlers – revisits an unrealized artwork by his mother, who was active as an artist in East Germany. As a student at the Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weissensee, Kahane’s mother drafted this de-idealized, abstract form that stood in contrast to the Socialist Realist tradition of depicting wrestlers as heroic figures.

Leon Kahane’s (*1985 in Berlin, lives and works in Berlin) works have been shown in numerous exhibitions at venues such as Kunstverein Nürnberg (2024); Brandenburgisches Landesmuseum für moderne Kunst / Dieselkraftwerk, Cottbus (2023); Jewish Museum, Berlin (2023); Kunsthalle Osnabrück (2022); Traklhaus, Salzburg (2021); NS-Dokumentationszentrum München, Munich (2019); Belvedere 21, Vienna (2018); Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne (2017); Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (2017); Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (2017); Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst Leipzig (2016). He has received several awards and grants, including the Kunstpreis Europas Zukunft, Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst Leipzig (2015) and the ars viva Prize for Visual Arts, Germany (2017), which included a residency at Fogo Island Arts, Newfoundland.