27. May 2026 18:00 o'clock
Campus Welterbe Zollverein
Raum 1.52
_Die Folkwang Universität der Künste begrüßt Leonie Herweg. Sie ist Co-Kuratorin der in diesem Jahr im Ruhrgebiet ausgerichteten Manifesta 16 Ruhr und berichtet über ihre Arbeit an dieser wichtigen Ausstellung.
_Leonie Herweg (b. 1997, Frankfurt) is a curator and writer based in Berlin. Her curatorial practice is informed by a transdisciplinary background and an interest in site-responsive formats, co–creation, and community-oriented practices. She is particularly engaged in exploring how local knowledge and histories can shape collective processes of cultural production. She studied International Relations and Law in Geneva and Tokyo (BA) and Curating Contemporary Art at the Royal College of Art in London (MA). Herweg is co-founder and director of GROTTO, a contemporary art space honing in on an intergenerational programme which takes shape both in the exhibition space and elsewhere the neighbourhood, and partner of Café Tiergarten (Berlin). She has been appointed co–curator of the upcoming edition of the European nomadic biennial Manifesta 16 taking place in the Ruhr region between June and October 2026 and has worked across institutional and independent contexts, including the Goethe-Institut, Cairo; Museum MMK für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt; mumok, Vienna; Grisebach, Berlin; and Galerie Mezzanin, Geneva.
GROTTO is an independent space for contemporary art and culture founded by Simon Freund and Leonie Herweg. Since its inception, GROTTO has been concerned with Nachbarschaften (en. neighbourhoods/proximities) as both a geographic and temporal fabric – bringing together artists and practices across generations to explore how shared spaces, memories, and gestures interlace into evolving forms of coexistence and exchange. The program includes exhibitions, performances, concerts, and listening sessions, as well as monthly readings and book presentations. Each year, GROTTO BOOKS also hosts an independent art book fair. Occasionally, activities extend to other locations within Hansaviertel, such as the underground station, a vacant church, or the Hansabibliothek. From 2023-2026 first located in a former stamp shop inside the shopping arcade of Berlin's Hansaviertel, GROTTO moved to its new location in February 2026: a 1950s vitrine in the so called Schwedenhaus, right next to Café Tiergarten.