Alicja Kwade on the Absurdity of Being Alive

Few artists aim to make sense of the subjectivity and complexity of time and space quite like the Polish-born, Berlin-based artist Alicja Kwade. In each of her works, ranging from sculptures and large-scale public installations to films, photographs, and works on paper, Kwade displays an astute sense of temporality and the ticking hands of the clock. Her practice, in a literal and figurative sense, is a quest to understand time as a ruler and shaper of our lives and of our world. For her latest exhibition, “Telos Tales,” on view at Pace Gallery in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood through August 15, Kwade has created three monumental steel-frame sculptures with treelike limbs alongside new mixed-media works in an effort to engage the intangible nature of time. As with all her work, “Telos Tales” is philosophical, illusionistic, and inspires wonder: Long after a viewer has seen it, it will leave them questioning.

On the episode, Kwade considers the unfathomability of all things, finds humor in being human, and explains what a relief it is to know that some questions have no clear answers—and never will. 

Special thanks to our Season 11 presenting sponsor, Van Cleef & Arpels.

Show notes:

Alicja Kwade

[13:19] “Alicja Kwade: Telos Tales” at Pace Gallery

[16:56] “Hiroshi Sugimoto on Photography as a Form of Timekeeping”

[18:41] “Alicja Kwade: Pretopia” (2025)

[24:42] On Kawara’s Date Paintings

[25:04] “Alicja Kwade & Agnes Martin: Rhythm, Equilibrium, and Time” (2024)

[25:04] “Gegen den Lauf” (2012-2014)

[29:48] “Stellar Day” (2013)

[31:44] “Against the Run” (2015)

[31:44] “Against the Run” (2019)

[31:44] Pinacoteca Agnelli Art Center

[35:04] “88 Seconds”  (2017)

[35:04] Eadweard Muybridge

[39:24] Hiroshi Sugimoto

[49:00] Salvador Dalí

[49:00] Harry Houdini

[49:00] Kazimir Malevich

[59:27] “iPhone” (2017)

[59:27] “Computer (PowerMac)” (2017)

[01:04:47] “LinienLand” (2018)

[01:04:47] “Alicja Kwade: Parapivot” (2019)

[01:04:47] “Alicja Kwade: Viva Arte Viva” (2017)

[01:08:30] “L’ordre des Mondes (Totem)” (2024)

[01:13:50] Jason Farago

[01:13:50] “Celestial Visions on the Met Roof”