My work’s motifs are hovering between visibility and absence. No need to fear, you missed out—the show is over. I admire that moment, the absence of the show. During my time at the theater, I was struck by the feeling a stage holds once the audience has left their seats. The way backdrops participate in their space with a particular kind of discretion, while at the same time being able to call any situation into an event. I’m interested in those moments where the event of (mis)placement, gesture, and removal is called into presence by its absence.
My work takes form as performative gestures, in places where staging becomes intentional or accidentally vivid—like alleyways, public sculptures, galleries, or in passing–allowing moments to become events and places to become sites. I utilize found objects, paintings, built structures, and everyday situations. Through these constellations the material reframes both context and subtext.
Jonas Müller-Ahlheim is a Chicago based artist, curator, and educator. After working as a stage painter at the Staatstheater Darmstadt, he studied Media Art at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, completed his Meisterschüler under Prof. Leni Hoffmann at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste Karlsruhe, and received his MFA in Painting from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He was awarded a Teaching Fellowship at SAIC and currently teaches there as a Lecturer in the Performance and Painting & Drawing Department.
Jonas co-founded the curatorial collective sspatz and the Chicago-based project by, bye. His exhibitions include Kunstverein Freiburg; Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago; Weatherproof, Chicago; Kunstverein Heilbronn; Galerie Q, Copenhagen; Baumwollspinnerei Halle 12, Leipzig; DG Kunstraum, Munich; and the Chicago Cultural Center. He is a recipient of the Kunstpunkt-Herpel-Stiftung.
Education
Since 2023 Lecturer at School of the Art Institute of Chicago (USA)
2023 MFA School of the Art Institute of Chicago (USA)
2021 Meisterschüler with Prof. Leni Hoffmann AdBK Karlsruhe (GER)
2019 Royal Academy of Fine Arts Copenhagen with Angela Metropulos and Ed Atkins (DK)
2014-2020 diploma from AdBK Karlsruhe (GER)
Grants, Residencies, and Fellowships
2025 Project funding Kunstpunkt-Herpel-Stiftung, Berlin (USA)
2023 Teaching Fellowship at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (USA)
2022 Graduate Dean Professional Development Award SAIC (USA)
2021-2023 DAAD fellowship (GER)
2020 fellowship from Baden-Württemberg-Stiftung for Students (GER)
2019-2020 Artist in Residency, Atelier Siegele Darmstadt (GER)
2019 Artist in Residency, Kultur einer Digital Stadt e.V. (GER)
2019 Artist in Residency, After 1920, San Diego (USA)
2017-2023 fellowship from Cusanuswerk, Bonn (GER)
Exhibitions
2026 Die Schönheit des Unvollkommenen, DG-Kunstraum, Munich (GER)
2025 Chicago Cluster Project, 400 N. Peoria, Chicago (USA)
Ü, Luis Leu, Karlsruhe (GER)
Georg-Meistermann-Fellowship Baumwollspinnerei Halle 12, Leipzig (GER)
2024 and if we still tend long enough, Kunstverein Freiburg (GER)
Voices Embodied, Design Museum, Chicago (USA)
The Weatherproof Anniversarial, Weatherproof, Chicago (USA)
Barely Fair, Color Club, Chicago (USA)
Peekaboo, Patient Info, Chicago (USA)
2023 gone to see a man about a dog, LuisLeu, Karlsruhe (GER)
WEATHERPROOF, Weatherproof, Chicago (USA)
amuleto, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago (USA)
Last call, color club, Chicago (USA)
2022 salon de refuse, Studio West Kunsthalle, Darmstadt (GER)
Springboard, Mayflied, Chicago (USA)
no.2 308 Gallery, Chicago (USA)
2021 Top20, Kunstverein Heilbronn (GER)
2020 CO, Kunstverein Letschebach, Karlsruhe (GER)
den Zeiten, Sybelcentrum, Karlsruhe (GER)
Silent City, Loosen Art Gallery, Rome (IT)
Umlegung, Atelier Siegele, Darmstadt (GER)
2019 4-3-3, Galerie Q, Kopenhagen (DK)
56 45 25, Open Mind Art Space, Los Angeles (USA)
2018 Panik-Raum, Kunstverein Ziegelhütte Darmstadt (GER)
Kisses from Savoia, Off-Space Kalrsruhe (GER)
Radar, Kunstforum Darmstadt (GER)
Bade Brause, Kornhäusschen, Aschaffenburg (GER)
2017 wie sieht ein JPEG von hinten aus? Kunstpunkt, Darmstadt (GER)
Genius Loci, Oberwelt, Stuttgart (GER)
Kunst hoch 45, HfBK, Dresden (GER)
Echo, Junge Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe (GER)
Curated
2024 sspatz @ Other Places Art Fair, Los Angeles (USA)
2023 Toolbox, Compound Yellow, Chicago (USA)
2023 sspatz @ Other Places Art Fair, Los Angeles (USA)
2019 Helmpflicht @ Kunsthalle Darmstadt (GER)
2019 Magic Springs in a Planetary Garden @ After1920 San Diego (USA)
2018 Kuckucksei @ ßpatz (Karlsruhe) (GER)
2018 Emre Hüner @ ßpatz Karlsruhe (GER)
2018 greater form @ ßpatz Karlsruhe (GER)
2018 Takuya Yamashita @ ßpatz Karlsruhe (GER)
2018 Laura Baginski @ ßpatz Karlsruhe (GER)
2018 SANGREE @ ßpatz (Karlsruhe) [GER
2018 Exhibition Kanu Islands @ Roeders, Darmstadt (GER)