Ellen Blumenstein has an M.A. in literature, musicology and media studies and is the founder of Salon Populaire (2010-12), a discursive event space on the threshold of institutional representation and artistic production in Berlin. She directed the program of KW Institute for Contemporary Art of Berlin, one of the world’s renowned institutions of its kind, from 2012 to 2016, and has been working in the field of contemporary art for more than 15 years on an international scale. As a specialist for the conditions of development in today’s cultural production, she regularly advises foundations and political bodies and teaches at international Art Academies in Switzerland, the Netherlands and Germany. She actively engages in the improvement of education for young artists and curators, participates in juries and lectures on her work internationally. Ellen is chief-curator of Celeste Prize 2016, 8th edition.

Exhibitions
2016 - Secret Surface (with Catherine Wood/Tate Modern, London), KW, Berlin; Channa Horwitz, Raven Row, London; Fire and Forget 2 (with Daniel Tyradellis), Museum for Applied Arts, Frankfurt am Main.
2015 - Michael Müller: Who’s Speaking?, KW, Berlin; Gusmao/ Paiva: Papagaio, KW, with Hangar Bicocca/ Milano, Camden Artcenter, London; Welcome to the Jungle, KW, with New National Gallery, BG, Kunsthalle DB, Berlin; Fire and Forget. On Violence (with Daniel Tyradellis), KW, Berlin; Channa Horwitz: Counting in Eight, Moving by Color, KW, Berlin; Elín Hansdóttir: Suspension of Disbelief, KW, Berlin; Renzo Martens: The Matter of Critique, KW, Berlin.
2014 - Real Emotions. Thinking in Film (with Franz Rodenkirchen, Daniel Tyradellis), KW, Berlin; Lizzy Fitch/Ryan; Trecartin: Site Visit (with Klaus Biesenbach), KW, Berlin; Kate Cooper: Rigged, Schering Art Prize, KW, Berlin.
2013 - Relaunch, KW, Berlin; Kader Attia. Repair. 5 Acts, KW, Berlin; The Living Archive, with Arsenal—Institute for Film and Video Art, Berlin; Painting Forever: Stretcher Frame, KW, with New National Gallery, BG, Kunsthalle DB, Berlin; Formations of Bodies, KW, Berlin.
2009-11 - Ólafur Ólafsson/Libia Castro: Under Deconstruction, Icelandic Pavilion, Venice Biennial, 2011; Anthem for the Peoples’ Tomorrow, Piet Zwart Institute, Rotterdam, 2011; End of Year Exhibition, Academy of Fine Arts, Nuremberg, 2010; The Berlin Wall —Reflections on History, Museu do Chiado, Lisbon, 2009; The Pain Game, Nosbaum & Reding, Luxembourg, 2009; The Human Stain, CGAC, Santiago de Compostela, 2009.
2004–8 - Agulhas Negras at CCSP, São Paulo, 2008; Art as Research, Villa Elisabeth, Berlin, parallel to SLSA Conference Figurations of Knowledge at ZFL Berlin, organized by Y (Institute for Trans-disciplinarity), HFK, Berne, 2007 (co-curator); Male Fantasies I+II, Chung King Project, Los Angeles/COMA, Berlin, 2007–08; Between Two Deaths (with Felix Ensslin), ZKM, Karlsruhe, 2007; Reflecting Terror: The RAF-Exhibition (with Klaus Biesenbach, Felix Ensslin), KW, Berlin/New Gallery, Graz, 2005; The 10 Commandments (co-curator), German Hygiene-Museum, Dresden, 2004.

Projects
The Bet: An Examination on Doubt, Contingency and Meaning in Economy and Society, KW, Foreign Affairs Festival/Berliner Festspiele, Berlin (performance weekend), 2013; Steal Me!, Talk Show with Dora García, dOCUMENTA(13), Kassel, (cooperation), 2012; Paris-Berlin, The Office/Palais de Tokyo, Paris and Berlin (performance installation), 2012; Strike Opera with Ulf Aminde, Judith Raum, Anders Smebye, University Orchestra Graz, as part of the Truth is Concrete Congress, Steirischer Herbst, Graz (stage production), 2012; Salon Populaire, Berlin (venue for public programs), 2010–12; The T-i-t-l-e-e-r (with Daniel Tyradellis), artissima 18, Turin (one-day Podium Discussion), 2011; Perform a Lecture!, The Office, Berlin (series of performance lectures), 2010.
Blow up my Town, THE KNOT/Tempelhof Air Field, Berlin (film program), 2010; The Office, with K. Fichtner, M. Lopez, K. Meyer, Berlin (curatorial collective), 2009–11; The Man Who Wasn’t There, The Barber Shop, Lisbon (video installation), 2009; Agulhas Negras – A Summer Session. About the Necessity to Fiscuss the Social Functions of Contemporary Art, Campos de Jordão (summer academy), 2008; Home Alone: Some Proposals on How to Deal with it, UNP, Berlin (film program), 2007; Summer Films with Katharina Fichtner, KW, Berlin (film program), 2006; Galerie carlier | gebauer, Berlin (curator), 2006.

Networks
projekt bauhaus, national discussion- and event platform, 2015–2019; CORPUS, international performance network, with Tate Modern, London; CAC, Vilnius; MAM, Leuven; If I can’t dance..., Amsterdam; Bulegoa, Bilbao, 2014–2017.

https://www.celesteprize.com/ellenblumenstein