Daniel Kossmann

CV

Art

SciComm

Artistic Statement

I am a multidisciplinary artist based in Berlin, working primarily in painting and photography, and additionally in poetry. I have lived, worked and studied in Baden-Baden, Berlin, Nairobi, Dar es Salaam and Kigali. I am best known for emotionally driven mixed-media paintings and photographic work that examines public space. My practice encompasses semi-abstract, and abstract painting, alongside digital photography developed through a consciously reduced technical setup that emphasizes immediacy and attentiveness to lived environments.

My work is characterized by an exploration of emotional states and the existential ambiguities between the inner and outer world. Painting functions as a therapeutic and reflective process through which personal emotions, trauma, and lived experiences are translated into visual form, with a recurring interest in disintegration, fragility, and repair. I frequently employ mixed media—including oil pastels, acrylics, charcoal, watercolors, recycled posters, yarn, graffiti markers, and spray paint—often applied to fragile surfaces such as paper and cardboard that are cut, stitched, and reassembled. In my photographic practice, I investigate public space, social distance, and the visibility or suppression of public discourse.

I have presented my work in solo and group contexts, including my first solo exhibition in 2025 at Café Lulo in Berlin-Neukölln. I have participated in artistic exchanges and workshops in Berlin as well as in Dar es Salaam. My works are held in private collections, and I continue to develop an interdisciplinary practice that integrates painting, photography and writing as interconnected forms of emotional and artistic research.

Education

International Curatorial Program
Node Center for Curatorial Studies
2025–ongoing

Dr. phil. African Studies
Humboldt University of Berlin
2021–ongoing

M.A. African Studies
Humboldt University of Berlin
2016–2020

B.A. African Studies
Humboldt University of Berlin
2012–2016

Solo Exhibitions

Disintegration
Café Lulo Berlin
2025–2026

Group Exhibitions

Last Image Show
Alliance Française Lusaka
curated by Gadi Ramadhani & Emergent Art Space
2019

Last Image Show
Alliance Française Dar es Salaam
curated by Gadi Ramadhani & Emergent Art Space
2018

junge Welt “Blende 2014”
jW shop gallery Berlin
exhibition as part of a photo competition
2014

Curatorial Projects / Artist Talks

  • Kossmann, D. & Gehrmann S. (2023). “Transcultural Encounters: Reading & Dialogue with Tendai Huchu.” Artist/Author Talk (Reading & Discussion) / Moderation. 3rd International Mother Language Day, Institute of Asian and African Studies, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 21 February 2023.

Reading and moderated discussion with Zimbabwean writer Tendai Huchu, featuring his sci‑fi short story “The Sale.” Focus on Chinese–Zimbabwean relations, colonial/postcolonial histories, the Belt and Road Initiative, and questions of genre and language (Shona/English).

Podcast conversation with Kenyan writer Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor on knowledge production, China’s presence in Africa, and Europe’s colonial legacy. The episode also discusses “global omanyara” and ways of re-imagining the world we live in.

  • Kossmann, D., & Gehrmann, S. (2021). “‘This is not the 1960’?! A Reading on Chinese–Zambian Relations with Mukuka Chipanta.” Artist/Author Talk (Digital Reading & Discussion) / Moderation. Institute of Asian and African Studies, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 18 November 2021.

Reading and moderated discussion with Zambian writer Mukuka Chipanta on Chinese–Zambian relations in A Casualty of Power (2016). Focus on China’s economic and infrastructural involvement in Zambia’s mining sector, labour conditions and conflicts, and literature as a lens on Belt & Road impacts.

Academic Publications

Journalistic Publications