Lauryn Youden

Lauryn Youden (Canada/Germany) is a performance and installation artist, poet and independent curator based in Berlin. Her practice derives from her research and navigation of modern Western medicine, the medical-industrial complex, ‘alternative’ healing practices and traditional medicine for the treatment of her chronic illnesses and invisible disabilities. By publicly presenting her personal experiences and re-evaluations of the history of medicine through a feminist, Crip queer lens, her work illuminates and advocates for repressed, marginalized and forgotten practices of care and knowledge. 

In 2016 Youden was awarded the Berlin Art Prize. She has since been awarded a residency at Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin (DE) in 2020 and has an upcoming residency at Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge (UK) with Sickness Affinity Group in 2021. She has performed and exhibited internationally at institutions including (selection): Shedhalle, Zurich (CH), 11th Berlin Biennale, Berlin (DE), Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (NL), Frye Art Museum, Seattle (US), Volksbühne, Berlin (DE), Manifesta 12, Palermo (IT), Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart (DE) and recently exhibited at Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau (CH) as part of the exhibition Kosmos Emma Kunz: Eine Visionärin im Dialog mit zeitgenössischer Kunst. Youden is currently enrolled in Ariana Reines’z Invisible College and is a founding co-director of the artist-run centre/Projektraum Ashley Berlin (DE). 

During her residency Youden will be resting, researching, and reflecting upon the last year and how it has impacted her as a queer chronically ill and disabled artist. She will use these reflections to continue developing her Disability Access Document, a set of guidelines and requirements that outline Youden’s disability access needs that she provides to all institutions/galleries/organizations prior to working with them.

Picture: Lauryn Youden, I BUILD MY HOUSE ON THE HEADS OF MY ENEMIES, 2019, hand carved self-defence cane, Caduceus corkscrew, hand dyed bandages (dyed with various treatments for chronic pain: Tigerbalm, Advil liquid gels, CBD + THC tincture, magnesium, zinc, iodine), twine. Courtesy of the artist.