Janaina Tschäpe & Johan Holten

For the latest episode of the CHART Talks podcast, we are thrilled to share a recording of a conversation between German-Brazilian artist Janaina Tschäpe and Johan Holten, Director of ARKEN Museum of Contemporary Art in Denmark. Prior to his current role, Holten served as Director of Kunsthalle Mannheim in Germany, where he led the institution’s programme with a strong focus on contemporary art in a global context, exhibition-making and institutional development.

Working across painting, drawing, photography, video, sculpture, performance, murals and installation, Tschäpe has developed a multidisciplinary practice exploring the fluid relationship between aquatic, vegetal and human life. Inspired by the natural world and memory, she creates a poetic visual language that moves between figuration and abstraction, often depicting imagined landscapes in which organic forms emerge, dissolve and transform.

Throughout the conversation, Tschäpe and Holten explore her artistic practice and the experiences that have shaped it. They discuss her relationship with painting, her fascination with nature and organic forms, and the role of memory in her work. The conversation also considers her movement between figuration and abstraction and how different places, landscapes and experiences continue to inform her evolving visual language.