Leonard von Brenndorff (he/him, b. 1994) is a spatial practitioner working with objects and installations, as carriers of memory and belonging. Oscillating between activation and contemplation, his work invites encounter and touch without serving an enclosed functionality.
His past experiences as a worker in the building industry continue to shape his connection to materiality. In trying to unbuild and unlearn internalised practices of industrialised processing and extraction, he seeks to alter perceptions in what is conceived as landscape, territory and site. This process often includes making as well as researching modes of representation in images, maps and language, resulting in propositions to shift collective imagination of shared habitats. Drawing on his experience of living within a commune in the German Countryside, he explores how to expand kinship beyond bodies and towards spaces.
Bio
Leonard von Brenndorff is currently studying at Sandberg Instituut, Amsterdam with the department Studio for Immediate Spaces. Trained as a professional carpenter in Bavaria, he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Cologne in 2022. His work has been showcased in venues such as MAKK (Museum of Applied Arts Cologne) and San Gimignano Lichtenberg for CONCEPTUAL Biennale Berlin. His accolades include the Kölner Design Preis 2022, Cartes Blanches of PASSAGEN 2024, and a scholarship from Kölner Gymnasial- und Stiftungsfonds.
Exhibitions
2025 CONCEPTUAL Biennale Berlin, San Gimignano Lichtenberg
2025 ONE First Year Show, Studio for Immediate Spaces, Sandberg Instituut
2024 NO-SOLO SHOW/ Passagen 24, CARTES BLANCHES
2023 Passagen, Interior Design Week Köln
2023 Artbay, Kunsthalle Lindenthal
2023 Funk Magazin, Raum für unabhängige Magazine
2022 NOPLACE - progressive working community and interdisciplinary open space, Kölner Design Preis, MAKK
2020 Exibition Design + We Are Strong - Kölnberg, Ökorausch, MAKK
Awards
2022 Award Winner Kölner Design Preis
2022 Final 300 iF Design Young Talent Award
2022 Prüfungswettbewerb BA Sustainable Design
2020 Auszeichnung Ausstellungsarchitektur Ökorausch Think Tank