Christian Illi
Eckdaten
Christian Tenefrancia Illi is a German-Filipino multidisciplinary working artist and creative director who completed his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich; and received scholarships from the University of Edinburgh: College of Art (2013) and the University of Arts and Design Karlsruhe (2015-2016). He exhibited, worked, and performed in the arts and culture, as well as in the architecture and design sectors in Europe, East and Southeast Asia.
His works emerge from a conceptual approach engaging with the contemporary environment and the aftermath, impact and implications of colonialism and globalization, making use of cognitive fragments as modules in time-based media, utilizing (self-)criticality to confront, map, and decrypt complex structures and contest our perception — the notion and (de-)construction of history and identity.
He is co-founder and director of KIM/ILLI, an emerging and award-winning transdisciplinary studio and collaborative platform formed in 2020; working in the fields of art, architecture, and design—utilizing various methodologies ‘within and beyond’ the realms of (im)materiality: visuality, sound, and space—focusing on research, finding intersections, sharing and expanding knowledge, expertise, and networks in the global context, and discursive activities among local communities as well as public spaces.
Christian Tenefrancia Illi won the 1st jury prize along with the public vote in the Europe-wide EDGE East Side Competition (2021), received the 2nd prize (Federal Environment Agency, 2022) and 3rd prize (Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, 2024) in the international Art in Architecture competitions of the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning in Berlin. He obtained the artist residency grant from the Arts Foundation Baden-Württemberg, Württembergischer Kunstverein (WKV) Stuttgart, Goethe Institut Barcelona & HANGAR.ORG in 2020. With KIM/ILLI, he participated and solo exhibited at Galeria H2O in the 2022 iteration of the Art Nou festival in Barcelona and L’Hospitalet de Llobregat. His work has been exhibited at Japanisches Palais as a cultural possession on loan from the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (Dresden State Art Collections) in 2024, and at the Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) in 2025. Selected by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), he represented the Philippine Pavilion at the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale.
Vita
BORN IN 1987
STUTTGART, GER
WORKS & LIVES IN
BERLIN, GERMANY &
BACOLOD, THE PHILIPPINES
EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF STUTTGART
Philosophy / French Studies 2009
UNIVERSITY OF MUNICH
Musicology / Philosophy / Japanese Studies 2010
ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS MUNICH
Painting / Photography / Moving Image / Media Art 2011—17/18
UNIVERSITY OF ARTS AND DESIGN KARLSRUHE
Media Art / Moving Image 2015 / 16
DE LA SALLE UNIVERSITY MANILA
Philippine Studies 2017
SCHOLARSHIPS — AWARDS
UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH: COLLEGE OF ART
Intermedia Art / Film & Postcolonial Studies 2013 / 14
SCHOLARSHIP OF THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND
CULTURAL AFFAIRS BADEN-WÜRTTEMBERG 2015
ARTIST RESIDENCY AWARD BARCELONA 2020
Kunststiftung Baden-Württemberg,
Württembergischer Kunstverein,
Goethe Institut & HANGAR.ORG
EDGE EAST SIDE COMPETITION
1st Prize / int. Art in Architecture 2021
FEDERAL ENVIRONMENT AGENCY &
FEDERAL OFFICE FOR BUILDING AND
REGIONAL PLANNING BERLIN
Federal Environment Agency
2nd Prize / int. Art in Architecture 2022
FEDERAL ENVIRONMENT AGENCY &
FEDERAL OFFICE FOR BUILDING AND
REGIONAL PLANNING BERLIN
Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs
3rd Prize / int. Art in Architecture 2024
Awarded by the National Commission
for Culture and the Arts (NCCA),
Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA),
Office of Senator Loren Legarda
to represent the Philippine Pavilion at the
19th Venice Architecture Biennale 2025
SELECTED
COLLABORATIONS & PROJECTS
WARNER / CHAPPELL
Author & Composer since 2010
MÜNCHNER KAMMERSPIELE
Theatre Performance / Video Installation 07 / 2011
UNIVERSITY OF FILM AND TELEVISION / HFF MÜNCHEN
Regieübung / Directing Module 03 / 2015
SQUATTING KNOWLEDGES
Franchising: Asking Same Questions Twice
Communication & Organisation, Panelist 06 / 2015
DISC LAB | RESEARCH & CRITICISM
Visiting Artist and Researcher Program 08 / 2015
HERDING ISLANDS, RATS & THE ANTHROPOCENE
SYNAPSE in collaboration with HKW | Haus der Kulturen der Welt Berlin, Vargas Museum & Filipiniana Research Center: Introductory Session 10 / 2015
WAITING SHEDS — COOPERATIVE STUDY & RESEARCH PROGRAM Visual Communication 2015 / 18
MIGRATORY TIMES — SCHOOL SUPPLIES
The Institute of (im)Possible Subjects (IiS)
Harvard Graduate School of Education
Future Making Research Consortium
Visual Communication 05 / 2017
「DIRECTIVE CURATION」
Collective work; Sound Concept 04 — 06 / 2020
Studio KIM/ILLI
Co-Founder & Creative Director — 2020
RENEGOTIATIONS IN SELF-DETERMINATION
‘Choreographies of Labor’ @HANGAR.ORG: 09 — 10 / 2020
WRITTEN IN CODES: ‘Remember, what you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening’
Art in Architecture Competition
Helmholtz Pioneer Campus, Munich, DE 2021
REVERSED DUNK
Art in Architecture / Public Intervention
Amazon / Allianz Tower (Bjarke Ingels Group)
Warschauer Brücke, Berlin, DE 2023
IN PERPETUUM /
THE MYTH OF SISYPH(O)US
Art in Architecture Competition
w/ Levin Monsigny Landscape Architects
Berlin, DE 2024
STATE(S) OF LOCKDOWN
Humboldt Forum – Zeitgenössische Fassade
Art in Architecture Competition, Berlin, DE 2025
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
JUBELPERSER
w/ Schorsch Kamerun
AKADEMIEGALERIE
Munich, GER 2011
LIVING IN OBLIVION
DRIVE-IN THEATRE
Munich, GER 2012
NICHTS IST ABER BLEIB
CORDONHAUS Cham, GER 2012
P Á R Á S Ï T É
AdBK Annual Exhibition
Munich, GER 2013
P E R D U
KINO DER KUNST
Galerie Karin Sachs
Munich, GER 2015
Noli me tángere {TOUCH ME NOT}
GEGENKINO: VAGINALE Leipzig, GER 2015
INTIMATE POLITIK
Noli me tángere; อันล่วงละเมิดมิได้ Bangkok, THAI 2015
Planting ≠ Rice; { adapt ≠ adopt }
Vargas Museum & Filipiniana Research Center Manila, PH 2015
《Mashed Potato》
년 6월 5일 금요일부터 20일 토요일까지 whatreallymatters Seoul, KOR 2020
Renegotiations in Self-Determination: BEING IN-BETWEEN
Something of Substance in the End / ‘Choreographies of Labo(u)r’
PARATEXT #48 @HANGAR.ORG Barcelona, ES 2020
AMBACTIA MEMORIA
‘Choreographies of Labo(u)r’; KSTN Berlin, GER 2021
ART NOU 2022
Solo Show w/ KIM/ILLI
Galeria H2O, Barcelona, ES 2022
KUNST-AM-BAU
BBR, Berlin, GER 2022
UNDER THE SAME SKY –
PATTERNS AND OTHER BEINGS
JAPANISCHES PALAIS
State Art Collections, Dresden, DE 2024
SOIL-BEINGS (Lamánlupa)
Philippine Pavilion, La Biennale (Architettura), IT 2025
SULOG: Filipino Architecture at the Crosscurrents
Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM), Frankfurt, GER 2025/26
‘The land remembers through wavelengths we do not yet know how to read’
Salt Gallery, Sinan, KOR 2025/26
SELECTED
PERFORMANCES
CONDITOREI Stuttgart, GER 12 / 2007
AMPERE Munich, GER 03 / 2008
CORD CLUB Munich, GER 04 / 2008
CITADEL Liverpool, UK 07 / 2008
FESTIVAL St. Helens, UK 07 / 2008
KELLER KLUB Stuttgart, GER 01 / 2009
59:1 Munich, GER 01 / 2009
ATLANTIS KINO Munich, GER 07 / 2009
STADTGARTEN Cologne, GER 09 / 2009
NACHTLEBEN Frankfurt, GER 09 / 2009
FRANNZ Berlin, GER 09 / 2009
KNUST Hamburg, GER 09 / 2009
KAMMERSPIELE Munich, GER 07 / 2011
MAXIMILIANSFORUM Munich, GER 05 / 2012
SELECTED
PUBLICATIONS & PRESS
Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective.
Edizioni La Biennale di Venezia | Venice Biennale Catalogue
2025
Soil-beings (Lamánlupa)
Philippine Pavilion at the Venice Biennale
e-flux | Architecture
2025
Philippine Pavilion at Venice. Soil-beings (Lamánlupa)
METALOCUS, Sara Gent
2025
The Philippine Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Biennale Reimagines the Relationship Between Architecture and Soil
ArchDaily
2025
Five Pavilions Championing Soil at the Venice Architecture Biennale
Dezeen, Starr Charles
2025
Sulog: Filipino Architecture at the Crosscurrents
Catalogue, Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM)
Philippines as Guest of Honor at the Frankfurt Book Fair
2025
L’OFFICIEL PHILIPPINES | N°30
Alain Zedrick Camiling in conversation w/ Christian Tenefrancia Illi on the Philippine Pavilion for the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025
Ground, Up: Soil-beings
Philippine Pavilion at the Venice Biennale
Interview w/ Kanto.ph
2025
HEART & SOIL
The Philippine Star, Igan D’Bayan
2025
The Philippine Pavilion opens at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale die Venezia
ArtDaily
2025
Philippine Pavilion unveils 'Soil-beings (Lamanlupa)' at Venice Architecture Biennale in Italy
GMA News
2025
Philippine Pavilion at Venice Biennale Rethinks Soil in Architecture
The Manila Times, Jovi Miroy
2025
Philippine Pavilion to Highlight Soil as a Living Force at Venice Architecture Biennale 2025
BluPrint
2025
Reversed Dunk.
‘El colectivo ... hace de Berlín la ciudad del cambio’
ROOM Diseño, Martina Massas
2024
Site-specific Installation Reversed Dunk Challenges Urban Dynamics in Berlin
Designboom
2023
Transdisciplinary German-Filipino-Korean Collective Transforms Urban Landscapes with Installation
Art+ Magazine
2023
FRAGMENTS OF IDENTITY —
in the postcolonial PHILIPPINES
DIPLOMA (AdBK Press)
2017/18
CHAU CHAT:
Le Début
( DIENJE / ROUGH TRADE / WARNER/CHAPPELL )
2010
CHAU CHAT:
X.Y. op. 39
‘WÄHREND DER ABSCHAFFUNG DES DENKENS’
2010