Monica Bonvicini has become the first artist on König Galerie’s roster to publicly sever ties with the gallery following reports of allegations against its founder, Johann König.
Bonvicini has “paused her relationship with the gallery until the allegations against Johann König are resolved,” a spokesperson for the artist told the German art publication Monopol on Wednesday.
The allegations of sexual harassment that König faces were first reported by Die Zeit in September. König Galerie, which is based in Berlin, lobbied a Hamburg court to have that publication retract the article and was briefly successful in having the report taken down. It is live once more, although portions of it cannot be quoted, according to Monopol.
König has vehemently denied the allegations, calling them “false and misleading.”
A representative for his gallery did not respond to a request for comment about Bonvicini’s status on the roster.
The Monopol article about Bonvicini came out about a week after she joined New York’s Tanya Bonakdar Gallery. She will continue to be represented by Galerie Krinzinger in Vienna and Galleria Raffaella Cortese in Milan. Bonvicini is still listed on the gallery’s roster on the website, but her page does not load when you click her name.
Much of Bonvicini’s work deals with the relationship between power structures and gender roles. She won one of the Venice Biennale’s top prizes in 1999, and is set to have a solo show at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin.
In addition to its main space in Berlin, König also operates a space in Seoul. Last month, it unexpectedly shuttered its Vienna gallery, which König said was a temporary space.