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insa/derk [they/them or insa] is an gen-Z-adjecent but technically millenial autistic artist, who constructs complex intimate data systems in the mediums of hybrid installations, designed sculpture, websites and digital video, DJing and authentic performance.
With one foot in the art world and one in the fashion industry, the artist works both artistically and professionally in the fields of photography, hair & make-up, styling, nails, graphic and UI/web design, often collaboratively with other specialists.
They've collected >10 years of experience as a beauty tech and creative on photo & film sets, 1.253 years in advertising and 1.6 years in luxury retail [currently ongoing], and graduated with a Master of Fine Art from HFBK Hamburg in 2024 with Simon Denny, after also studying at the Beaux-Arts de Paris with Hicham Berrada and Petrit Halilaj & Alvaro Urbano.
As an artistic researcher, insa/derk is special-interested in cosmetology technologies, systems of fashion, digital community structures and the intersection of those fields.
In their exhibition practice, often connected to accessible commercial public infrastructure like stores and boutiques, the research findings are transformed into explorable archives, interactive installations and touchable sculptures that connect physical and digital spaces.
insa/derk's systems work with gendered materials of tactile self-expression and deliberately deconstruct them through associative, hyperbolic play and re_contextualization, with the use of beauty and humour to lock the spectator in.
In materiality, insa/derk focuses on multiple sensory experiences and strongly contrasting proportions in relation to one's own body.
Each new artwork by insa/derk references a previous one, resulting in a hyperlinked oeuvre - all works interact individually with each other. In these chronologically connected structures, they explore relationships both to themselves and their environment.
2022 Freundeskreis der HFBK e.V. Projektförderung
2012 Catalogue Photography Blow!8 Performance Festival
| funded by Stiftung Niedersachsen und Stiftung Braunschweigischer Kulturbesitz
2023 ›Vielstimmige Verwundbarkeit “Thank you for having us” im Frappant‹| Review by Katrin Krumm, published on gallerytalk.net [Digital]
2020 ›Styleneid: Insa‹| Interview about their styling practice by Zain Salam Assaad, published in Missy Magazine [Print + Digital]
2024 INSA CENTRAL MUSEUM @ HFBK Boutique / Media Markt Hamburg
2025 MEASURED MAPPED MONETIZED with Klasse Denny @ HFBK Hamburg
2023 THANK YOU FOR HAVING US @ Frappant / Hamburg
2023 ON AFFECTION @ Galeries Droite et Gauche / Beaux-Arts de Paris
2022 HTTP SHANGHAI @ MoM ArtSpace / Hamburg
2022 HYPERLINK @ Culterim Gallery / Berlin
2021 Conditions of a Necessity @ Kunsthalle Baden-Baden
2020 HFBK Annual Exhibition [Klasse Denny] @ HFBK Hamburg
2019 SHIFT – Beyond The Binary @ Frappant / Hamburg
2017 Stil∙System∙Methoden @ Island Galerie / Hamburg
2016 METEORITES FROM A MILLION MINDS @ Zollamt Galerie / Offenbach
2021 PUBLiC UNiVERSAL FRiENDZ for kunstverein.digital @ Kunstverein Hamburg
2025 Bauhaus Universität Weimar – Freie Kunst
2022 INSA'S OPEN NAIL SALON for ‘Publikums-Sanierung’ Performance @ Kampnagel Hamburg
2021 SYSTEMKLUMPEN Workshop for ‘Life on Planet Orsimanirana’ Exhibition @ Museum für Kunst & Gewerbe Hamburg with Alina Tsybina
2024 ›From Palette to Platform – Exploring Protocols of the YouTube BeautyCommunity through the Filter of James Charles Casting Call Videos‹ | Master Thesis, HFBK Hamburg
2021 ›Mein Vorbild, der Schlüpfer‹
| Fashion Column, based on archival artwork ‚Chronology Of My Body‘, published in NYLON Germany [Print]
2021 ›LED Nail Lamp‹ in MEDIA ORGANIZE: A Companion to Technological Objects
| Article and Cover Image, published by Kunstverein Hamburg
2020 ›Best Dressed Spectator‹
| Article, published in GASTGARTEN VESTIMENTÆR[Y] by Kunstverein Gastgarten e.V.
2019 ›@archivum_secretum – The Community Potential of Instagram’s Ephemeral Media Spaces through Multi-User Login‹
| Bachelor Thesis, HAW Hamburg
2017 ›Systemimmanent‹
| Programmiert gesetzte Tagebuch-Logs, self-published at HAW Hamburg
2024-2020 HFBK HAMBURG Master of Fine Arts – Time-based Media with Prof. Simon Denny and Prof. Ute Kalender
2023 Beaux-Arts de Paris with Prof. Hicham Berrada / Prof. Petrit Halilaj & Alvaro Urbano
2019-2015 HAW Hamburg Bachelor of Arts – Communication Design with Prof. Dr. Anke Haarmann & Prof. Heike Grebin