KOW is a contemporary art gallery based in Berlin, founded in 2008 by Alexander Koch and Nikolaus Oberhuber, with Jocelyn Wolff involved in its early formation. Since its beginnings, the gallery has developed a strong reputation for presenting socially engaged art that closely connects aesthetic inquiry with political and social realities. KOW was first located on Brunnenstrasse in Berlin Mitte in a distinctive building designed by architect Arno Brandlhuber, before relocating in 2019 to Lindenstrasse, situated between the Jewish Museum and the Axel Springer headquarters. As of August 2024, the gallery has been operating from a new space on Kurfürstenstrasse in Berlin Schöneberg.
The gallery’s program brings together artists from different generations and cultural backgrounds whose practices critically examine contemporary societal conditions through conceptually rigorous and often interdisciplinary approaches. Alongside exhibitions, KOW places strong emphasis on publications, curatorial projects, and long term collaborations that foreground art’s social dimension. Through this multifaceted activity, the gallery has established itself as an internationally recognized platform for contemporary art that engages directly with the complexities of the present.