Vaginal Davis

Marking twenty years since artist, writer and performer Vaginal Davis made Berlin her home, Gropius Bau presents the first comprehensive solo exhibition of her work in Germany. In her expansive oeuvre, punk meets glamour, queer activism meets Black counter-culture and resistance meets desire. 

Vaginal Davis: Fabelhaftes Produkt captures the full scope of Ms. Davis’ practice: Across seven large-scale installations on the ground floor of Gropius Bau, the exhibition spans works from 1985 to 2025, including painting, video, film, zine-making, writing, music and performance. The exhibition also gives center stage to her many collaborative projects, with the Berlin-based art collective CHEAP – presenting the installation Choose Mutation, with photographs by Annette Frick – and New York-based artist Jonathan Berger, among many others. 

Vaginal Davis herself is a living work of art: a performer, writer and creator of iconic zines; a visual artist, experimental filmmaker; a self-proclaimed Blacktress and drag terrorist, a gossip columnist, influential socialite, educator and countercultural renegade. Since the late 1970s, her oeuvre has pushed the boundaries of art, music and performance. Inspired by the militancy of the Black Panthers’ pursuit of social justice in the United States, she named herself after feminist and Black Power activist Angela Davis. The exhibition stages Ms. Davis’ archive anew, reinterpreting the movements of her artistic practice and, in so doing, drawing connections to burning questions today.

Content Note: The exhibition contains depictions of sexual acts and representations of racist language and imagery.