German conceptual artist

Born in 1976 in Mannheim, Nadine Fecht lives and works in Berlin. She has developed a practice centred on drawing, which she extends to installations, videos and sound works. Her work explores political and social issues, such as collective dynamics, systems of power and subjectivity, through experimental processes and an approach known as ‘expanded drawing’.

Her work, which has been exhibited internationally (notably at the Kunsthalle Mannheim and the Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin), is characterised by a tension between individual gesture and collective dynamics, inviting the viewer to reflect on the mechanisms of decision-making and perception.

In 2025, she took part in the celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the K‑Way brand as part of the art exhibition ‘In Y/Our Life’ in Paris. This multidisciplinary event brought together several international artists and highlighted the dialogue between contemporary art and popular culture, confirming Nadine Fecht’s involvement in large-scale, cross-disciplinary artistic projects.

  • Un tableau de l'artiste présenté dans Un café avec Nadine Fecht
  • Un café avec Nadine Fecht couloir de l'exposition pour les 70 ans de KWAY
  • Un café avec Nadine Fecht présentant son travail : diptyque

Could you introduce yourself and tell us about your practice?

Nadine: My name is Nadine Fecht. I live in Berlin and I use loads and loads of ballpoint pens to create large-scale drawings. Here you can see a study for some large-scale drawings: I used around 1,800 pens. With large-format paper, I use up to 8,000 pens.

Why use the ballpoint pen as the main medium?

Nadine: Different colours, colours that represent individuals, different ideas, different backgrounds, and different ways of acting and making decisions in society. So I use them as a tool for drawing, but in a rather subversive way: I don’t decide on the lines myself, but let this drawing tool, which is really very large, move of its own accord and simply be itself.

Aren’t they personal drawings, in a way?

Nadine: They are, in fact, anti-personal. I question the individual as such. I am not a designer. I’m not anti-artist. But this isn’t about me as a person. It’s about how society shapes individuals and how individuals shape society. So it’s not my personal gesture moving across the paper, but when I use this quantity – this vast quantity – of ballpoint pens, I no longer have complete control over their movement on the paper.

So, I’d like to talk about people, about the way they leave their mark, how they express themselves publicly or react to decisions made in society, and how they hopefully end up taking personal responsibility for bringing about change.

Un café avec Nadine Fecht avec Gianluisi ITW KWAY

How do you choose your materials, and what stories do they tell?

Nadine: Generally speaking, I use different types of materials to create my artworks. But the material itself possesses a certain quality that contains and reflects information from the place where I find it. So I take the material out of its context and use it as a medium for drawing within the framework of the drawing. And so, when I use a material that is normally used for something else, such as everyday objects, I draw on its previous content and context, and this enriches the artwork itself.

Are there any artists who have had a significant influence on your career?

Nadine: To be honest, I don’t really have any specific idols. One of my teachers in Berlin, Bangarten, studied under Ysef Boyce. The way he used materials influenced my teacher, and that in turn influenced me. But I’ve also studied with Hito and Stan Douglas, who are die-hard conceptual artists.

Your work seems to evolve in response to the materials.

Nadine: I create research-based art. So, it’s more a case of me experimenting a lot and always using different types of materials, such as price tags I find in the street, or, as I’ve been doing recently in my studio, using floral patterns to draw with, or sand from places that are very difficult to reach, such as the desert, which are affected by ecological changes and the climate crisis. It’s therefore about the depth and the information contained within and inherent in a material; in this piece, it’s the ballpoint pen; in others, it might be something completely different. So, each time, I develop the work starting from the material and in combination with the subject I feel needs to be addressed.