Ten women have accused influential German merchant Johann König of sexual misconduct in a A report published today by the executive die zeit.
The women accused Koenig, who runs a eponymous gallery with locations in Berlin, Seoul and Vienna, of making unwanted sexual comments and indecent touching. Koenig’s woman was accused of forcibly kissing her.
according to die zeitThe allegations, some of which were made by women who asked not to be named, date back several years. The investigation said they had not been made public yet, because the women initially did not want to report them for fear of reprisals, the investigation said, and because there was “at least one” pending complaint against him.
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According to him, one of Koenig’s accusers has filed a criminal complaint against Koenig die zeitbut the investigation was dropped because she did so anonymously.
König is one of the key figures in the Berlin art scene. Curator’s son Kasper Koenig opened his gallery at the age of 21 in 2002. In 2019, a gallery opened The New York Times mentioned He enjoys “a reputation as one of Germany’s most influential young art dealers”.
The König Galerie is represented by a number of famous artists, including Monica Bonvicini, Katharina Grosse, Jeppe Hein, Helen Marten, Bosco Sodi and Tatiana Trouvé.
The show is among more than 100 participants in the inaugural edition of Frieze Seoul, which kicks off Thursday.
Although Koenig has been interviewed before die zeitHis lawyers reportedly prevented the publication from citing him. The lawyers denied all the allegations made die zeit While also acknowledging that, at one point, Koenig responded to the accusations. But they said he only did so “as a precaution”.
ARTnews Contact König Galerie for comment.
Some accidents reported die zeit It allegedly happened in 2017, during the FIAC Art Fair in Paris. Reportedly, “three employees of the Paris gallery and the director of the New York gallery at the time” spoke of parties where Koenig touched women’s breasts and pulled one of his accusers so hard that she “could not move”.
An unnamed former employee of the König Gallery reportedly recounted a similar incident at a party. At that event, he allegedly pressed himself against her, then grabbed her tightly.
A Berlin-based architect, who goes by the name Sarah M., told the publication that, also in 2017, Koenig forcibly accepted her at the Grill Royal in the German capital. Koenig denied it.
Koenig has previously spoken about the importance of the #MeToo movement in the art world. in 2018, die zeit WroteIn profile on Koenig, “The movement has sharpened his consciousness. Men, he says now, have to act more consciously in heterosexual relations than they did in the past.”
A new English translation of Koenig’s memoirs, blind galleristis expected to arrive in the US in November after its initial overseas publication in 2019. A representative of MIT Press, which distributes the book for publisher Sternberg Press in the US, declined to comment.
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