Neha Choksi

Mitschüler*in: eine erwachsene Künstlerin kehrt in die Vorschule zurück
[Classmate: an adult artist returns to kindergarten]
Installation and artist book
2025

Commissioned by Haus der Kunst München, 2025.
Site-specific wall installation, paint and wallpaper 225x990 cm
Artist's book, offset print, 48 pages, color, 14.8x21 cm.
Edition of 5000


The artist book Mitschüler*in is based on a lived performance, Elementary, for which Neha Choksi attended a public school as a kindergarten student for the academic year 2018-2019.

Neha Choksi’s artist book Mitschüler*in and its installation in a classroom setting is part of the group exhibition For Children. Art Stories since 1968 on view at HdK Munich from July 18, 2025 through May 31, 2026. Curated by Andrea Lissoni, Emma Enderby, Lydia Korndörfer, Xue Tan.



HDK MUNICH EXHIBITION TEXT

“The book features drawings, notes and short stories collected by the artist during Elementary (2018-19), a year-long lived performance in which the artist attended a kindergarten of the Los Angeles Unified School District as an adult student. Since 2018, Elementary has evolved into an extensive body of work, giving rise to different projects such as performances and installations that reflect on the artist's school experience and explore themes of relationships and emotions, hierarchies and enculturation within the educational setting…The [new installation and book] work engages all ages with short fill-in-the-blank stories that offer insights into her daily life at kindergarten: the interactions with classmates and the teachers, the need for belonging, the experiences of failure, acceptance, frustration and joy.”

— Lydia Korndörfer, co-curator.



EXHIBITION CATALOG

Published by Distanz Verlag, March 2026.
Essay on Neha Choksi by Ilaria Sponda.