Kathi Kæppel (* 1977 in Heidelberg) is a German artist (drawing, animation, installation). She is a professor at the Folkwang University of the Arts and earned her PhD in art and science from the Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf. In her artistic practice and research, she deals with the animation in space, an artistic genre at the intersection of installation and film, as well as future topics in the field of animation. The focus is on the interplay between visual narration and perception, the development of narrative strategies, the creative potential of materiality, and the experimental use of analogue and digital animation techniques. Her conceptual approach results in installations that unfold in virtual and physical spaces.
Kathi Kæppel studied Visual Communication under Prof. Nanne Meyer at the weißensee kunsthochschule berlin, and animation under Prof. Suzanne Buchan at the University for the Creative Arts (UCA). She is one of the co-founders of the group monogatari, which was nominated for the Max and Moritz Prize for, among other things, the comic reportages in its debut work Alltagsspionage – Comicreportagen aus Berlin, 2001.
She has received numerous awards and film and project grants, and has been a fellow of the DAAD, the Fulbright Commission, and the Freiheit Foundation. Selected exhibitions and film festivals include: Bratislava Animation Biennale, SK; Edinburgh International Film Festival, UK; interfilm Berlin, DE; Oberhausen International Short Film Festival, DE; Les Rencontres Internationales, F; sehsüchte, Berlin, DE; Houston International Film Festival, USA; Backup Festival, DE; Stuttgart International Animation Festival, DE; Künstlerhaus Dortmund, DE; Galerie Berliner Kunstprojekt, DE; Galerie Parterre Berlin, DE. Her animated films have been added to the British Film Institute’s National Archive. Since 2009, she has regularly served as a jury member at the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film. Kæppel is a member of the Society for Animation Studies, the AG Animation working group within the Society for Media Studies, and the NECS – European Network for Cinema and Media Studies.
From 2020 to 2024, she conducted research as part of the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts – Design Film & Art research project, Moving in Every Direction – Artistic Research as a Contribution to the Development of Contemporary Spatial Configurations for the Moving Image, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation.
In 2007, Kæppel began teaching at the Berlin-Weißensee School of Art. This was followed by teaching positions at institutions including Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle, Kassel University of Arts, Berlin University of the Arts (UdK Berlin), and the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. From 2014 to 2018, Kæppel was a visiting professor at the weißensee Kunsthochschule berlin. In 2022, she was a professor at Trier University of Applied Sciences. From 2022 to 2024, she was a visiting professor at the Berlin University of the Arts. Since 2024, Kæppel has been a professor of moving image and, since 2025, vice rector for digitality and diversity at the Folkwang University of the Arts.
She is the mother of three children and lives with her children in Essen.
CV
1977 born in Heidelberg, Germany
2025 PhD in art and science, Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf
2004 Diploma, weißensee kunsthochschule berlin
2002 Bachelor of Arts, University for the Creative Arts, United Kingdom
2025 Vice rector for digitality and diversity, Folkwang University of the Arts
2024 Professor, Folkwang University of the Arts
2022-2024 Visiting Professor, Universität der Künste Berlin
2022 Professor, Trier University of Applied Sciences
Since 01/2019 Artistic Researcher, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Lucerne
2014–2018 Visiting Professor, weißensee kunsthochschule berlin
2017 Lecturer, Universität der Künste Berlin
2009–2021 Jury member, curator, Internationales Trickfilm–Festival Stuttgart (ITFS)
2008-2010 Lecturer, Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle
2007-2014 Lecturer, weißensee kunsthochschule berlin
1999–2005 Co-Founder, monogatari, Berlin
GRANTS / AWARDS
2021 Neustart Stipendium, Stiftung Kulturwerk
Brückenstipendium, Hessische Kulturstiftung, project Le Devenir
2020 Project funding Kulturamt Frankfurt aM, project Virgin soil
Project funding Kulturamt Frankfurt aM, project Vestige
Project funding Schweizerischer Nationalfonds, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, research project Moving in Every Direction
Project funding Hessenfilm, project Amber
1. price, Kunst am Bau, Münsterplatz, Mainz
Artist Grant »Hessen kulturell neu eröffnen«, Hessische Kulturstiftung, project Vestige
Project funding Kulturamt Frankfurt aM, project The Lonesome Tree
2019 Fellowship Stiftung Freiheit
2017 Bronze Award, Kommunikation im Raum, adc Deutschland
German Design Award, Rat für Formgebung
2014-2018 BCP Fellowship Berliner Senat
2011 Award, Communication Arts
2009 Award, 1st prize, Team Bank, Nürnberg
2004 Fellowship Fulbright
Echo Award, video national
Award, 200 best illustrators worldwide, Luerzers Archive
2003 Gold Award, Experimental film & video Remi awards, The Houston International Film Fest
Silber Award, The Society of Korea Illusart
Animation Award, sehsuechte, international student film festival
Award, annual multimedia
Jury Award, shorts-welcome
2002 Award, 1st prize, backup, weimar
2001 Fellowship DAAD
Award, Best animated series, berlin beta film festival
Nomination, Max & Moritz Award, International Comic Salon