Karma International was founded by Marina Olsen and Karolina Dankow in 2009. After two years of non- commercial curatorial activity, their space transitioned to a commercial gallery to better represent the artists of the initial program: Pamela Rosenkranz, Ida Ekblad, David Hominal among others, who have been crucial in defining the identity of Karma International. In the following years artists from different generations, such as Judith Bernstein, Vivian Suter, Simone Fattal, Sylvie Fleury, Małgorzata Mirga-Tas, Ser Serpas as well as Meret Oppenheim joined the roster.
From 2015 to 2020 Karma International was running a second space in Los Angeles. The dialog thus created between Europe and the US brought a new quality to the program that allowed to experiment with an ongoing parallel exhibition program. In 2020, the gallery opened a second space in Zurich located across from the main gallery which serves as an extended local platform for artists from the roster.