01–01–2025 Knoten und Wege: BOOM TOWN, eine Ausstellung an und zwischen vier Orten etta, Düsseldorf Viewing the city as a space of possibility, BOOM TOWN builds on existing structures. Within the multi-dimensional urban network characterised by constant densification, relocation and expansion, the exhibition examines the potential of disorientation and questions the genesis of form and novelty. Emphasising selected works and their relationship to site and context, Clara Maria Blasius traces the richly layered exhibition concept across its four locations. [Review in German]
21–10–2024 I’m fine ǝɯ ǝʌɐs save me ǝuıɟ ɯ,ı: Rachel Maclean in der Kunsthalle Giessen In our latest review I'm fine ǝɯ ǝʌɐs save me ǝuıɟ ɯ,ı, our author Florina Klubach looks back at Rachel Maclean’s exhibition 'Mama Mimi Duck' at the Kunsthalle Giessen. In her work, the artist exposes the extremes of social media: grotesque portrayals of motherhood, beauty obsessions, and influencer culture in surreal, staged scenarios. With bold colors and unsettling images, she challenges us to question conventional gender roles in times of social media and rethink our (digital) reality in an age of AI-generated content and deepfakes.
16–09–2024 The Eternal Burden: Landscapes of an Ongoing Past by Urbane Künste Ruhr at Stiftung Zollverein, Essen In our latest review, curator and art critic Maja Ćirić offers a careful read of the exhibition Landscapes of an Ongoing Past by Urbane Künste Ruhr at the Zollverein Foundation in Essen. An exhibition narrating the traces of time in post-industrial landscapes and exploring past and future utopias across eleven artistic positions.
11–08–2024 Visiting the Guest Room: Encounters with the unusual everyday at Sammlung Pohl Marburg The Sammlung Pohl in Marburg opened its doors, furnished its guest room, invited three artists to exhibit various works of art under its roof and gave them financial support. Franka Marlene Schlupp writes about the winners of the grant and the dialogue between their works.
25–07–2024 Sonic Sooth: Fragments of Sonic Extinction at NEBYULA München The digital platform Fragments of Sonic Extinction (FOSE) archives endangered and extinct sounds, intertwining art and eco-social justice with various works by artists and researchers. The third edition of FOSE bridges digital and physical spaces by integrating sound pieces into NEBYULA’s exhibition room. In our latest review, Lena Fries writes about the central concepts of FOSE and shows how the project and its exhibition highlight the impact of human activity on our environment and sonic world.
24–07–2024 Parzellierung: Sung Tieu bei Trautwein Herleth Berlin In her solo exhibition Perfect Standard at Trautwein Herleth, Sung Tieu examines the infrastructural and bureaucratic control mechanisms of the colonial era, particularly in the former colony of French Indochina. Our author Kat Ripea reflects on how the German-Vietnamese artist reveals the latent connections between metrication, economic exploitation, and the persistence of colonial trauma. Read more about Ripea's thoughts on the exhibition. [Review in German]
21–07–2024 Walking with Eva Eisenlohr: Maximiliane Baumgartner at the Biennale für Freiburg 2 While Eva Eisenlohr’s (1891–1977) memory travels to the Kunstverein Nürnberg as part of Maximiliane Baumgartner’s latest exhibition Das Lokale ist nicht lokal (The Local Is Not Local), we delve back into an early hommage by Baumgartner to the Freiburg artist during the Biennale für Freiburg 2. In this contribution, our editor Isabelle Tondre retraces Baumgartner's reenactment of Eisenlohr’s iconic wheelbarrow procession from 1957. Step by step, the multilayered gesture unfolds, shedding light on an overlooked practice and a biennale that reconsiders the past through participative modes of storytelling.
26–06–2024 Keine leichte Sache. Lin May Saeed in der GAMeC Travelling through the Northern mountains of Italy, writer Lorenzo Graf payed a visit to the newly launched cultural program of GAMeC—Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo. In a close-up onto the work of German-Iraki artist Lin May Saeed (1973–2023), centerpoint of the parcours, Graf reflects on the project’s title and conceptual intent "Thinking Like a Mountain". Read his thoughtful examination of Saeed’s animal and human depictions our review. [Review in German]
23–06–2024 Resurrected in Times of Need: Jenine Marsh at Ashley Berlin Nina Hanz looks at Jenine Marsh’s solo exhibition at Ashley Berlin and gives us a poetic reading of the site-specific artworks. Read about how memory, anti-capitalist critique and a city full of ghosts are all reflected in Resurrected in Times of Need below.
17–06–2024 Strudel and Melancholia: Re-reading the 9th Biennale Gherdëina Val Gardena, South Tyrol In our latest review, Lorenzo Graf looks for traces of melancholy in the artistic works of this year's 9th Biennale Gherdëina in Val Gardena, South Tyrol. The author asks how some of the works reflect critically on ecological processes in relation to human presence and ecotourism - particularly in the context of a biennial in the midst of nature.
07–06–2024 Swimming Upstream. The Way of the Water, Tangente St. Pölten In 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳, a meandering art parcours along the Traisen and Mühlbach rivers, water is explored as social, political and spiritual matter. Artist and writer Xavier Robles de Medina took a trip to Austria to visit the exhibition, which presents 24 artists and collectives as part of the festival Tangente St. Pölten.
01–06–2024 Marking One’s Territory: VALIE EXPORT at C/O Berlin VALIE EXPORT’s street walk holding partner and artist Peter Weibel on a leash is an image that never gets old. As curator and researcher Esmeralda Gómez Galera notes in her review of the artist’s retrospective at C/O Berlin, EXPORT’s appearances in public space marked a radical breach with the social conventions of the times. What does 1960s feminist performance tell us about the mundane? Read more about Gómez Galera’s thoughts on the exhibition.
21–05–2024 The movable type Weserburg, Bremen On the occasion of the artist’s 80th birthday, the Weserburg recently presented an extensive solo exhibition of Kay Rosen’s work. Her witty wordplays extended to billboards in public spaces, postcards for visitors to take home, and a new art-book catalog. Our author, Robin Waart—a friend of words and publications himself—visited the show in Bremen and captured his impressions in his latest review, now on PASSE AVANT.
23–04–2024 Hidden in plain sight. Daniel Moldoveanu at GROTTO, Berlin We love artists who write about artists. In his recent visit to the newly founded space GROTTO in Berlin, Xavier Robles de Medina narrates his way through the exhibition 𝘌𝘭𝘰𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦! 𝘌𝘭𝘰𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 ! 𝘌𝘭𝘰𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 ! by Romanian artist and essayist Daniel Moldoveanu. From satirical novellas to (in)visible queerness, Robles de Medina gives echo to the societal concerns behind Moldoveanu’s layered practice whilst gracefully preserving their encryption.
11–04–2024 In Hülle und Fülle: Kenny Dunkans hybride Räume basis e.V., Frankfurt am Main In his first institutional exhibition in Germany, Kenny Dunkan weaves together a complex vocabulary that surpasses material, cultural and historical categorisations. Clara Maria Blasius walks us through the works on view at basis e.V. and explores Dunkan’s haptic stories between Paris and the Caribbean. [Review in German]
31–03–2024 Antarctica as terrestrial crisis room. Esteban Sánchez at Matjö Cologne Remote views of the South: in our latest review, Verena Kämpken reflects on presence and void in Esteban Sánchez’s contemplations of the Antarctic. Read her words on his recent solo-exhibition at the art space Matjö in Cologne.
20–02–2024 What remains after the flood The exhibition and artistic research project “Flooding” at 91 Galerie in Frankfurt traces the multi-layered topography of memory in the city of Stanyslaviv, today’s Ivano-Frankivsk in Ukraine. Navigating through its re-entrants and crevices, artist Nikita Kadan and co-curator Alona Karavai interrogate established narratives surrounding the remembrance of the Holocaust in the city, focusing in particular on the events of what would historically be remembered as “Bloody Sunday”. Alica Sänger wrote a comprehensive review of the exhibition for Passe-Avant.
03–02–2024 Spuren rassistischer Gewalt Museum MMK für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main Initially part of an in-depth exhibition on structural racism and white supremacist ideology in Germany, Henrike Naumann’s renowned work 14 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴 is once again on show at the Museum MMK für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt. Referring to existing scenes of racist violence across the country, the installation is displayed in ‘Channeling’, an exhibition of works from the museum’s collection. Writer and curator Dalwin Kryeziu reflects on the new staging of the immersive piece as well as its possible impacts on the viewer. Do we all stand equal when facing Naumann’s work? [Review in German]
27–01–2024 Angesichts dessen New Now, Frankfurt am Main A hidden gem in Frankfurt East: the intricate works of the exhibition 𝘷𝘪𝘴-à-𝘷𝘪𝘴 by Živa Drvarič and Daniel Stubenvoll, which closed several weeks ago, left a soft yet lasting impact. In her latest review, curator and writer Clara Maria Blasius unlocks the meaning behind the dialectic installation at NEW NOW art space. [Review in German]
22–01–2024 Loss of lightness Camera Austria, Graz The consecutive and alternating duo exhibition 'Exposure / Double Exposure' at Camera Austria in Graz transforms the photo album from a static documentation into a flexible format, where narratives shift, overwrite, change, and complement each other. Robin Waart took a closer look at the show.
