Exhibitions

Seeking refuge, immigration, crossing the Mediterranean via clandestine routes – these have become central issues for many artists, critics, and curators. Small boats carrying immigrants have emerged, in the words of art historian Jennifer González, as "an iconic sign and key metaphor for African migration."

At the heart of the present exhibition are fifty paintings by Jewish children in Germany on the eve of the Second World War. The pictures were selected from a unique collection of over 1,800 items, part of the estate of artist and teacher Julo Levin (born 1901, perished in Auschwitz, 1943). His close friends worked hard to save Levin’s works and preserve his legacy, and donated the collection to the Stadtmuseum of Düsseldorf.

In prehistoric times, human beings and animals roamed the Earth as equals. Like the animals, human beings were subject to the forces of nature, adapting to far-reaching climate change, wandering in search of water and food, hunting and being hunted.

The desire for objects, the passion for "shopping," is translated today into a popular pastime. Indeed, a large part of happy humanity solemnly attends the rituals of consumption, equipped with credit cards. Its goal is to find meaning and discover a new identity: "I consume, therefore I am"; I am inseparable from a large group of happy beings – consumers of merchandise and opportunities.

This exhibition focuses on the responses of contemporary artists to issues of religion and faith in the contemporary global reality, which is dominated by the consumer culture.

Eyal Assulin's visual language explores the culture of prosperity with reference to global socio-economic aspects. His works engage with Eastern culture, featuring a matrix of historical, gender, and artistic status symbols. These are presented in a forthright manner that parodies the bulimic impulse of contemporary consumerism.

Hannan Abu-Hussein's installation consists of used brassieres fixed in cast concrete. This technique is characteristic of her works, which often use unconventional raw materials. The artist employs these materials in order to express her personal-feminist voice on the issues of religion, capitalism, sexual exploitation, love, and personal freedom.

In her works, Addie Wagenknecht addresses the ethos of the hacker culture and the dark side of the data systems that construct contemporary reality. In the installation Shrine for iPhones (2018) the artist creates a kind of monument to outdated mobile phones that are discarded after each technological update.

The bicycles around which this installation is built are associated with the inspiration Olaf Kuhnemann draws from the streets of Berlin – the city he is residing in recent years. As the seasons change, with winter's depression replaced by the mania of spring and summer, the city's boulevards fill with bicycles.

In the fashion arena, consumerism is most explicitly demonstrated as an accepted lifestyle. The contemporary fashion industry seems to be constantly reinventing itself, thereby perpetuating its systemic dependence on the desire to acquire items in different styles. This industry reflects the inherent traits of modern society, characterized by constant flux and the search for meaning in an unstable reality.