Exhibition "beyond now. Editions" @ Kestner Gesellschaft, Hanover

beyond now. Editions

Kestner Gesellschaft, Hanover

December 7, 2024 - March 2, 2025

Artists:

Mathieu Kleyebe Abonnenc, Franz Ackermann, Rebecca Ackroyd, Nevin Aladağ, Lewis Baltz, Monika Baer, Thomas Bayrle, Bernhard und Anna Blume, Erik Bulatov, André Butzer, Katinka Bock, Armin Boehm, Cecily Brown, Fernando Bryce, Helen Cammock, Marc Camille Chaimowicz, Jake & Dinos Chapman, Louisa Clement, Ceal Floyer, FAMED, Rochelle Feinstein, Peter Fischli & David Weiss, FORT, Nan Goldin, Guerilla Girls, Gotthard Graubner, Diango Hernández, Camille Henrot, Roger Hiorns, Gary Hume, Bethan Huws, Monilola Olayemi Ilupeju, Olav Christopher Jenssen, Anna K.E., Alex Katz, Hassan Khan, Joachim Koester, Marlena Kudlicka, Rezi van Lankveld, Jochen Lempert, Kris Martin, Jakob Mattner, Rita McBride, Henri Michaux, Sarah Morris, Chris Ofili, Lucila Pacheco Dehne, Peter Piller, Joanna Piotrowska, Paula Rego, Michael Sailstorfer, Susanne Sachsse & Xiu Xiu, Vittorio Santoro, Yehudit Sasportas, Dana Schutz, Bettina Scholz, Marinella Senatore, Santiago Sierra, Roman Signer, Simon Starling, Florian Süssmayr, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Hann Trier, The Institute of Queer Ecology, Tim Ulrichs, Ursula (Schultze-Bluhm), Ella Walker, Phoebe Washburn, Paloma Varga Weisz, James Welling, Christopher Williams, Samson Young, Heimo Zobernig, Thomas Zipp.

With beyond now. Editions, the Kestner Gesellschaft reflects on its exhibition history and the connection between artistic production and institutional work. This special exhibition includes both current and rediscovered limited-edition works, combining them with a series of related exhibition posters. A visual timeline traces the historical context of the works, their thematic connections to contemporary events, and their significance for the programmatic development of the Kestner Gesellschaft. Past and present intertwine in a vibrant dialogue that offers impetuses for future perspectives and makes the relationships between art, institutions, and society tangible.

The posters and limited-edition works refer to the diverse thematic exhibitions and projects that address societal and artistic questions of recent years: Tenderness (2022) focused on sensitivity and vulnerability, Anabasis (2023) explored movement and return, and Between Past and Future (2024) addresses Hannah Arendt’s thoughts on social responsibility and memory.

Since its founding in 1916, the Kestner Gesellschaft has collaborated closely with artists to release limited editions several times a year. These works form an essential part of its activities and significantly contribute to the accessibility, promotion, and visibility of contemporary art. beyond now. Editions not only offers the opportunity to explore the history of the institution’s exhibitions and limited-edition works but also to purchase these works.

In addition to historical works, the exhibition presents two new limited-edition works: Paloma Varga Weisz displays bronze sculptures from her series Wild People (2024), inspired by mythical and archetypal figures. And Monilola Olayemi Ilupeju presents her handmade book BloodLetter (2024), which interweaves personal stories in poems, essays and journal entries.

Environmental issues are an important concern for the Kestner Gesellschaft. The exhibition was designed for sustainability by using only existing interior equipment. This concept reflects a responsible approach to resource management and underscores the institution’s endeavor to address current challenges not only thematically but also practically.

Curator: Alexander Wilmschen

KESTNER GASELLSCHAFT

Goseriede 11, 30159 Hannover

www.kestnergesellschaft.de 

Paloma Varga Weisz @ Kestner Gesellschaft, Hanover - "Multiface" Exhibition

Paloma Varga Weisz: Multiface

Kestner Gesellschaft, Hanover

December 7, 2024 - March 2, 2025

Kestner Gesellschaft, Hanover

© Photographer: Ulrich Prigge

The exhibition Multiface is one of the most extensive presentations of works by Paloma Varga Weisz. It brings together her recent series of works with key pieces from over three decades, offering insight into her poetic and simultaneously subversive artistic practice. Her works—sculptures, watercolors, drawings, and installations—delve into existential questions about identity, memory, vulnerability, and transformation. Figures and forms oscillate between the familiar and the foreign, the corporeal and the narrative.

Trained as a wood sculptor, Paloma Varga Weisz deliberately breaks with the tradition of the craft. By mastering traditional techniques while simultaneously subverting them, she creates works that challenge classical notions of materiality and form. Her sculptures combine historical references with surreal elements, humorous disruptions, and subtle irony, impressively exploring the boundaries between artisanal precision and contemporary reflection.

A central focus of the exhibition is Wild People (1998—2024), a series of works ranging from small ceramic figures to monumental bronze sculptures. These hybrid beings, which combine human and animal traits, embody a deconstruction of gender roles and family ideals. They raise questions about isolation, community, and transitions from humans to nature. The sculpture Rug People (2011) plays a special role in this exhibition: Inspired by the story of the former railway station in Folkstone in England from which soldiers departed for battle during World War I, this work reflects on themes such as migration, loss, and the fragility of human stories. For Varga Weisz, this also becomes a quiet homage to her father, who had to flee from National Socialists-occupied Paris during World War II as a Jewish refugee. Rug People (2011) functions as a monument to the resilience and vulnerability of human experiences.

Multiface (2019), a multi-faced silver head that looks in all directions, symbolizes the fluid boundaries of the self and the constant changes of life. The multiheaded nature of her works invites viewers to understand identity not as a selfcontained unit, but as an open, evolving structure that sees breaks and transitions as essential components of being. Multiface reveals the complexity of the human—not as an ambivalence to be overcome, but as its essential strength.

Paloma Varga Weisz (b. 1966 in Mannheim) is a sculptor, graphic artist, and painter. After training as a wood sculptor from 1987 to 1990 in Garmisch- Partenkirchen, she studied under Tony Cragg and Gerhard Merz at the Staatliche Kunstakademie Düsseldorf from 1990 to 1998. Her works poetically and subversively engage with themes such as identity, memory, and transformation. Varga Weisz lives and works in Düsseldorf.

Curator: Alexander Wilmschen

KESTNER GASELLSCHAFT

Goseriede 11, 30159 Hannover

www.kestnergesellschaft.de