Art • 181 News

GOSEE FEATURES CONTEMPORARY ART & RENOWNED ARTISTS

Art

'FERVOR' - Juan Brenner Photographs the Cult of San Simón Between Maya Spirituality, TikTok and Postcolonial Reality

With FERVOR: The Very Powerful San Simón, Juan Brenner releases a photobook that moves far beyond classical documentary photography. What initially appears to be a visual journey into the spiritual rituals of Guatemala gradually unfolds into a hypnotic exploration of identity, pop culture, faith and resistance in the digital age.

At the center stands San Simón - also known as Maximón or El Abuelo - a fascinating figure suspended somewhere between Catholic iconography, Maya spirituality and contemporary subculture. He wears cowboy boots, smokes Marlboros, drinks Coca-Cola and simultaneously appears in TikTok feeds, WhatsApp stickers and street processions. Not a folkloric relic, but a living symbol of cultural self-assertion. That is precisely where the enormous power of this book lies.

Brenner photographs this world not with ethnographic distance, but with a rare combination of...

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Wednesday, May 27

'This Much is True' - Albert Elm’s New Photobook Between Reality, Memory and the Present

Albert Elm presents his new photobook This Much is True with Disko Bay, following his acclaimed debut What Sort of Life is This. The new publication moves between documentary observation, cinematic atmosphere and personal reflections on contemporary life - like a visual diary of a generation caught somewhere between information overload, wanderlust and the search for orientation.

"The book weaves together Elm’s energetic snapshots and dreamlike landscapes into an original body of work that employs a raw yet playful photographic language. Through this approach, Elm reflects on life as he...

 

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Wednesday, May 20

"Moi et ma Bentley": An iconic figure in a pink CGI world – an art project by Dejan & Per

With “Moi et ma Bentley”, Dejan & Per present a visually precise and fully staged work positioned between automotive, fashion, and digital imagery.

At the center is a well-known, iconic-looking figure that deliberately plays with the codes of luxury, pop culture, and staging – set within a fully artificial environment. The project was realized as a full CGI & AI production and exists in the context of a free, artistic experiment.

Architecture, light, and materiality interlock with precision: reflections, surfaces, and the color palette create a hyperreal aesthetic. The work demonstrates how...

 

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ALBERT SCOPIN “Chelsea Hotel 1969–1971”: Rediscovered photographs between Patti Smith and the Warhol crowd

The Chelsea Hotel has been an iconic hub of the art and music scene since the 1960s. Between 1969 and 1971, Albert Scopin lived there while assisting photographers Mikel Avedon and Bill King. Using a simple Kodak Instamatic, he captured life inside the hotel – direct, unposed, and often without even looking through the viewfinder.

Now, the works are being presented comprehensively for the first time: the FWR Galerie Berlin shows around 30 photographs alongside the release of a book dedicated to the series. Exhibition and publication offer a rare glimpse into the Chelsea Hotel of those years – raw, intimate, and full of energy.

Scopin’s images portray a generation on the rise, including a young Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe, as well as filmmakers such as Wim Wenders, Rosa von Praunheim, Miloš Forman, and Jonas Mekas. They show the Warhol crowd staging a play, staff parties in the...

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Friday, May 8

Anton Corbijn – retrospective at Fotografiska Berlin & monograph by Hannibal Books

Following his 70th birthday last year, Anton Corbijn looks back on a body of work spanning more than five decades – from photography to music videos and feature films. The exhibition “Corbijn, Anton” celebrates 50 years of his practice and presents around 150 photographs, including iconic portraits of Depeche Mode, Tom Waits, U2, the Rolling Stones, Martin Scorsese and Marlene Dumas, as well as German figures such as Nina Hagen, Herbert Grönemeyer and Wim Wenders. His signature remains a grainy black-and-white aesthetic that continues to define his visual language.

Alongside the...

 

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Friday, May 8

25 Years of IPO: LOOPING ONE stages Deutsche Börse Group anniversary as “Beautiful Order Book”

Twenty-five years ago, Deutsche Börse Group listed itself – a move that laid the foundation for its role today as a global technology and market infrastructure provider. To mark the anniversary, LOOPING ONE, together with Hamburg-based design studio Bureau Johannes Erler, created a table book titled “The Beautiful Order Book.” The idea: to translate this transformation into a format that deliberately breaks away from traditional financial communication – visually precise, clearly structured, and with a strong narrative approach.

The book follows the logic of an order book – the core system...

 

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‘Can Love Be a Photograph – 40 Years of Inez & Vinoodh’ – exhibition in The Hague & book by Hannibal Books

Four decades, countless icons – and still that subtle sense of unease beneath the surface. With Can Love Be a Photograph, the Kunstmuseum Den Haag presents a major retrospective of one of the most influential photography duos of our time: Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin. The exhibition runs until September 6, 2026 and is accompanied by a book published by Hannibal Books.

For over 40 years, Inez & Vinoodh have been redefining the boundaries of photography. What defines their images is not style, but tension. Between fashion and art, intimacy and staging, surface and rupture. Everything feels familiar – and shifts in the very same moment. Beauty, identity, representation: nothing is fixed, everything remains in motion.

That Inez & Vinoodh were among the first to embrace digital image-making as a creative tool in the 1990s is no side note, but part of their DNA. Technology is a...

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Thursday, April 16

“Fast ein Paradies – Colonial-Era Photography in Contemporary Art” at the Museum Rietberg in Zurich

With “Fast ein Paradies – Colonial-Era Photography in Contemporary Art,” the Museum Rietberg presents an exhibition that goes far beyond a traditional museum visit – it is a visual re-reading of history. International artists draw on archives, found materials, and their own visual languages to challenge and reframe colonial narratives. Photography is not treated as a static document, but as an active medium that shapes, shifts, and questions memory.

The exhibition unfolds across four chapters – from archival work and confrontation to care and speculative image-making – moving fluidly...

 

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Wednesday, April 15

Monica Menez brings ‘Body Lab’ to the Leica Galerie Konstanz – exhibition & artist-led tours

The Leica Galerie Konstanz presents Body Lab, a new exhibition by Monica Menez. The opening takes place on Friday, April 17, 2026 at 7 pm, in the presence of the artist. On Saturday, April 18, Monica Menez will personally guide visitors through the exhibition (11 am & 1 pm, registration required).

“I’m currently presenting my exhibition Body Lab at the Leica Galerie Konstanz – and I’m truly proud of it. Not only because the Leica Gallery is such a special place, but because I was invited to show both: my analogue photography and my AI-based work. For me, that’s a clear statement. It...

 

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“Italia di Moda”: Fashion, Landscape, and Italian Identity – a photographic project by Andrea Varani

With “Italia di Moda,” Andrea Varani, represented by Kristina Korb GmbH, presents a photographic project that closely connects fashion with origin and landscape. Initiated together with model icon Ludmilla Voronchina Bozzetti, the series travels across all regions of Italy, exploring what defines “Made in Italy” beyond style.

The images place fashion outside the studio, within the context of architecture, nature, and history. Clothing enters into a dialogue with its surroundings – calm, precise, and with a strong sense of place and atmosphere.

The series has been shown, among others, at the Galleria Deloitte in Milan and is supported by institutions such as Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana and Pitti Immagine.

With “Italia di Moda,” a visual portrait of Italy emerges, positioning fashion as an integral part of cultural identity.

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Thursday, April 9

‘Human Conditions’ – retrospective of Olaf Heine at Kunsthalle Rostock

With Human Conditions, Kunsthalle Rostock presents a comprehensive retrospective of Olaf Heine – marking 30 years of visual language between music, art and culture. On view are iconic portraits of international artists as well as quiet architectural and landscape images. The Berlin-based photographer is considered one of the defining visual chroniclers of our time.

While three decades of his work are on display in Rostock, Heine continues to work in parallel: shortly before the exhibition opening, he photographed the musician Sting for the artwork of his new album at the Rijksmuseum –...

 

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Thursday, April 9

JAN KUCK – VA BENE SENZA RIDERE: Irony, neon, and the absurdity of our present

With his solo exhibition VA BENE SENZA RIDERE, Jan Kuck presents a body of work at MAIIIM in Genoa that moves between pop, language, and social analysis. Curated by Virginia Monteverde, neon, sculpture, and text condense into a precisely composed field of tension.

At its core is a present moment that has fallen out of balance. “If we take everything too seriously, we end up taking nothing seriously,” says Kuck. His work responds to a society drifting into the absurd – where we no longer “shoot” with weapons but with smartphones, where everything revolves around the self, and any sense of...

 

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Anzenberger Gallery presents 'FLOWERS AND TREES' group exhibition in Vienna

The AnzenbergerGallery presents FLOWERS AND TREES, a group exhibition dedicated to the quiet yet multifaceted presence of nature.

Moving between classical photography and hybrid image-making, the artists explore the structures, rhythms and forms of plant life. The works oscillate between documentary precision and poetic interpretation, opening new perspectives on familiar motifs. The result is a visual reflection on growth, transience and the fragile relationship between humans and nature.

A special highlight is the series Unattainable Beauty by Natalie Strohmaier: “The ‘super flowers’ are composed of real blossoms and plant elements, carefully assembled with needles and wire into artificially appearing forms. As a parody of unattainable beauty ideals, the work creates a paradox - real photographs are often mistaken for AI-generated images, while artificially generated visuals are...

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Thursday, March 19

Radioactive Dreams - a personal work, photographed by Wolfgang Zac in Berlin

Minimal set, lots of young skin, a reduced color palette, rough post-production – welcome to the 'Radioactive Dreams' series by photographer Wolfgang Zac.

This personal work explores the Sturm und Drang of youth – though it's unclear whether the series depicts an impending revolution with its implied social change, or whether these friendly young people are simply enjoying their usual walk to the famous Strandbad Wannsee in Berlin.

Photographer, artist, and director Wolfgang Zac is represented by the Hamburg-based agency SEVERIN WENDELER.

 

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Friday, March 13

Andreas Herzau - „Gucken“: A book about seeing, photographing and the transformation of photojournalism

The F.C. Gundlach Foundation for Photography, together with the publisher Nimbus. Kunst und Bücher, invites guests to the presentation of the new book “Andreas Herzau. Gucken.” on March 21, 2026 at 7 pm in Leipzig.

As part of 'Leipzig liest', Sebastian Lux, director of the F.C. Gundlach Foundation, will be joined by publisher Bernhard Echte, Herzau’s long-time partner Renate Ruhne and his companion Heiko Seibel to discuss the photographic work of Andreas Herzau, who passed away far too early in 2024, as well as the evolution of photojournalism since the 1990s. Andreas Ebbert-Scholl will...

 

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