It is indeed absolutely wonderful to stand in front of Ardan Özmenoglu’s front door in Istanbul. Surreal is perhaps even better. Just three weeks ago, she spontaneously invited me to her studio at her exhibition opening with the above title at Galerie Anna Laudel in Düsseldorf. And now I’m here. Am I even right? In a mix of English and sign language, I had communicated with the taxi driver and now hope that he hasn’t left me somewhere in the middle of nowhere. The bell sign “hello I’m art” is already reassuring. Address seems to be correct. But unfortunately, no one opens. The tension rises again …

Cell phone holders, blocks of ice, dissecting tables, frozen matter in a freezer, viscous matter in canisters, photographs in deformed frames, and butterflies on video screens. Although I haven’t seen them, the mere listing makes me more than curious about this exhibition. How can we connect all of these, such different works? A first idea is conveyed in the exhibition title „d a  u   e    r“ …

Where do you start and stop? When do you have the chance to talk to an artist whose work is as complex, extensive and significant as his? Alfonso Hüppi is one of the most important representatives of post-war avant-garde and post-modernism, and is as gifted a painter as he is a sculptor, draftsman and graphic artist. My initial idea of trying to narrow down my questions fails with his answer to whether there is a group of works, or creative period, that is particularly close to his heart. “No. Somehow everything has a story and is therefore significant to me”, making it immediately clear that one can only approach this Œuvres by talking precisely about these stories.

All the clichés of a bohemian fit the artist. Since he was fifteen, Bernhard Martin has given free rein to his sheer unbridled thirst for adventure. Unconventionally and excessively, he follows his ideas about art. Gambling, drug use, counterfeiting, or life on the streets, simply belonged to his way of life; because “pushing the limits of society” means art to him. Therfore, you can find very unique visual worlds in his compositions, which are represented in the most prominent art collections in the world, such as MoMa in New York or the Arario Museum in Seoul, and his work is regularly presented in equally prominent exhibition spaces …

Admittedly, I had successfully managed to sneak by the world of Immersive art without paying attention, until I visited this exhibition. The terminology alone, with its abbreviations, seemed scary to me: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Computer Generated Imagery (CGI), Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), Bots, and now Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) … Too technical. Too complicated. Or so I thought until I met Giulia Bowinkel and Friedemann Banz – THE artist duo that has been shaping the development of this young art form since its beginnings.

Brunswick. Yes! That’s exactly how I had imagined it. I think, as I enter Manuela Karin Knaut’s studio. A mix of paint buckets, paint tubes, spray bottles, oil chalk, wooden slats, canvases, photographs, paper rolls, foils, indefinable odds and ends, and of course splashes of color everywhere you look, reflect the explosive nature of her work in absolutely every corner of the room. Here in this studio there are mixed, stirred and layered materials that have been experimented with. Knaut is one of the most successful artists in the increasingly assertive online art market. Her works, which are now sold in almost every continent, reveal elements of both street art and “objet trouvé” (found objects turned into art) …

Düsseldorf. In the history of art, the idea of the absolute concentration on the interaction of form and colour – while refraining from any representationalism – is not new. My visit with Marlon Red shows me the fact and reason why this continues to be topical and exciting. A quick look at her paintings and drawings is enough for me to realise her passionate joy of experimenting, which is inherent in each one of her works. Her picture motifs in ever new spatial situations which she is able to design in infinite compositions of lines and colour, applied and processed on the most diverse image carriers, provide surprise upon surprise.

Cologne, 2 December 2020. What a privilege! Flanked by the stage director Tatjana Gürbaca and the production designer Stefan Heyne (while maintaining social distancing, of course), I am invited to take my seat and watch the performance of “Die tote Stadt” at the Cologne Opera. Apart from me, the experience of this event is granted to only a handful of guests, seated at intervals in the otherwise empty auditorium. The actors are visibly excited. It is, after all, the recording of the live stream of the new production of the work, which was premiered on the 4 December 1920 in Cologne, directed by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Exactly one hundred years later it is transformed into the present. A present, which, for a long time, made it impossible for the actors to work in their field and which will continue to deprive opera goers of the live experience for an indefinite period. The production, modified for these conditions, attempts a new approach: Opera live, but at home in front of the screen …

Bonn. Can physical emptiness be filled digitally? How do the interpersonal relationships change in the era of digitalisation? These are questions that occupy Louisa Clement’s mind and have been occupying mine ever since I visited her. I increasingly understand the power of digital communication which currently appears to help us to mainly maintain the contact with the outside world – while the pandemic is raging. “Your Likes made my day “, so popular now, is assuming a worrying underton …

Before starting in an unaccustomed and unusual way, a short explanation of the idea generating process: I met Fabio Borquez for the first time at the beginning of 2020. The reason was his impressive exhibition Flores del Mal at Schloss Benrath in Düsseldorf. On view were photos of nude women who formed almost symbiotic creatures in artistic productions with flowers. The opulent ambience of the castle created the perfect backdrop.