kadelwillborn

Now on view! Solo exhibition „Calling was doesn’t answer“ by Céline Ducrot @celine.i.d 9.5.2026 – 4.7.2026 Intimate encounters with oneself and others and the immediate surroundings at home or in nature, are central starting points for Céline Ducrot’s current themes. However, in Céline Ducrot’s visual worlds, a sense of security and familiarity is dissolved by a mysterious ambiguity. This ambivalence is characteristic of Céline Ducrot’s entire body of work and is strikingly evident in her third gallery exhibition, “Calling what doesn’t answer,” as a complex network of different narrative threads. The very title “Calling what doesn’t answer” hints that we can no longer rely on formerly familiar territory and its rules. Image 1-2: Installation view: ”Calling what doesn’t answer”, Kadel Willborn, Düsseldorf, DE, 2026 Image 3: Céline Ducrot Interval, 2025 Acryl on wood 65 × 50 cm Image 4: Céline Ducrot Interval II, 2025 Acryl on wood 65 × 50 cm 📸 Simon Vogel Kadel Willborn Birkenstraße 3, Düsseldorf Opening Hours: Wed-Fri: 1-6 pm Sat: 11am-4pm and by appointment

Opening tomorrow! Benedikt Hipp @benedikthipp at “Land Lake Sky„ at Taubenturm Diessen @taubenturm_diessen Curated by Sylvia Franz. Opening May 14, 6:30 PM. May 14, 2026 – May 31, 2026 Taubenturm Diessen Klosterhof 8, 86911 Dießen am Ammersee, DE The title of the exhibition, “Land Lake Sky”, takes up the vertical division of the Taubenturm into three levels and relates it to the orientational markers of earth, water and sky. Each floor offers a specific view through the windows of these points of reference – with the Ammersee, rather than water, serving as a concrete landscape element. The outdoor space functions here as a supposedly stable coordinate system. Hipp’s ceramic works treat matter as a temporary condensation within space and time. Form appears here not as a static state, but as a transition: a process of becoming and passing away. The objects are reminiscent of stones, cosmic fragments or relics whose temporal location remains indeterminate – they oscillate between past and future. In some works, anthropomorphic elements also emerge, establishing a subtle connection between human and non-human forms. The top floor is hosting the dinosaurs – for it is there that Benedikt Hipp and Lisa Reitmeier are presenting their collaborative ceramics label for the first time: Dinosaur Teabowl.

On view in Poland Barbara Kasten @kastenstudios in “Post-abstraction” at Zachęta – National Gallery of Art

 13.3.– 07.6.26 Zachęta – National Gallery of Art pl. Małachowskiego 3 00-916 Warsaw @galeria_zacheta The exhibition brings back an important stage in the artist’s journey, one that is related to Poland. At the beginning of the 1970s, Kasten came to Poznań for a fellowship at the tapestry studio run by Magdalena Abakanowicz. Fascinated by the Polish school of artistic textiles, where yarn was seen as a sculpting medium, she used sisal to create a series of sculptures. Her works were then displayed at an individual exhibition at the Sculpture Gallery in Warsaw. And even though they were Kasten’s last sculptures, the experience of working in Poland proved to be a watershed moment for her. It reinforced her approach – which has defined her work ever since – where the image involves building relationships between an object, space, and light. The exposition at Zachęta shows how that line of thinking has evolved, from the early experiments of the 1970s to her current work.” 

 Image1 - 4: Exhibition Barbara Kasten. Post-abstraction, Zachęta – National Gallery of Art, photo by Maciej Landsberg / Zachęta archive.

Today! Opening of “Calling what doesn’t answer” with Céline Ducrot @celine.i.d at the gallery. Opening: Saturday, May 9, 4-7 PM May 9 – July 04, 2026 Kadel Willborn Birkenstraße 3 40233 Düsseldorf Birkenstraße 20 At the same time, we are showing "Surrealist Spiral" by Barbara Kasten, her tenth solo exhibition at Kadel Willborn. Joint opening with Flingern Galleries! Photo: Simon Vogel

Natalie Czech @natalie_czech and Jan Paul Evers at “Klassenverhältnisse – Die zweite Staffel„ (Kunstlehre von 1946 bis 2026) Opening: Saturday, May 9, 2026, 3:00pm May 10, 2026 – September 27, 2026 Kunsthaus NRW Korneliusmünster Abteigarten 6, 52076 Aachen, DE Following the first chapter “Klassenverhältnisse. Lehrende, Lernende, Künstler:innen”, Kunsthaus NRW continues the 2026 exhibition project with new artworks and thematic focuses. “Klassenverhältnisse – Die zweite Staffel” explores the universe of the art academy through around 130 works from its own collection, as well as selected loans from the Academy Gallery of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. The new exhibition takes the classical artistic genres as its guiding thread: painting, sculpture, photography, works on paper, printmaking, film, video, performance, as well as all hybrid forms of contemporary artistic production. Alongside questions of technical training, it also addresses more elusive aspects: how are attitudes, conceptual thinking, or even -thinking of Sigmar Polke- humor conveyed? The exhibition tour highlights both artistic genres and historical developments since the reopening of the Düsseldorf Academy in 1946. In the tension between established professors, young students, and committed artists such as Otto Pankok, it reconstructs genealogies of teachers who were once students of teachers who themselves had teachers. Günther Uecker studied in Düsseldorf under Otto Pankok and later taught Klaus Schmitt, who has created a homage to his former professor especially for this exhibition. The exhibition is curated by Dr. Marcel Schumacher. In cooperation with: Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, KHM Academy of Media Arts Cologne, Audioarchiv Kunst, Anna Polke Foundation, Cologne Image: Installation view of Kaisersaal at Kunsthaus NRW, Foto: Carl Brunn

Ayan Farah @ayanfarah currently on view at the first Somalia National Pavilion @somaliapavilion The 61st Biennale di Venezia Image 1-3: Ayan Farah The Year of the Red Storm, 2026 Clay and Indigo on canvas, embroidery 220 x 700 cm Photo: Sebastiano Pellion di Persano

Céline Ducrot @celine.i.d Calling what doesn’t answer 9.5 – 4.7.2026 Opening Saturday, 9 May, 4–7 pm Birkenstraße 3, Düsseldorf Intimate encounters with oneself and others, the immediate surroundings at home or in nature, are central starting points for Céline Ducrot’s current themes. However, in Céline Ducrot’s visual worlds, a sense of security and familiarity is dissolved by a mysterious ambiguity. This ambivalence is characteristic of Céline Ducrot’s entire body of work and is strikingly evident in her third gallery exhibition, “Calling what doesn’t answer,” as a complex network of different narrative threads. The very title "Calling what doesn't answer" hints that we can no longer rely on formerly familiar territory and its rules. Birkenstraße 20 At the same time, we are showing "Surrealist Spiral" by Barbara Kasten, her tenth solo exhibition at Kadel Willborn. For any questions, please contact Iris Kadel at [email protected] Joint opening with Flingern Galleries! Image 1: Céline Ducrot Come down, 2026 Acryl on wood 210 × 150 cm Image 2,3: Céline Ducrot Detail: Come down, 2026

SADDEXLEY The National Pavilion of the Federal Republic of Somalia at La Biennale di Venezia 2026 Palazzo Caboto, 1645 via Giuseppe Garibaldi Preview dates: May 6, 7, 8, 2026 Exhibition period: May 9 to November 22, 2026 Exhibition venue: Palazzo Caboto, 1645 via Giuseppe Garibaldi Official inauguration: May 8th, 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM Kadel Willborn is excited to announce that Ayan Farah @ayanfarah will represent the Federal Republic of Somalia at the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia – together with Asmaa Jama and Warsan Shire. This marks Somalia’s inaugural presentation on a dedicated national platform at the Biennale, curated by Mohamed Mire and Fabio Scrivanti at Palazzo Caboto on via Garibaldi. For the First National Pavilion of the Federal Republic of Somalia, Ayan Farah developed large-scale works entitled „The Year of the Red Storm“ and „Songs from a Seasonal River“. The main materials are clay collected from the Sanaag region in Somalia and clay produced with seashells from the river Thyne. These pigments signify two diverse landscapes with completely different features: the land and the sea. The title „The Year of the Red Storm“ refers to a story that Ayan’s mother told her when was a child, that she was born in the year of the red storm when nature changed the colour of the exterior of buildings. In the following process, the textile was embroidered with monochromatic images of desert flowers from the region, whereas the embroidery in the works of "Songs from a Seasonal River“ reference the seaweed plants whose pigments Farah has used as a dye In a poetic and analytical way, Ayan Farah’s work shows how nature affects humans and how humans adapts to nature. Image 1: Ayan Farah. Portrait by Christofer Wallentin Image 2: Ayan Farah, Songs from a Seasonal River II (Detail), 2026. Seashell pigment and seaweed dye on canvas, embroidery. Photo: Matteo Losurdo. Courtesy of the Somalia National Pavilion Image 3: Palazzo Cabotto. Photo: Matteo Losurdo. Courtesy of the Somalia National Pavilion

"Surrealist Spiral" by Barbara Kasten @kastenstudios will be extended until 4.7.2026 Kadel Willborn Birkenstraße 20, Düsseldorf, DE Wed-Fri: 1-6 pm Sat: 11am-4pm Barbara Kasten: “My work has changed from a photograph as an object to now using photographic, the essence of photography. Light, photograms, pattern of light and dark contrast, shadows, all of that are photographic properties, but now I’ve taken them solely out of a photograph and used all those in different ways, that’s more physical and more sculptural. One that one can experience more than just looking at it, you’re actually in it.” Barbara Kasten‘s tenth exhibition, entitled “Surrealist Spiral,” focuses on the physicality within her work and, for the first time, shows her series of photographs “Masks” from 1998 alongside her unique cyanotype works “Hierophany” from 1996 in dialogue with her most recent series of DLWP photographs and “Mural Flats” from 2023-2025. Image 1: Hierophany X, 1996 Cyanotype 56,5 x 75,5 cm Image 2: Hierophany XIII, 1996 Cyanotype 56,5 x 75,5 cm Image 3: Hierophany XIX, 1996 Cyanotype 56,5 x 75,5 cm Image 4: Hierophany XXXII, 1996 Cyanotype 56,5 x 75,5 cm Image 5: Hierophany XXXIII, 1996 Cyanotype 56,5 x 75,5 cm Image 6: Installation view: "Surrealist Spiral", Kadel Willborn, Düsseldorf, DE, 2026 📸 Simon Vogel

Ayan Farah @ayanfarah will represent the Federal Republic of Somalia at the Venice Biennale this year! We are delighted to celebrate Farah’s participation with the inaugural presentation of @somaliapavilion at one of the world’s most significant international art exhibitions. She participated in the Roberts Institute of Art Residency in 2023. Working across painting, textile and material-led research, Farah’s practice is rooted in a deep attention to place, time, and the histories embedded in materials. Working with vintage fabrics such as linens and silk-cotton, she incorporates natural and chemical processes to mark and transform their surfaces. Rather than applying traditional paint, Farah uses organic pigments, dyes, and environmental exposure—sunlight, wind, burial—to allow materials to develop over time. These works take months or even years to complete, blurring distinctions between painting, textile, and sculpture. ‘Eldfell’ (2011), in the #theDavidandIndrėRobertsCollection, embodies this approach. Made using volcanic ash and dye on a polyester cotton blanket, the work was created using material gathered from the Icelandic volcano of the same name—its surface directly shaped by the charged geological landscape. 📍 Farah’s presentation will be on display at the National Pavilion of the Federal Republic of Somalia, Palazzo Cabato, 1645, Venice Biennale from 9 May – 22 November 2026 📸 Jo Hounsome

A work by Vivian Greven @viviangreven , reimagined through flowers. Over the past days, "Palastblühen" at @kunstpalast has shown how beautifully art and flowers can come together. Photo: Anne Orthen @ao_fotowerke

Save the date! Céline Ducrot @celine.i.d "Calling what doesn't answer" 9.5 - 4.7.2026 Opening: Saturday, 9 May, 4 – 7 pm Birkenstraße 3, Düsseldorf „I think painting as a medium has a unique capacity for ambiguity and has become a place for me to lean into the uncertainties (…)“. - Céline Ducrot Céline Ducrot was born in 1992 in Fribourg, CHE. She lives and works in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland. She is a graduate of the Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig and exhibits internationally, including in the exhibition “FEMBOT” at The Hole, New York City; at the National Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic; Kunsthaus Biel, Biel/Bienne, Switzerland; Antichambre, Bern, Switzerland; Kunstraum Satellite, Thun, Switzerland; and KRONE COURONNE, Biel/Bienne, Switzerland. In 2025, there was a comprehensive presentation of her work at Kunsthalle Giessen, Germany. The same year she had a solo exhibition at Lokal-int in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland. Her work was honored at the Swiss Design Awards 2018 and the Prix Anderfuhren 2018 and was nominated for the Swiss Design Award 2022. As an illustrator, her work has been published by various publications and institutions such as Die Zeit, FAZ Quarterly, Pro Helvetia, Fachstelle Kultur Kanton Zürich, and WOZ Die Wochenzeitung. Birkenstraße 20 At the same time, we are showing "Surrealist Spiral" by Barbara Kasten, her tenth solo exhibition at Kadel Willborn. For any questions, please contact Iris Kadel at [email protected] Joint opening with Flingern Galleries! Image: Céline Ducrot For now, 2026 Acrylic on wood 65 × 50 cm