Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed at VAN HORN: Art and Memory in Düsseldorf

An exhibition tip for Düsseldorf: Two artistic positions, a surprising art experience

With Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, VAN HORN opens an exhibition that brings material, memory, and transformation into a poetic dialogue. For the first time, the works of Pip Culbert and Gerhard Hoehme come together in a joint presentation. The exhibition runs from September 4 to October 24, 2026 in Düsseldorf and connects textile, painterly, and spatial strategies into an impressive examination of the works. ([van-horn.net](https://van-horn.net/current-exhibition/?utm_source=openai))

Material as a carrier of memory

The title references an English saying that stands for luck, memory, and new beginnings. This is where the exhibition starts: Both artists work with what already exists, reinterpreting, reducing, and transferring it into new contexts. Culbert shapes shirts, bags, tents, or fabrics into quiet, often light image and object forms; Hoehme expands painting into space with string, plastic tubing, and drawing. Wear becomes meaning, use becomes presence. ([van-horn.net](https://van-horn.net/current-exhibition/?utm_source=openai))

Pip Culbert: Reduction with poetic tension

Pip Culbert, born in 1938 in Newcastle upon Tyne and educated at the Royal College of Art in London, is known for her precise, textile imagery. Her works deconstruct everyday objects and condense them into linear, almost weightless forms. This radicality of reduction gives her work a quiet intensity that oscillates between minimal art, object art, and poetic drawing. ([chartwell.org.nz](https://www.chartwell.org.nz/making/artists/pip-culbert/?utm_source=openai))

Gerhard Hoehme: The image opens into the space

Gerhard Hoehme is one of the important representatives of German Informel. He was born in 1920 in Greppin, lived in Düsseldorf from 1952, and was a professor of painting at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf from 1960 to 1984. His work aims for the unbinding of the image: Color, line, string, and material become components of an open image space. Hoehme thinks of painting as a field of energy, not as a rigid surface. ([zkm.de](https://zkm.de/de/personen/gerhard-hoehme?utm_source=openai))

Why this exhibition is important now

VAN HORN connects two generations, two cultural contexts, and two very different material languages into a coherent curatorial narrative. The exhibition shows how current questions of visibility, recoding, and image space remain relevant. Those who appreciate contemporary art, art history, and curated juxtapositions will experience an exhibition with high aesthetic density and clear educational value. ([van-horn.net](https://van-horn.net/current-exhibition/?utm_source=openai))

Conclusion

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed invites one to not only look at material but to read it anew. The exhibition promises a concentrated art experience between informel, textile art, and installation openness. A visit to Düsseldorf is worthwhile for all who seek art as a space of knowledge and sensual experience. ([van-horn.net](https://van-horn.net/current-exhibition/?utm_source=openai))

Official channels of VAN HORN:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/van_horn_duesseldorf/
• Facebook: no official profile found
• YouTube: no official profile found
• Website: https://van-horn.net/

Sources:

• VAN HORN - Current Exhibition
• VAN HORN - About
• ZKM - Gerhard Hoehme
• The Chartwell Project - Pip Culbert
• ArtJunk - This Week