Substantial Changes at KAI 10: Material Art Between Nature and Future
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Substantial Changes: When Materials Become Co-Authors
The group exhibition Substantial Changes at KAI 10 | ARTHENA FOUNDATION is dedicated to the materiality of contemporary art and the profound changes of our present. Dana-Fiona Armour, Julian Charrière, Liza Dieckwisch, Julia Gruner, Vera Kox, Elsa Salonen, and Diana Scherer investigate how natural, artificial, organic, and inorganic substances shape artistic processes.
Art in the Context of Ecological and Social Change
The exhibition connects aesthetic experience with current questions regarding environmental sustainability and the future of art production. At its core are researched, process-oriented methods, where materials no longer appear as passive tools. They react, change their color or consistency, and bring their own temporal and physical qualities into the viewing of the work.
Poetic Materials, Living Processes
The works displayed range between installation, sculpture, painting, and material-based research. Julian Charrière combines in Spiral Economy a wall-mounted vending machine with infinity mirrors, lighting, and fossils. Diana Scherer's Apical #18 consists of a grown textile made from roots, earth, and red fabric. Elsa Salonen uses fragments of trees and animal bones from Finnish forests, from which she distills or grinds colors. Liza Dieckwisch works in I ate your mermaid II with agar-agar, gelatin, glycerin, biodegradable glitter, oysters, algae, and food coloring.
A New Role for Artists
The curation by Ludwig Seyfarth and Julia Katharina Tiemann shifts the focus to art that does not completely control its own creation. Collaborations and forms of shared authorship take the place of the isolated creative individual. More-than-human actors also become visible as part of artistic processes.
Exhibition Atmosphere and Cultural Education
The works unfold poetically in the space and invite concentrated viewing. Colors, organic structures, mineral traces, and unusual materials create an exhibition atmosphere between laboratory, natural space, and visions of the future. Public tours at 3 PM deepen the engagement with the artworks, the materials used, and the art historical references.
The exhibition will be on view from December 4, 2026, to June 13, 2027. KAI 10 is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 11 AM to 5 PM and is closed on public holidays.
Conclusion: Contemporary Art as Aesthetic Research
Substantial Changes demonstrates how contemporary art responds to ecological crises, digitalization, and societal upheavals. Visitors can expect a sensual art experience that makes materials tangible as active forces and shifts familiar boundaries between nature and culture. Anyone who wants to experience the aesthetic experience of current material art directly should definitely visit this exhibition live at KAI 10.
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- Website: https://www.kaistrasse10.de/ausstellungen/aktuell/substantial-changes.html
