vorGEBEN - thematische Gruppenausstellung zeitgenössischer Kunst zum 11. Hamburger Architektur Sommer

In the organizer's words:

vorGEBEN for the 11th Hamburg Architecture Summer

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A thematic group exhibition of contemporary art in the xpon-art gallery.

Opening on May 7, 2026 at 7 pm. Open until May 31st.

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Participating artists:

Aras Gökten, Axel Beyer, Carsten Borck, Eva Schmeckenbecher, falk.brvt, Jewgeni Roppel, Lali Endl, Marie Spellerberg, Michael Hennings, Michael Penner, Sarah Bender-Kronberg, Thibaut Derien, Yolanda Buchhold

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As every year, the xpon-art gallery organizes a thematic group exhibition of contemporary art for the Hamburg Architecture Summer, which enables artists to participate in current artistic and social dialogues. The non-binding outline of ideas for the Open Call was as follows:

be allowed to express wishes / exclude ideas - conserve outdated views / contribute established knowledge - give altruistically / patronize knowledge carriers - encourage further action / determine because you can - enable participation / control interests - prescribe to exclude / binding rules to ensure comparability ::: and is what comes out more than just nice appearances :: paint by numbers / creative solutions.

Works from the fields of photography, object, video, installation, drawing and lithography were selected from the submissions.

Together with Marcard Pro Arte, we are pleased to be able to show the photographs of the French artist Thibaut Derien in greater detail.

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The photo series "J'habite une ville fantôme" shows still existing but abandoned stores, symbols of a bygone era, a forgotten trade, a faded fashion, swept away by chains and franchise companies, by consumers who are indifferent to the old stores. THIBAUT DERIEN belongs to the group of photographers who turn documentary photography into art, but who are also alarmed by the changes in our society. His ghost town forces us to face up to our responsibility, but also shows us the beauty inherent in the past.

Bank and insurance buildings in Stuttgart often reminded EVA SCHMECKENBECHER of spaceships back in 2004. The fragmented photographs of these buildings then served as designs for massive bronze objects. In the video "UWOs - Unbekannte Wertobjekte" (UWOs - Unknown Valuable Objects) , they float completely detached through the image.

ARAS GÖKTEN' s work questions the relationship between man, nature and architecture in a similarly detached but different way. He sees his photographs as door openers for inner images and associative spaces that reflect the process of creating new urban spaces and the use of nature.

JEWGENI ROPPEL examines architecture as a dynamic process with the photographic series "ELPHOS - fluid structures", in which light and reflection are used to visually dissolve and reorganize the fixed structures of the Elbphilharmonie concert hall. The resulting movement is continued through algorithmic processing and the images are further transformed. Forms are further shifted, condensed and fragmented, and new visual constellations are created. It is not the building that is made visible, but the in-between: the moment in which perception overwrites structure and something independent emerges. Light becomes space, and space becomes appearance.

CARSTEN BORCK, on the other hand, is very pragmatic and has interpreted our invitation to tender literally and made it the subject of his work. The result is an ironic and tongue-in-cheek examination of the conditions of competitions, whether in architecture, art or art in architecture.

"Beyond the limitations" then again in the drawings by LALI ENDL. Beyond the limitations, perception shifts and forms new realities of architecture that creates spaces and shapes bodies. The physical is transformed, dissolves and grows beyond itself.

Likewise "spatial projections" in the series by MARIE SPELLERBERG, which consists of seven lithographs in which the motifs are composed of photographs of architectural elements with structures of found objects. Characteristics of social groups determine the design of the space surrounding us. Processes of inclusion and exclusion are brought to the fore - and the question of which people are (allowed to be) where.

The is juxtaposed with the work "Promise" by SARAH BENDER-KRONBERG: a clock case that imposes order. Inside, however, a space without support. "The outer system has lost its function. The inside even more so."

The photo installation "BAR 227" by AXEL BEYER, like the photo series by Thibaut Derien, deals with an architecture of disappearance. The music club on Max-Brauer-Allee in Hamburg Altona, which was recently the last to fall victim to the "Neue Sternbrücke" construction project, is shown almost life-size. The planning of a huge arched bridge resulted in the requirement to create the necessary space by demolishing adjacent buildings. Despite many protests and initiatives, facts were created in order to realize the project.

The club and pub culture that had developed in this urban space over decades no longer exists.

In his work,MICHAEL HENNINGS moves between art and architecture, developing an independent, spatially conceived visual language. The focus is on dealing with the existing building stock as well as questions about material cycles and the social impact of construction processes. His works open up new perspectives on the built environment and its future development.

On a trip to Japan,YOLANDA BUCHHOLD saw very different wallpaper patterns on the window panes - they looked cheerful, colorful and artistic - like stars or flowers. "Beautiful!" she simply thought every time she walked past a taped window. The actual function of the tape - to protect against destructive and unpredictable typhoons - was not clear to her for a long time. She then turned her fascination for these window tape patterns into the "Tapefull" series of objects. The 3D objects take up the tape patterns with their frames and capture both the beautiful and the seemingly safe.

The series "color chords" by FALK VON TRAUBENBERG (falk.brvt) also has its origins in travel, to China in autumn 2025. The starting point is photographic images of reflections in glass, on water, in the rain in urban space, in which inside and outside overlap. Through reduction, stretching and motion blur, these photographed real situations are transformed into a clear image structure. Horizontal bands of color emerge, pictorial bodies merge into a panorama. The composition is simple, but the effect shifts: the color fields are separated and in motion at the same time. The result is a state between standstill and movement. Time seems to be stretched out, while at the same time the picture begins to move. Architecture no longer appears as a built space, but as a visual order - as a resonant space that unfolds through seeing.

Finally, a promise of the next exhibition with three photographic positions in which the development of the city will be shown from unusual perspectives, with observations of flaneurs who share a special view, photographs that go beyond snapshots, reflect processes and reflect the love for and in the city without many words. It will take place both as part of the Architecture Summer and parallel to the Phototriennale.

The series "The Promise" by one of these flaneurs, MICHAEL PENNER, deals with the "Potemkin villages" of the construction site banners and their representations in relation to the construction sites behind them. The before and behind merge, the usual visual order is shaken, surreal worlds emerge. It should be noted that these are not collages, they are simply photographs of what you (or a photographer) can see. We are showing a picture from this series in advance - with the Deichtorhallen.

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If you have any questions, please contact us; if you are thirsty, too. We don't offer anything we wouldn't drink ourselves, drinks are available for a donation. Free admission, because everyone should have access to culture. However, you are welcome to make a donation if you would otherwise honor it. We conceive these exhibitions and run this space because we think it is important that there are constant and challenging positions between and alongside state museums and commercial galleries on the one hand and changing platforms for emerging art on the other - on the one hand to better promote artists and on the other to create a more vibrant culture for the dialog between art and society. We mix established artists with newcomers. What interests us is the quality and the potential. If you would like to support this work, please contact us - or simply recommend us to others.

The narratives in this exhibition were created by the artists. The text was edited by Gerald Chors.

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Duration:

Thursday, May 7 to Sunday, May 31, 2026

Opening hours:

Saturdays, Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays 6 - 9 p.m. (and by appointment)

Vernissage:

Thursday, May 7, 2026 at 7 p.m.

Finissage:

Sunday, May 31, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Venue:

xpon-art gallery

Repsoldstraße 45

20097 Hamburg

www.xpon -art.de

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We will inform you about deviating opening hours on our homepage, our Instagram account @xponartgallery and our Facebook page facebook.com/xponart

After the exhibition, 360° views will be added to the homepage, especially for those who are unable to visit.

Despite everything, we ask you to think about Corona and the flu epidemic and to behave accordingly.

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With the kind support of the Hamburg Ministry of Culture and Media

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Price information:

Free admission, because everyone should have access to culture. However, you are welcome to make a donation if you would otherwise honor it. Drinks are available for a donation. We don't offer anything that we wouldn't drink ourselves. We conceive these exhibitions and run this space because we think it is important that there are constant and challenging positions between state museums and commercial galleries on the one hand and changing platforms for emerging art on the other - on the one hand to better promote artists who are not yet established, and on the other to create a more vibrant culture for communication between art and the public.