“WO MICH NIEMAND KENNT”

Eduard Bigas about Walter Benjamin

22nd November – 30th January 2026

Eduard Bigas, born in 1969 in the Catalan town of Palafrugell, approaches in his new exhibition one of the most influential intellectual figures of the 20th century: Walter Benjamin. For Bigas, Benjamin is not only a historical figure of his time, but a metaphorical presence whose thought continues to resonate in our present – a present once again shaped by political upheavals, technological acceleration, and authoritarian tendencies.

Bigas’s own biographical position between Catalonia and Berlin forms, in a peculiar way, a circle: not far from his birthplace lies Portbou, where Benjamin died in 1940 while fleeing the National Socialists; Berlin, Benjamin’s birthplace, is today Bigas’s home and artistic centre. This geographical and intellectual topography forms the backdrop of his artistic engagement.

In “Wo mich Niemand kennt”, Bigas takes up central motifs of Benjamin’s thought – fragmentation, the aura of the artwork, and the tension between originality and reproduction. His works move between collage, ink on paper, graphite drawing on canvas, and conceptual photography. Through the montage of visual fragments, a polyphonic universe emerges that mirrors Benjamin’s own method of thinking.

The title of the exhibition is borrowed from a note in Benjamin’s final letter:

“It is in a small village in the Pyrenees, where no one knows me, that my life will come to an end.”

This sentence becomes a guiding motif, echoing throughout the works with a melancholic yet poetic resonance. Bigas draws inspiration from Benjamin’s writings such as The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction and the Sonette. At the same time, his visual language opens an intuitive, poetic, and questioning access to Benjamin. His art invites viewers not to search for definitive answers, but to follow the open paths of Benjamin’s thinking and allow them to unfold anew.

In “Wo mich Niemand kennt”, memory, place, and philosophy condense into a quiet homage to Walter Benjamin – and at the same time into a reflection on our own present.

NEXT EXHIBITION

“DIT IS DOCH EIGENTLICH OCH JANZ SCHÖN”

The Painter Annelotte Spieß – A Century of Colour and Poetry

14th February – 10th April 2026

VERNISSAGE: FEBRUARY 14, 6 – 10 pm

Annelotte Spieß was born in 1912 in Magdeburg and received her artistic training at the University of Art Education in Berlin-Schöneberg. Her life and work spanned profound political and social upheavals—from the German Empire and the Weimar Republic through National Socialism and the GDR to reunified Germany. After the Second World War, following periods spent with her two children in Neuwasser (East Prussia), she found a new home in Druxberge in the Magdeburg Börde, where she worked as both a teacher and a painter.

Her works are marked by a refined sensitivity to colour and a perceptive sense of balance—between change and continuity, playful lightness and composed calm. Careful observation of her surroundings is reflected throughout her work, as are the influences of her teacher Curt Lahs and her engagement with the art of Paul Klee. A sense of playful openness—particularly evident in her works from Hiddensee, where it often condenses into a vibrant lightness of colour—points to her artistic independence. Questioning instructions and maintaining an unorthodox attitude accompanied her throughout much of her life. In 1933, at the beginning of the National Socialist dictatorship, this stance led to a temporary ban from her studies.

Stays on the Adriatic island of Krk during the 1930s had a lasting impact on her artistic practice. The blue of the Adriatic finds an echo in later watercolours created on Hiddensee. Water appears as a unifying element in her oeuvre—both as a recurring motif and through her preferred medium of watercolour. Especially during her stays on Hiddensee, she worked with great discipline, often setting herself the goal of completing one painting a day.

Throughout her life, painting remained a central necessity and a source of joy for Annelotte Spieß. It also provided her with support during difficult periods. “I must start painting again,” she wrote to a fellow student in 1979 after the early death of her husband.

Her recurring motifs included flowers—particularly poppies from her own garden—landscapes of the island of Hiddensee, impressions from travels abroad, and views from the living-room window of her red brick house in Druxberge. Many of her works were created directly outdoors; weather conditions such as raindrops occasionally became integral elements of the compositions.

Creating spaces for art, culture, and community was a special concern for Annelotte Spieß and her husband, Hans Arthur. In 1980, her former classroom at the village school was transformed into the Kleine Galerie Druxberge, which for many years served as a place of exchange and cultural encounter in a rural setting.

With her colour-intensive and vibrant works, Annelotte Spieß developed an art shaped by a desire for peaceful coexistence and mutual consideration. Her life encompassed a century of profound upheavals—marked by ruptures, wars, and new beginnings—yet she remained true to herself throughout: close to nature, inquisitive, and independent. Her watercolours, which were still exhibited in Berlin in her presence on the occasion of her hundredth birthday, testify to an enduring joy in colour, nature, and life.

Dear friends of fresh art,

a very special exhibition is coming to an end, and we would love to celebrate this moment together with you.

You’re warmly invited to the Finissage on January 30, from 6 – 10 pm.

We’re happy to announce that Hoshiko Yamane will join us for the evening and perform live on violin ✨

Save the Date 🧡