Viktor Baltus, Nelleke Beltjens, Ralf Brueck, Aristarkh Chernyshev, Peter K. Koch, Lilly Lulay, Benedikt Partenheimer, Nikola Röthemeyer, Pablo Valbuena, Albert Weis

Reality is regarded as something that is universally valid and incontrovertible. The concept serves as a line demarcating the point where illusion starts, and thus everything that is not dependent on the wishes or convictions of one individual. However, a changing concept of reality and truth and (related to this) an altered perception raise the question of an “augmented reality”. Is it time to reconsider reality?

Rethinking Reality brings together ten contemporary positions from the fields of photography, sculpture, installation and drawing. The works are united in their uncompromising approach to the concept of reality and the interplay of the real and the unreal…

Viktor Baltus takes existing structures and transforms them so that they can be viewed only with the aid of a smartphone. In drawings composed of single lines, Nelleke Beltjens creates entire universes. What makes her works so astonishing is the simultaneity of the most minimal of artistic means and maximum density. Ralf Brück’s photographs operate along a borderline which the viewer of his works either recognises as reality or has already rejected. In Aristarkh Chernyshev’s work, an everyday object becomes the focus of attention. Absurd yet logical nevertheless, the information gained is destroyed immediately. The prints by Peter K. Koch serve as a classical Trompe L’oeil – but with minimalist strictness and restraint: a tightrope act of minimalism and amusement. In her photographs, Lilly Lulay presents a fragmented world, which she rearranges in her collages. Benedikt Partenheimer’s works enquires into the reality of the moment and the recipient’s judgement of the real and the unreal. Nikola Röthemeyer is a master of magical realism, as well as proof that reality and illusion can co-exist in a single work. Pablo Valbuena’s installation moves from the surface to the spatial dimension and plays with expectations and materiality. With his neon-installation, Albert Weis resorts to traditional forms, superimposing them on one another, only to resolutely mirror and reflect upon them in the end.