Isabel Nuño de Buen, Julian Öffler, Lukas Zerbst awarded Preis des Kunstvereins Hannover

Kunstverein Hannover is showcasing recent work by former recipients of the Prize of the Kunstverein Hannover (2016–2018) in three parallel exhibitions by Isabel Nuño de Buen, Julian Öffler and Lukas Zerbst.

Lukas Zerbst’s (b. 1988 in Bydgoszcz, Poland, lives in Hanover) exhibition Space Invader offers insight into the tech-savvy artist’s multidisciplinary output, which includes elaborate installations and performances. As a prize recipient, Zerbst was awarded a residency at Villa Minimo in 2019; he is now living and working in the Kunstverein for the duration of his exhibition Space Invader. Space Invader is a development of an exhibition that enables a “studio visit” in the exhibition space; he will install his interventions in that same space in the course of the exhibition. Space Invader also guarantees a living and working space that will turn the artist-in-residence into an “artist of resilience”: the adaptability of the artist, who strives to work under constant scrutiny of his productivity, is put on display. It is a voluntary barter transaction, a peaceful squatting.

Julian Öffler’s (b. 1985, Soest, lives in Bremen) exhibition <insert title here> presents an overview of his multifaceted oeuvre. His installations encompass a wide variety of media including video, which the artist uses in a range of different formats (webcam recordings or in high-resolution 4K quality). Öffler himself often appears as the protagonist of his films and is also seen in the exhibited video #insidethewhitecube (2019), a work created during his fellowship in 2018. As the title suggests, the installation is a sophisticated reflection on the exhibition or its conventional space (the so-called “white cube”) and the artist’s handling of it. Having smuggled himself into the Kunstverein in a transport crate, the artist spends his nightly stay there reflecting on his unusual situation and his role as an artist—also via an online dialogue with an art historian. With the (apparently) blank title of his exhibition <insert title here> and his attitude of refusal, Öffler demonstrates once again that artistic autonomy is the only thing an artist should be obliged to.

Kunstverein Hannover presents the first comprehensive institutional solo exhibition of work by Isabel Nuño de Buen (b. 1985 in Mexico City, lives in Hanover). The artist works with a variety of materials and media including sculpture, drawing, installations made of papier-mâché, ceramics, plaster, steel, fabric and wire. Her work is distinguished by two pivotal moments: on the one hand is the construction of fragmentary objects and sculptures, which are to be understood as a drawing gesture in space; on the other is her combination of individual objects into a site-specific, overall structure. The carefully crafted and executed sculptures recall architectural fragments, cityscapes and natural forms and are characterized by an organic formal vocabulary. Drawing is a pervasive element of Nuño de Buen’s work and allows her to explore her own emotional and mental states. The artist creates an idiosyncratic world where micro- and macrocosms collide and the whole reveals itself only in fragments. There are no closed, completed forms in her working process; the possibility of change is maintained at all times.

Curated by Sergey Harutoonian (curator Kunstverein Hannover)

Press: Leandra Busch

With the kind support of: Ministry of Science and Culture of the State of Lower Saxony and NordLB Cultural Foundation; the exhibition of Isabel Nuño de Buen as well as the catalogue is additionally supported by the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen and Halbach Foundation. The scholarship »Prize of the Kunstverein Hannover« is supported by Gundlach Company; The Kunstverein is permanently supported by the Culture Office of the Landeshauptstadt Hannover

*Access to Zoom on June 29 on kunstverein-hannover.de
Artist talks available via vimeo.com/kunstvereinhannover