Only Lovers Left Alive⎥Curated by Amélie Esterházy⎥With Amélie Esterházy, Andreas Greiner, Lothar Hempel, Inȇs Henriques, Isa Melsheimer, Simon Mullan, Gerd Rohling, Pola Sieverding

„Only Lovers Left Alive“ - a group exhibition curated by Amélie Esterázy, with Amélie Esterházy, Andreas Greiner, Lothar Hempel, Inȇs Henriques, Isa Melsheimer, Simon Mullan, Gerd Rohling and Pola Sieverding - explores the forces that sustain an artist’s practice: love, devotion and the intricate web of relationships that form over a lifetime in the art world.

The exhibition blurs the lines between the personal and professional relationships in the art world, inviting close collaborators, friends and former lovers to participate. Through this gathering of intimate allies, the show becomes a playful yet poignant reflection on the endurance of love – both romantic and creative – continuously fuelling artistic careers, leaving a lasting mark on the people involved. Far from a sentimental view, “Only Lovers Left Alive” positions “love” as a complex, driving force that binds those who remain, shaping the paths they continue to carve out in art.

The exhibition title refers to the eponymous romantic drama film "Only Lovers Left Alive" from 2013 by Jim Jarmusch about vampires in the present day. Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton can be seen in the leading roles in the British-German co-production.

Courtesy of the artists and the galleries Mehdi Chouakri, Berlin, Esther Schipper, Berlin/Paris/Seoul, Knust Kunz, Munich, DITTRICH & SCHLECHTRIEM, Berlin (among others).

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Amélie Esterházy (see "signed")

Andreas Greiner (b. 1979, Aachen) lives and works in Berlin. After studying medicine, anatomy, and art in the Institute for Spatial Experiments (Institut für Raumexperimente), Greiner has devised a practice that encompasses time-based, living and digital sculptures, photographs, and video, with a concentration on the influence of anthropogenic interventions on the form and evolution of “nature.” Incorporating artificial intelligence, living organisms such as algae, flies, and chickens, genetically modified cells, and at-risk ecosystems, Greiner’s art effects a shift of perspective in which the classical divisions between nature and culture, between human and non-human are undone. Not unlike setups for scientific experiments, his works examine man’s impact on the biological and atmospheric processes of our planet. Greiner has exhibited his work at the Mönchehaus Museum Goslar as the 34th recipient of the Kaiserring emerging-artist award, and Berlinische Galerie, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Centre Pompidou, among many others.

Andreas Greiner about his work for the exhibition: Smooth Operator shows a scanning electron microscope image of a bark beetle. This is one of the biggest pests in the forest. Bark beetles attack trees and eat through the bark between the trunk and the bark, depriving the tree of nutrients.They build tunnels in which they nest and continue to grow.The rise in temperature caused by climate change and excessively long dry periods means that forests are weakened and fall victim to the bark beetle. The Harz Mountains are currently the worst affected region in Germany. The original forests here were cut down to pay reparations after the Second World War. This was followed by reforestation. The resulting monoculture spruce forests are not adapted to the local natural conditions and are severely affected by current climate change, making them easy prey for the bark beetle, which is spreading exponentially in the region and causing massive forest dieback.

Lothar Hempel (b. 1966, Cologne) lives and works in Berlin. Working with a wide range of media, the German artist Lothar Hempel stages complex tableaux that he describes as 'situations that have a dreamlike quality'. Paying little heed to logic or common sense, Hempel's scenarios have no obvious beginning or end. His assemblages make many references – to theatre, dance, art history, and politics - and their dramatic presentation is the element that binds them all together. His work is skilfully and luxuriously orchestrated, but its means of construction and illusory beauty are always in evidence. The underlying mood is one of doubt, in which the protagonists in Hempel's mise-en-scène seem to be obsessively and hopelessly chasing visions of intense ecstasy. Solo exhibitions include Anton Kern Gallery New York (2025), Mehdi Chouakri, Berlin (2021); Modern Art, London (2018); Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery, Philadelphia (2018); La Conservera, Ceuti (2012); The Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin (2008); Magasin – Centre National d’Art Contemporain, Grenoble (2007); the Dallas Museum of Art (2002); and the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London (2002). He has participated in recent group exhibitions at Galerie Perrotin, Paris (2020); Le Centre national des arts plastiques, Paris (2018); Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig (2017); La Panacée, Montpellier (2017); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2017); and MAMCO, Geneva (2017). Hempel’s works are held in collections including the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo; Frac des Pays de la Loire, Carquefou; MOCA, Los Angeles; and MoMA, New York.

Lothar Hempel about his work for the exhibition: The photo is from the “New Yorker” and shows Cate Blanchett as Blanche DuBois from “A Streetcar named desire (Endstation Sehnsucht)”, on the occasion of her premiere on Broadway. The lips are colored blue. "Frozen". This is an almost paradoxical contradiction to the character of Blanche, who is actually in a permanent emotional melt-down.

Inês Henriques (b.1996, Portugal) lives and works in Zürich. Her experimental, process-based practice treats art-making as a subject in itself. Primarily working through drawing, she focuses on the processes of image formation, employing mediating mechanical and/or repetitive procedures and devices, such as a typewriter, a drill, or molds. These mediations are shaped by her relationship to the contexts she inhabits, bringing drawing into relation with other disciplines, such as sculpture and installation. Henriques was awarded the Art Training Abroad Grant from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and participated in the first edition of the FLAD Visual Arts Course at Arquipélago - Contemporary Arts Center in the Azores. Since 2017, she has exhibited regularly in Portugal, Germany, and Switzerland.

Inês Henriques about her work for the exhibition: Battlefields is a series of drawings made with an electrical typewriter on paper between 2020 and 2021, in Berlin. The title refers to the sharp, repetitive sounds of the machine. Designed to increase the efficiency of writing, the typewriter was widely used in invisible, low-paid labor - mostly carried out by women - in bureaucratic and administrative settings. In Battlefields, the machine becomes an instrument for drawing, where repetition shifts from productivity to a gesture of insistence, accumulation, attention, and imagination. The haptic process of image-making is made visible, along with the - useless - time the artist dedicates to her practice. Within Only Lovers Left Alive, the work stands as an act of commitment to art-making, sustaining relationships with peers, and particularly, contributing to the field of drawing.

Isa Melsheimer (b. 1968 in Neuss) lives and works in Berlin. Melsheimer studied at Berlin University of the Arts from 1991 to 1997 and was a master student in the class of Georg Baselitz. The artist was awarded numerous grants and residencies, among them: Fogo Island Arts Residency in 2017, the Marianne-Werefkin-Prize Berlin in 2015, the scholarship of Deutsche Akademie Villa Massimo in Rome in 2013, an Artist in Residence of the Goethe Institute in Lisbon in 2012, the Art Prize Stadt Nordhorn in 2008, a residency at Villa Aurora in Los Angeles in 2007 and a scholarship of The Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas in 2005. Known for her engagement with the history of architectural styles—especially the legacy of Modernism and 1950s-70s examples of concrete architecture—Isa Melsheimer’s works are expressions of her intense research as well as formal investigations. The artist acts as archaeologist of often forgotten or neglected buildings, recreating their distinctive shapes both from her study and from her vivid re-imagining of the forms and the spirit of the structures. The shift of scale inherent in the artist’s allusion to architectural structures often lets the works, made from poured concrete, appear as benches, stool-like objects, tiered steps or hollow containers that sometimes double as sites of constructed exotic vegetation. Her glazed ceramics find another kind of representation of architectural structures that depart in scale, material and color from the sources. Although their scale recalls the miniaturized and schematic appearance of preliminary architectural models, the material and colors add a fantastic, playful aspect. All her objects take a certain amount of free license, sometimes containing elements of fantastic recreation, but are always infused with a deep understanding and sympathy for their architectural sources. The artist’s recent solo exhibitions include: Concrete Bodies Are Finite, Centre international d’art du paysage Île de Vassivière (2022); COMPOST, Musée d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain / MAMAC, Nice (2021); Der unerfreuliche Zustand der Textur, KINDL – Centre for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2020); Rain, le 19, Crac – Centre régional d'art contemporain, Montbéliard (2018–19); Metaboliten, Kunstverein Heppenheim, Heppenheim (2018); Psychotropische Landschaften, Städtische Galerie Delmenhorst, Delmenhorst (2018); The Year of the Whale, Fogo Island Gallery, Fogo Island (2018); Der tote Palast zitterte – zitterte!, Mies van der Rohe House, Berlin (2017); Kontrastbedürfnis, Ernst-Barlach-Haus, Hamburg (2015); We live in townscape and, after a trek, we shop in Futurism, art3 – art contemporain, Valence (2015); Examination of the Origins, Quartz Studio, Turin (2015); Synapsen, ikop Museum für zeitgenössische Kunst, Eupen (2014); Vermilion Sands and other Stories from the Neon West, Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica (2012); Isa Melsheimer, Carré d’art – musée d’art contemporain, Nîmes (2010), and Mittelland, Kunsthaus Langenthal (2010).

Simon Mullan (b. 1981 in Kiel) lives and works in Berlin. Education 2009 Royal University College of Fine Art Stockholm, Video department 2007 University of Applied Arts Vienna, Transmedial art.
Simon Mullan is a German conceptual artist renowned for his innovative use of industrial and everyday materials to explore themes of labor, masculinity, subculture, and identity. Mullan's work spans textile painting, sculpture, installation, video, and performance. He often incorporates utilitarian materials such as bomber jackets, ceramic tiles, sandpaper, and workers' uniforms into his art. By deconstructing and reassembling these items, he challenges traditional notions of art and examines the socio-economic and gendered associations tied to these objects. His pieces frequently feature severe shapes and segmented linear formations, transforming everyday materials into striking visual statements. Mullan's art is deeply influenced by his working-class background and his experiences in various European cities. He often reflects on the dichotomy between high and low culture, the aesthetics of labour, and the construction of masculine identities. His use of industrial materials and his focus on craftsmanship pay homage to the dignity of manual labour while simultaneously critiquing societal structures and cultural symbols. Through his multidisciplinary approach, Simon Mullan continues to challenge and redefine contemporary art practices, inviting viewers to engage with the complex interplay between material, identity, and culture.

Simon Mullan on his works for the exhibition: My tile works make direct reference to the working world of tilers. I myself learned this trade as a teenager from a friend's father - the last time I tiled a bathroom was last Monday. I use the income from this work to finance the rent for my art studio, among other things. The working class here contributes directly to the production of contemporary visual art - a field of tension that is illuminated both critically and lovingly. The tile works always bear first names - a tribute to the people behind the work. The installation Areumbit & Sean is particularly personal: it refers to my youngest brother and his future wife, who are getting married on May 9, 2025 - the day the exhibition opens. The blue men are also a direct reference to the craft. Each one was actually worn at work. They bear traces of real physical activity, use and exertion - signs of diligence and productivity. Some are tattered, others are stained - silent testimonies to a concrete work biography. Their patina reflects not only work processes, but also dignity and presence. Both groups of works - the tiles and the blue men - are handmade by the artist himself, without studio assistance. They are a hymn to craftsmanship, to applied art, to the combination of body, material and idea.

Gerd Rohling (see "signed")
Having exhibited already at Harald Szeemann’s Venice Biennale, the Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin, the Hamburger Bahnhof Berlin or Museo arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro, Rohling explores in his work for the exhibition in Munich the phenomenon of human memory concerning the complexity of a „promise“.

Pola Sieverding (b. 1981) lives and works in Berlin. Education: Studied at Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh and at the Surikov Institute in Moscow, graduated as a master student at the Berlin University of the Arts in 2007. Received the NEUSTART KULTUR scholarship in 2022 and the KUNSTFONDS_Stipendium of the Stiftung Kunstfonds in 2024. She was invited as an artist in residence to Ramallah, Prague, Lisbon and Nairobi and was a guest lecturer at the International Academy of Art Palestine. From 2016-2020 she taught at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. She is a founding member of düsseldorf photo+ Biennale for Visual and Sonic Media and part of the Artistic Direction of the Düsseldorf Biennale for the 2022 and 2024 editions.
Her work has been exhibited internationally: Aram Art Gallery, Seoul; Art in General, New York; Lumiar Cité, Lissabon; Neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst, Berlin; Anat Ebgi Gallery, Los Angeles; Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin; Palmengarten des Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt; Dubai Photo Exhibition, Dubai; NAK Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Aachen; Video Art at Midnight, Kino Babylon, Berlin; Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach; MAK Museum für Angewandte und Gegenwartskunst, Wien; KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin; NRW Forum, Düsseldorf; Villa Schöningen, Potsdam; Centro de Arte Contemporaneo in Quito, Ecuador; KNUST KUNZ Galerie, München; signs and symbols, New York, OFFICE IMPART, Berlin; Galeria KEWENIG, Palma de Mallorca et. al.
Her works, predominantly in the media of photography, film and video, examine the human body as a carrier of historical narratives, which in turn shape contemporary discourses on the social body. Fundamental to this is the idea of portraiture in the sense of an interpretative reading of cultural inscriptions in human bodies, be they ancient torsos, wrestlers or protagonists of various subcultures or countercultures. From the very beginning, Sieverding's practice has always followed a metaphor between skin and screen, between skin and projection surface, and includes non-human bodies in her observations, e.g. architecture, oysters or plants, as in more recent series of works such as “Hermaphrodites” or “Stigma”.

Pola Sieverding on her work for the exhibition: In the photographic series 'touche-touche', the exhibition concept of "Only Lovers Left Alive" is reflected in the physical choreography of touch: between holding and letting go, intimacy becomes visible as a fragile yet formative force. As in the exhibition, it explores the boundary between intimacy and artistic collaboration - a tension in which love manifests itself as an aesthetic and existential movement. Some of the depicted partners are colleagues with whom Sieverding has enjoyed a long and close friendship, others are lovers. "These deep connections between us have not only shaped our personal relationships, but also interwoven our artistic practices. The exhibition "Only Lovers Left Alive" explores love as a powerful, creative energy that transcends the private sphere. In Sieverding's paintings, love and friendship are transformed into an (artistic) language of love, a representation of trust, intimacy and the unbridgeable distance that accompanies every relationship.
In 'Measuring Distance' there is also an affectionate and critical reference to Man Ray, perhaps an elective relative of Sieverding's who, like her, understood photography as a means of emotional and intellectual transformation. The long, wavy hair that falls almost surrealistically over her head here measures or bridges a physical and metaphorical distance.
Sieverding's works allow private, intimate moments to merge into a universal context, reflecting on how artistic statements emerge from deeply personal experiences.