“State of Things” – Young Art as a Snapshot of the Present

Exhibition at Künstlerforum Bonn by Alanus students.

What concerns a new generation of artists – here and now? Which images, materials, and bodies speak of the condition of our time? With the exhibition “State of Things,” Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences in Alfter and Künstlerforum Bonn invite visitors to experience a vivid snapshot of young contemporary art. On display are recent works by students from the Department of Fine Arts at Alanus University – powerful positions that make fragility and resistance, memory and transformation visible.

For the third time, Künstlerforum is presenting a cross-class selection of works created as part of a university-wide call for submissions. Once a year, all Fine Arts students at Alanus University are given the opportunity to submit works. The most compelling artistic positions are then selected and curated by a team of professors. In 2026, this responsibility lies in the hands of Prof. Benjamin Houlihan and Prof. Paul Petry.

The title “State of Things” is programmatic: it is not intended as a final assessment, but as an open condition – an artistic measuring of processes, transitions, and ruptures. The exhibition presents works that do not merely show results, but open up spaces for thought and experience. At its center are themes such as the body, material, and memory. In drawing, painting, photography, video, object, installation, and textile, the students explore how experiences leave traces and how materials carry meaning. Fabrics, ceramic forms, or found objects point to protection and vulnerability, proximity and distance. In this way, an open structure of positions emerges, making ruptures, shifts, and the in-between palpable.

“The works show a remarkable sensitivity for the in-between – for those moments in which something tips, transforms, or newly takes shape,” say the curators Prof. Houlihan and Prof. Petry. “Especially in a time of constant change, the students understand art as a space for pausing and as an opportunity to perceive the present consciously.”

Exhibiting artists: Francesca Amodeo, Johanna Bajog, Lulu Bao, Paul Benning, Julie Biver, Ciara-May Börnicke, Benjamin Durth, Ann-Kathrin Eichas, Julia Engler, Dietmar Frings, Elisa Gabelli, Tahnee Göhring, Golde Görich, Aurelia Grabosch, Valentin Hausner, Annika Kallinich, Eva Krain, Dorothee Liebig, Leonie May, Palina Miriam Meffert, Nora Michalke, Ida Molkenthin, Tobias Nestle, Marla Pyzalski, Norma Rennel, Jakob Ruetz, Raphael Sack, Manuel Schlembach, Viktoria Schuller, Wiebke Schulz, Leon Steinbauer, Svenja Steiniger, Daria Tlustova, Solveig Turner, Thea Uecker, Niklas van Megen, Sophia Wagner, Maja Werner, Rosalia Wilms-Posen, Lukas Zimmermann

Curated by: Prof. Benjamin Houlihan and Prof. Paul Petry

Opening:
27 March 2026, 6 p.m.
– Welcome: Prof. Benjamin Houlihan and Prof. Paul Petry
– Introduction: Prof. Dr. Maurice Saß

Exhibition period:
28 March–19 April 2026

Opening hours:
Tuesdays to Fridays: 3–6 p.m.
Saturdays: 2–5 p.m.
Sundays: 11 a.m.–5 p.m.
(Good Friday, 03.04., and Easter Monday, 06.04., closed)

Guided tours:
Sundays, 29.03., 12.04., 19.04., each at 3 p.m.

Location:
Künstlerforum Bonn
Hochstadenring 22-24, 53119 Bonn

Contact for press inquiries:
+49 (0)2222 9321-1944
presse@alanus.edu

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