Rundgang Recap: The slays and the serves of the Düsseldorf Art Academy
Art academy students end every semester showing off their work to the public. I went through every room and compiled my favorites of the Düsseldorf Art Academy.
The so-called “Rundgang” is underrated. You get the chance to see fresh out-the-studio art by young emerging talents before they hit the art market. It’s a great starter for collecting before the gallery markup.
Wannabes and Cool Kids
The vibes at Düsseldorf Art Academy are overall more on the good side. Just like an artist’s studio, this is where the magic happens. You see the work in progress, paintings leaning against a wall. You don’t know where it’s going yet. There’s so much more excitement in seeing this in-between-state than the result that ends up in the gallery or the museum.
It’s kind of funny to walk through these giant halls. Kind of like high school with the cool kids, the cliques, the rebels. But at the end of the day, everybody wants to become the teacher’s favorite. Ironic to see all the rebellious graffiti on the walls, all this oh, we’re so anti-institutional chit-chat. Like babe: You’re literally studying at one of the most prestigious art academies in all of Western Art History. BFFR.
And when I tell you it’s like high school, of course I mean no drama missing. I saw bubblegum smeared on the label of one artist and I went damn, somebody got enemies… The moment I texted a friend about this, I saw reposts of that artist looking for an artwork that was STOLEN from the Rundgang. Idk who’s praying on their downfall, but it looks like the prayers work…
Do’s and Don’ts of the Rundgang
This was, in fact, my first rodeo. Here are my takeaways:
Get familiar with the classes. Students learn under the guidance of established artists. So if you walk into a room and all you see are dupes of the professor’s name on the door, that’s not a bright outlook.
If you play with the idea of buying art, go on the first day to secure your favorites. In any case, be early as there might be crowds waiting to get inside.
Consider getting a guided tour. Art academies offer paid tours for groups, so have a look at the website in advance.
Having covered the basics, let’s get into my highlights of this year:
My favorite classes of 2024
The class of Peter Piller (Gen X, German) focuses on liberal arts, there’s no restriction to a specific medium or form (although it’s easy to see his guidance). Alissa Ritter made some cool colored dog heads and Franziska Schmitz (winner of the Konrad-Krieger Grant) printed 81 sheets to create the image of a child in Kommt noch (morgen) (2024). Also a huge fan of Emmélie Lempert’s run birdie run (2024): It’s a ragged bird-human-hybrid body costume sealed between glass, looking like pressed blossoms in a botanical encyclopedia or dinosaur fossils in a handbook.
@serviceklassepiller @alissaritter_ @mepe.mepea @fraznismith @ruthkahh
The Andreas Schulze (Baby Boomer, German) class stays on the tracks of their professor. A lot of large-scale paintings with ironic and humorous twists. Ngl, some are dangerously close to the “simply cute artsy deco” side, but I think they got the spirit. Timofej Kratz just has a way with textures that I vibe with. Severin Wendenburg exaggerates a meme that I know but I can’t recall exactly (which makes me mad af).
The class of Gregor Schneider (Gen X, German) works the space with installations. The exhibition is based on a censored version of Franz Kafka’s “Die Verwandlung”. I loved loved loved loved LOVED Neven Hauswirth’s huge springboard (as I’m writing this, I am reminded of that iconic Lebron James Nike commercial). You can sit on one of the two sunchairs underneath, look at the beach photos projected above, and listen to some kind of podcast (idk what it was about, don’t judge me, I was in a hurry trying to see everything, okay??)
Also a vibe: Lukas Stoever’s Ochsenkarren (n. y.). His two versions were not only made of some wild material like synthetic oxblood stain, but the aesthetic was very much giving a mix of Reinhard Mucha (Baby Boomer, German) and Anne Imhof (Gen X, German). Lukas, btw, was awarded the travel grant of the Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, congrats!
@klasseschneider @nevenhauswirth @lukas_stoever
Alexandra Bircken‘s (Gen X, German) students work with objects, too, though they tend to mix mediums more. I’m a huge fan of Magdalena Frauenberg’s sassy drawings on heel soles that she very casually titled Lubutengs. That would probably have earned her a lecture from Miranda Priestly on the invaluable impact of Louboutin in the fashion industry and everybody would be sat.
Lillith Sachsenhauser’s domestic bliss (2024) caught me off guard with hair dangling from the ceiling: A black braid hung from what looked like a dung fork or a row of horns. The title sounds like a cynical take on the domestic work of women who end up working like cattle in their relationships. This is so Rosemarie Trockel (Baby Boomer, German) coded and I’m here for it.
@klassebircken @magdalenafrauenberg @lillithsachsenhauser
Thomas Grünfeld’s (Baby Boomer, German) class is working with all kinds of media, though there are a lot of installations and larger works. I liked the Hn8 Komfortsysteme (n. y.) by Luis Zimmermann a lot. Junkyu Lee’s Dinge, die ich weiß (n. y.) stuck with me as an intimate artist self-portrait using a carefully remodeled vanity with all types of personal belongings from passport to toothpaste.
I’ll definitely keep an eye on Julian Kirschey. A body of work was made up of five uncanny drawings, one of them stuck to a piece of fur. The strangeness of these images with the Meret Oppenheim (1913-1985, German) type beat fur were an interesting take in a surreal direction. I also liked his untitled raw canvas triptych with bunnies and human silhouettes. I feel like he’s up to shenanigans.
@klassegruenfeld @juliankirschey @luislzimmermann @liiku._
Yesim Akdeniz (Gen X, Turkish) teaches painting. Her student Hyesu Jeong paints overflooding bathrooms. Was there a fight? A meltdown? A staged murder the Gone Girl way? My eyes stayed longer with the works of Julia Schade, who was one of the awardees of the BEST Kunstförderpreis grant. Her glossy blue-tinted drawings remind me of something medieval and mythical.
@raum120.121 @joa_hesu @juli.gloomroom
The class of Danica Dakić (Baby Boomer, Bosnian) works them mysterious vibes. Mio Zajac’s Gloria (n. y.), a manhole cover in a suitcase, goes absolutely hard. Shannon Sinclair’s Mimir (n. y.) is a video set in a post-apocalyptic eco-punk world where the last human (or maybe an AI?) tries communicating with the outside world via Apple Mail. Chills.
@klassedakic @mio.zajac @shannonxsinclair
There’s a literal horse in Sabrina Fritsch’s (Gen X, German) classroom. Maja Günther’s Pferdchen is plaster only, but it’s been through a lot already. Yunjeong Choi’s hier-da-dort (2023) photo collages are an interesting take on perspectives. These courtyard underpasses look like those distorted 3D photographs of apartments on real estate websites but the sampling still makes sense. Johanna Viola Pfeffer made several pieces for ,,A Motherless Child” (2023/24) printed with bodies and seascapes… I think… because I can’t tell for sure.
@klassefritsch @majajosefinegu @_yunjeong.choi @violapfefferr
In the class of Thomas Scheibitz (Baby Boomer, German), my favorite was definitely hyperweirdkids’ untitled painting from 2024. At first, it looked like the art version of that drawn horse meme: But the highly defined torso of the distressed man holding on to an orange blanket does not simply turn into cartoonish or poorly drawn limbs, they much rather become flatter and outlined like Japanese prints. But what else is going on? Is he trying to climb over the wired fence? Is he imprisoned? No wonder orange is the new black… And then there are those pixelated leaves. As if a secret location got blurred out on Google Maps… I got so many questions.
@klassescheibitz @hyperweirdkids
I feel like things get political in the class of Maximiliane Baumgartner (Millenial, German). The exhibition is based on the ABC, and Maximilian Graf contributed an intriguing installation, Ein Mann, den sie Pferd nannten (N) (O) (2023/24). Side note: is it possible that the first thing you learn in art school is coming up with cryptic titles? I’m not saying it’s not a vibe, but still. Anyway, I digress..
It’s made up of two angled large panels that reminded me of a polling booth. The photo print on the outside looks heavily Guan Xiao (Millenial, Chinese) inspired. Inside, there are black-and-white printouts of equestrian monuments and the latest New Year gym membership ad, the transcript of a conversation on National Socialist continuities, articles and the right-wing AfD party program that Max commented on and highlighted with paint. Uncanny.
Final one: This interpretation is freestyle, idk how far off the mark I’m shooting here. But do Lea-Sue Zorlu’s paintings not look pandemic-coded? I mean the people hugging and drenched in blue paint look like those photographs of people in hospitals embracing each other through protective fabric, and the headpiece in Elif (2023) looks like a hospital bonnet. Any chance I got this right?
@klassebaumgartner @leasue.zrl @maximiliangrafstudio
The Rundgang took place from January 31 to February 4, 2024. For the next open-doors day, keep an eye on the Düsseldorf Art Academy’s website or Instagram.
Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
Eiskellerstraße 1
40213 Düsseldorf
Website
@knstkdmdssldrf
How do you like this recap? I hope I didn’t mix up any artworks due to my cluttered camera roll and inability to keep track of what I saw (apologies in advance). Check out the artists and leave me your thoughts in the comments. And support your local art critic and art students by sharing this post pls :)
See you soon!!!
Jennifer
The Gen Z Art Critic