Art Basel is over, long live Art Basel. Many say the fair was one of the best in recent years, with outstandingly curated booths, solid sales and an Unlimited section that was overwhelming. Following Manifesta, Basel would seem to mark the long-awaited end of the season. Many people retreat to summer holidays. But have no fear, there is more to come. At Exhibitionary we don’t take breaks. In constant search of the next big celebration; we are heading for the infamous Rhineland. Historically thought of as the 80's center of the German art-world, it is now putting itself back on the map. Düsseldorf is the place to be with a new private museum, a new hip gallery, and commemorative performances!

Thursday, 23 June

Düsseldorf has a new young gallery opening its doors. Former Sies + Höke director Lucas Hirsch opens his gallery. The inaugural group exhibition with Aude Pariset, Nolan Simon and Philip Timischl is titled “You Never Actually Own Anything.” Even without owning it we still covet to collect these emerging artists. Berlin-based Aude Pariset is an artist to watch; she owns the contemporary Zeitgeist of art making by extracting fashion images and subverting them through new forms of distribution and ‘circulationism.’

Lucas Hirsch, Birkenstrasse 92, 40233 Düsseldorf

Since you can’t be in two places at once, you must divide your night in two. After the Lucas Hirsch opening, run (don't walk) to “Futur 3: Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster. 1887–2058” at Schmela Haus for an evening-long screening of Gonzalez-Foerster's early films. She is among the influential founders of the so-called Relational Aesthetics movement – and her current retrospective is the best show we have seen in years. We love DGF; she is a real class act! Her films are among the most renowned works in her entire oeuvre. These early works are not part of her current retrospective at K20, so they are not to be missed. 

Schmela Haus, Mutter-Ey-Strasse 3, 40213 Düsseldorf

Friday, 24 June 

Friday is all about time-based works – hopefully, Anne Imhof in Basel was good training for long-duration performance art. time_based_academy is a joint event by Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Julia Stoschek Collection, Open Source Festival, Academy of Media Arts Cologne, Düsseldorf Art Academy and Salon des Amateurs. For a day (and most of the night) there will be performances, concerts, talks, lectures, workshops and much more. A true marathon!

Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Grabbeplatz 4, 40213 Düsseldorf
Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Eiskellerstrasse 1, 40213 Düsseldorf
Julia-Stoschek Collection, Schanzenstrasse 54, 40549 Düsseldorf
Salon des Amateurs, Grabbeplatz 4, 40213 Düsseldorf           

Saturday, 25 June

On Saturday, Ari Benjamin Meyers performs a seven-hour version of his 2013 work, like we said, get prepared for transformative durational pieces. After seven hours you will be changed. Serious Immobilities at K20, as part of (or maybe an intervention into) the Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster retrospective. Meyers and DGF have regularly collaborated over the past years including Performa 9 and the opening of the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris.

K20, Grabbeplatz 5, 40213 Düsseldorf
 

Besides exhibitions and opening receptions, Düsseldorf sure knows how to party. On Saturday, Hans-Jürgen Hafner will be celebrated for his five years as the director of Kunstverein Düsseldorf with this farewell party, “The first of the last calls.” It takes place at the notorious Salon des Amateurs, which is where the city’s music and art scene collide.

Salon des Amateurs, Grabbeplatz 4, 40213 Düsseldorf

Sunday, 26 June

The event we are most looking forward to, a new private museum enters the city. Gil Bronner opens his Philara Collection in a newly renovated exhibition space in a former glass factory in the Flingern district with 1,700 square meters exhibition space. Bronner along with Julia Stoschek is a champion of the emerging artists of Düsseldorf, collecting work from students of the legendary Kunstakademie which arguably is one of the top art schools in the world. The collection has more than 1,000 works with the goal of juxtaposing these young artists with established international art stars like Thomas Ruff, Katharina Fritsch, Andreas Gursky (all professors at Kunstakademie), Alicja Kwade, Pae White, Rashid Johnson, and Monika Sosnowska.The inaugural exhibition is none other than Friedrich Kunath with a show titled “Juckreiz” (Itching). The ironic wit of his work is a must-see (even with a hangover).

Sammlung Philara, Birkenstrasse 47, 40233 Düsseldorf

We end our time in the city on an intellectual note. For some deep thinking on a hot summer afternoon. Heading off to the exhibition “Gesellschaft” by Rita McBride in the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf. At 4 pm public intellectuals and thinkers gather inside her work Arena to take inventory of the cultural state of Düsseldorf. McBride is known for her large-scale sculptures in the expanded field (sometimes with underlying feminism), nothing could be more fitting to her discursive practice than a dialectic about cultural production.

Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Grabbeplatz 4, 40213 Düsseldorf

– Justin Polera