Places of Longing
William-Josh Beck
Jean-Paul Dumas-Grillet
Esther Hagenmaier
Alexandra Roozen
Robert Staudinger
Eduardo Vega de Seoane
Opening: 09/09/2026, 7.00 - 9.00 pm
opening words by. Margit Zuckriegl, art-historian (in german)
Most of the artists will be present at the opening.
On view: 10/09/2026 - 20/10/2026
opening words by. Margit Zuckriegl, art-historian (in german)
Most of the artists will be present at the opening.
On view: 10/09/2026 - 20/10/2026
Why do we long for a place?
Because of the memories it holds? Because we want to continue dreaming an experience from another world?
Or because it opens up different realms, moods, and paths—because it breaks through the boundaries of the everyday and reveals, invites, and allows imaginary expanses. These are places beyond reality, unfolding freely within our minds.
"Places of Longing" is an invitation to the imagination—an invitation to explore new dimensions of thought and the freedom to venture beyond the familiar.
Josh Beck captures the moment when the sea meets the mainland, where water meets the sandy shore. A line appears to separate the two states, yet the structures of both surfaces reveal movement and perpetual change. Contemplating this dividing line develops into a meditative process, a lingering in the moment, in which the subconscious takes over the movement of the line.
In the photographs of Jean-Paul Dumas-Grillet, too, time seems to stand still, creating a space in which new images and stories can emerge. The distance, nothing but sea, and yet irresistibly inviting. A bedscape just left behind, still carrying the scent of the night’s events, or a book that speaks of intimate closeness. And when a red-curtained room is doubled in a mirror, the reflection becoming, as it were, an opening into another reality, imagination nourishes the longing for what lies hidden.
Esther Hagenmaier rethinks the very notion of art and representation. She photographs architectural landscapes in such a way that the real subject dissolves into complete abstraction. She transforms existing architecture and constructed spaces into constructivist, mathematical-geometric compositions. Fragments of lines, edges, planes of light and shadow, or perspectives of spatial layers separated by distance open up unfamiliar, unreal atmospheres.
The universe: an all-encompassing space that cannot be grasped, yet is present to us all. In her subtle pencil drawings, Alexandra Roozen takes this idea a step further, creating a universe of her own. With nothing more than an edge, she divides light from shadow, gives form to nothingness, makes the incomprehensible legible, while leaving everything open. Through a quiet geometry, she articulates states of being and creates places of retreat that imply not stillness, but rhythm.
Sky and hope. The sea stretching as far as the eye can see. But what lies beyond the horizon? Robert Staudinger photographs horizon, sky and hope during voyages by ship—from both sides. Photography as painting, as conceptual art. For him, the camera is the brush of our time. In his visual poetry, he presents human beings as part of nature, part of the whole. He includes humanity critically without depicting it. These are paintings imbued with the extraordinary and the uncertain, because they point towards what lies beyond.
Eduardo Vega de Seoane paints as though he were making music, responding to jazz rhythms with an effortless, unburdened abstraction in brush and coloured pencil. His compositions effortlessly transcend the boundaries of the format and, always in symbiosis with the picture surface, the boundaries of any confinement. Art strives for freedom. With playful curiosity, Eduardo Vega de Seoane overcomes conventions. Painting is his elixir of life, and this passion opens up spaces without boundaries.
Because of the memories it holds? Because we want to continue dreaming an experience from another world?
Or because it opens up different realms, moods, and paths—because it breaks through the boundaries of the everyday and reveals, invites, and allows imaginary expanses. These are places beyond reality, unfolding freely within our minds.
"Places of Longing" is an invitation to the imagination—an invitation to explore new dimensions of thought and the freedom to venture beyond the familiar.
Josh Beck captures the moment when the sea meets the mainland, where water meets the sandy shore. A line appears to separate the two states, yet the structures of both surfaces reveal movement and perpetual change. Contemplating this dividing line develops into a meditative process, a lingering in the moment, in which the subconscious takes over the movement of the line.
In the photographs of Jean-Paul Dumas-Grillet, too, time seems to stand still, creating a space in which new images and stories can emerge. The distance, nothing but sea, and yet irresistibly inviting. A bedscape just left behind, still carrying the scent of the night’s events, or a book that speaks of intimate closeness. And when a red-curtained room is doubled in a mirror, the reflection becoming, as it were, an opening into another reality, imagination nourishes the longing for what lies hidden.
Esther Hagenmaier rethinks the very notion of art and representation. She photographs architectural landscapes in such a way that the real subject dissolves into complete abstraction. She transforms existing architecture and constructed spaces into constructivist, mathematical-geometric compositions. Fragments of lines, edges, planes of light and shadow, or perspectives of spatial layers separated by distance open up unfamiliar, unreal atmospheres.
The universe: an all-encompassing space that cannot be grasped, yet is present to us all. In her subtle pencil drawings, Alexandra Roozen takes this idea a step further, creating a universe of her own. With nothing more than an edge, she divides light from shadow, gives form to nothingness, makes the incomprehensible legible, while leaving everything open. Through a quiet geometry, she articulates states of being and creates places of retreat that imply not stillness, but rhythm.
Sky and hope. The sea stretching as far as the eye can see. But what lies beyond the horizon? Robert Staudinger photographs horizon, sky and hope during voyages by ship—from both sides. Photography as painting, as conceptual art. For him, the camera is the brush of our time. In his visual poetry, he presents human beings as part of nature, part of the whole. He includes humanity critically without depicting it. These are paintings imbued with the extraordinary and the uncertain, because they point towards what lies beyond.
Eduardo Vega de Seoane paints as though he were making music, responding to jazz rhythms with an effortless, unburdened abstraction in brush and coloured pencil. His compositions effortlessly transcend the boundaries of the format and, always in symbiosis with the picture surface, the boundaries of any confinement. Art strives for freedom. With playful curiosity, Eduardo Vega de Seoane overcomes conventions. Painting is his elixir of life, and this passion opens up spaces without boundaries.