Foreword

 

The theme for 2025 was “The Missing Link.” We found this idea exciting because it originates from evolutionary biology and suggests that certain things fall by the wayside in the course of development. In other words, in this ongoing, evolving process, certain information is lost or becomes irrelevant. When applied to the themes of our exhibition, this idea offered a diverse range of considerations that we couldn't resist, whether in the major special exhibitions ROOTED AND BRANCHED and MAGICAL WOMEN or in our smaller shows, such as A GARDEN OF FLOWERS in the Study Room and BENEATH THE SURFACE in the DAS Forum.

... Yes, it's always difficult to say. As the director of an institution, you inevitably become the biggest fan of your entire team and all its activities—and this is the way it should be. I particularly enjoyed the projects in which I was more involved this year, including in a curatorial capacity. One such project was the exhibition A GARDEN OF FLOWERS by the artist Lilla Tabasso, on which we collaborated closely with her. She chose a book from our collection and developed her glass works based on illustrations in this volume. Being able to accompany her from the first studio visit to the actual exhibition here on site was my personal highlight.

2025 was a great year. It demonstrated the diversity of our exhibitions, projects, and programs. It was especially great that two of our 2024 exhibitions “migrated” and were displayed in other cities after being shown here. TRUE TO SCALE has temporarily moved to Munich, and the exhibition LANGUAGE/TEXT/IMAGE was on display at KAI 10 | ARTHENA FOUNDATION, in Düsseldorf until the end of the year.

Lastly, we are pleased to have been so well received in the immediate region. More and more people are finding their way to us and sharing their enthusiasm for our exhibitions in Mettingen. We are becoming more firmly established here, which is great. At the same time, we naturally want to reach out, which is why we made outreach our mission. This has led to various collaborations, such as our project with the Belgian artist Luc Tuymans in Venice, where we presented an exhibition of his work at the Abbazia di San Giorgio Maggiore. We also presented Renee von Bavel's artwork THE MIRROR OF PEACE to a larger international audience in Ljubljana, Slovenia, as part of the Global Hearth Summit's international art program. The artwork is located in our garden.