I, etc.
At the heart of the group exhibition ‘I, etcetera’ lies an exploration of artistic subjectivity as something process-oriented and relational.
Building on this, the exhibition also turns its attention to the Kunstverein itself and to the processes through which its own subjectivity takes shape and is articulated. It explores how narrative strategies and speculative concepts – which come into play in both artistic practices and institutional processes – shape and shift the self, and place it in relation to others.
The exhibition brings together new works and existing pieces that explore these questions in various ways and engage with self-conception and projection, memory and narrative. In the works of Julie Becker, Chan Hau Chun, Oto Gillen, Robert Glück and Danae Io, interiors, façades and landscapes appear in both concrete and metaphorical forms: as architecture and psychological states, as imaginary worlds and material reality, as bodies and divided structures. Subjectivity thus appears as an ongoing negotiation, conditioned by the social and institutional contexts in which it is embedded. Robert Glück describes it as follows: “The self is a haphazardly assembled hodgepodge that maintains a false impression of coherence.” A literary essay by Glück is reproduced in the accompanying booklet; further contributions to the project come from the art historian and critic Alex Kitnick, the theorist and curator Doreen Mende, and the curator and author Fiona Vilmer.
The notion of a malleable, plural self runs through the various perspectives within the project and, at the same time, raises the question of how an institution formulates its own self-image. In the case of the Kunstverein, this encompasses its building and its archive as well as its exhibitions and public programmes, its members and visitors, and all those who have worked in and with it. What the institution knows and remembers about itself is distributed across different actors, forms and periods. Against this backdrop , I, etcetera asks: if institutional identity is formed from this polyphony, who then speaks when the institution tells its own story?
Group exhibition and programme of events featuring, amongst others, Julie Becker, Chan Hau Chun, Oto Gillen, Robert Glück, Danae Io; Alex Kitnick, Doreen Mende, Fiona Vilmer. (Source: Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen)
Opening: 18 September 2026, 6–10 pm
Exhibition dates: 19 September 2026 to 17 January 2027