Out of the academy, into the public eye

The General Student Committee (AStA) of Düsseldorf’s Academy of Arts now has a new exhibition space on Friedrichstrasse. Students from the Academy have been using this 180 square metre venue since the beginning of August 2024. Their first exhibition, ‘Petrichor’, is the name given to the distinctive smell produced when raindrops fall on warm, dry ground. A word that is excellent for philosophising about summer rain in the big city – and a fitting title for the opening show at Friedrichstrasse. The venue also offers the chance to see the work of young artists outside of the Academy’s end-of-semester tours.

For some time now, Friedrichstrasse has essentially been one giant building site. Complex construction projects have taken their toll on this once popular shopping street. Some shops and restaurants were unable to survive, and storefronts started to empty. But a new phase of construction has just begun. And with the subterranean work now complete, the time has come to reshape the street above ground, including the cycle path and widened pavements. However, only sections are being done at a time, with the upper part of Friedrichstrasse, which leads onto Graf-Adolf-Platz, next up for improvement. And it is here – at Friedrichstrasse 12 – where you will find the AStA’s new student-run space.

As well as adding to Düsseldorf's gallery scene, the venue gives people the chance to see works by the Academy’s students outside of the end-of-semester tours, which regularly attract tens of thousands of art lovers and collectors from around the world to the Academy’s neo-Renaissance building in the Old Town. Another advantage of the AStA gallery is that students from different classes get to show their work together.

Four painters from different classes joined forces for the opening exhibition, ‘Petrichor’: Aduni Ogunsan, Hyesu Jeong, Julia Schade and Yvonne Feder. “Everything on the Academy tour is very much focused on the individual classes. The great thing here is that there are exhibitions that include artists from across the school,” says Laura Kolar, who is studying set design under Lena Newton. Kolar will switch to the fine arts programme once she has completed her bachelor’s degree. She sits on the AStA’s exhibition space committee together with four other students from the Academy. Philippe Derlien, a sculpture student, is the committee spokesperson: “The AStA exhibition space is a student initiative that continues a long tradition. It’s all about gaining experience in an uncomplicated way. People see your art, you can talk to them about your work and get out of the academy context and into the public eye.” The AStA exhibition space is currently being backed by an Academy fund intended to raise standards and promote student initiatives. All the students can use the venue, usually for a period of two weeks. There is no selection process. The only condition is that the students must collaborate in groups of at least two.

A place to try things out

The venue on Friedrichstrasse is ideal for presenting students’ work to the public. This was not the case for the previous student-run exhibition space, which was hidden away in a yard at the back of a building. “We now have a shop window. People walk past, see us and just pop in – this was really important for us,” says Laura Kolar. She was delighted with the location. “In other districts, like Flingern, there are so many galleries that it’s hard to get noticed,” she says. “Friedrichstrasse has been a building site for ages, but of course that opens up opportunities too. We can try things out and perhaps stand out from the crowd because we are the only ones daring to do so right now.”

Galleries are less of a feature of this part of Düsseldorf, but you will find a museum of art here. Indeed, it is only a five-minute walk from the AStA exhibition space to the K21 building of the North Rhine-Westphalia Art Collection, whose permanent display of classical modern and contemporary art and high-calibre temporary exhibitions have catapulted it into the top tier of art museums. And it’s not just about what you can see on the inside either. Thanks to the glass dome, which was added to this former parliament building when it was converted into a museum almost three decades ago, visitors are literally offered a panoramic view of the surrounding park at Kaiserteich and beyond.

Places of urban community

The parklet located outside the AStA exhibition space was created by the Friedrichstrasse centre management. “The parklet makes the connection to the urban space even stronger,” says Laura Kolar. “We would be delighted if it could remain a permanent feature, as it encourages people to linger and fits in with our mission of creating a space for the community.” According to Philippe Derlien, the focus in the future will be on forging links not just with other universities and colleges in the city, but also with other alternative exhibition spaces. “With the nearby Reinraum, for example”. This former underground toilet facility on Adersstrasse, below Jahnplatz square, reopened in June after extensive, publicly funded refurbishment and is now being used for exhibitions, concerts, readings and other cultural events.

Networking, getting supporters on board, helping to shape urban spaces – this summer, an art project on neighbouring Graf-Adolf-Strasse also explored how this can be done. EINE STRASSE (‘one street’), an initiative of exhibitor, curator and artist Markus Ambach, made this street the protagonist over a period of ten weeks and at the same time posed the question as to the future of the city centre. In exhibitions, concerts, performances, installations in public spaces and much more, artists such as Katharina Sieverding and her daughter Pola Sieverding, as well as the legendary Düsseldorf electropop band Der Plan, explored the vision of an urban community based on solidarity. Alternative exhibition spaces took centre stage here too, primarily as a venue for pop-up concepts. “Spontaneity is key for alternative exhibition spaces,” says Philippe Derlien. “But of course people also need to know that the place exists and that things are always going on there.” And this is now definitely true of the AStA exhibition space on Friedrichstrasse.

You will find the exhibition opening times and dates on Instagram at @asta_ausstellungsraum.

Information

From 7 to 20 October, Antonia Hermes and Ye Li will be showing sculptural works.
From 21 October to 3 November, the space will be available to Laura Clemens, Tim Teichrib, Emmanuel le Mazaud and Florian Erhard.

Text: Eva Westhoff
Photos:
'Petrichor': Hyesu Jeong
'Mr. Watson': Suna Ozankan