Exhibition from August 4 to November 2, 2025
Opening: Sunday, August 3, 2025, 6:00-9:00 p.m.
with Klaus Estermann (poet and singer)

Finissage: Sunday, November 2, 2025, 04:00-6:00 p.m.
Magic show with Tobias Dostal

With: Sonja Alhäuser, Aljoscha, Deniz Alt, Emanuel Bernstone, Marc Bijl, Irina Birger, Sascha Boldt, Stephen Chambers, Sven Drühl, Marcus Eek, Thomas Fischer, Wineke Gartz, Daphne Glasmacher, Gregor Hildebrandt, Klaus Jörres, Elena Karakitsou, Hanna Mattes, Toshihiko Mitsuya, Jirka Pfahl, Römer + Römer, Femke Schaap, Sandra Schlipkoeter, Tracey Snelling, Veerle Thoben, Lukas Troberg, Atelier Van Lieshout, Jonas Vansteenkiste, Peter Vink, René Wirths, Sylvie Zijlmans & Hewald Jongenelis 

Curated by Römer + Römer

The Lumen exhibition brings together 30 multifaceted artistic signatures from the Netherlands and Germany. The respective artistic positions show an extraordinarily diverse spectrum of different media and perspectives in painting, photography, site-specific installations, video works or performances. Lumen is derived from the Latin and means ‘light’ or ‘opening’. In physics, the abbreviation lm stands for the unit of visible luminous flux; in anatomy, it refers to the interior of a vessel – an image for permeability. Lumen thus also becomes a metaphor for what becomes visible in the space between.

At the centre of the exhibition is the theme of light in all its manifestations: as sunlight or artificial light, technological innovation or atmospheric moment. Light creates presence, casts shadows, sets accents. It is both a material and a carrier of meaning – sensual poetic, experimental or speculative. 

The theme of the exhibition ties in with the exhibition venue, Schloss Biesdorf, in a special way: The late classicist villa in the east of Berlin was once the summer residence of Werner Siemens, one of the leading pioneers of electrification in the 19th century. In its spirit of technical innovation and social transformation, Lumen invites visitors to understand light as a cultural, physical and aesthetic force. The architecture of the building, surrounded by a heritage-protected park, creates a resonating space in which past and present, nature and technology enter into dialogue with each other.

The exhibition curated by the painting duo Römer + Römer arose from an inspired exchange with the Amsterdam light artist Peter Vink.

Event as part of the exhibition: Saturday, September 6, 2025, 6:00-11:00 p.m. – Schlossrevue Into The Light. Further information on the programme accompanying the exhibition here

The Lumen exhibition is sponsored by the Kingdom of the Netherlands and supported by the Berlin Municipal Galleries Exhibition Fund of the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion.