Gallery NEU in Copenhagen

The exhibition presented Gallery NEU as an alternative model for exhibiting contemporary art, deliberately distancing itself from conventional “white cube” aesthetics. Rather than staging art within a polished gallery format, NEU operated closer to a shop or social space, emphasizing encounter, informality, and presence.

The exhibition brought together works by Manfred Pernice, Gunther Reski, Thilo Heinzmann, and Katharina Wulff, spanning painting, installation, and spatial constructions. Across different approaches, the artists shared an interest in material processes, provisional forms, and images that resisted fixed meaning.

Materiality played a central role: paint became substance rather than surface, everyday materials were reconfigured into spatial propositions, and images emerged through suggestion rather than representation. Together, the works proposed an open dialogue between art, space, and architecture—favoring experimentation, ambiguity, and physical experience over spectacle.

Review

The exhibition was reviewed by Mai Misfeldt, who presented it as a vivid introduction to a new generation of German artists associated with Gallery NEU in Berlin.

Misfeldt frames the exhibition as a snapshot of a rapidly developing Berlin art scene, emphasizing its energy, experimentation, and international outlook. She highlights the exhibition’s role in presenting emerging artistic positions and describes it as an opportunity to gain insight into what was then unfolding on the Berlin scene. According to the review, the works demonstrate strong formal engagement, marked by expressive intensity, material richness, and a willingness to explore both painterly and sculptural boundaries.

The exhibition is described as bringing together diverse practices—ranging from painting and collage to object-based and spatial works—while maintaining a shared sense of urgency and visual force. Misfeldt notes how the artists’ works oscillate between figuration and abstraction, intimacy and confrontation, reflecting the dynamism and rawness associated with Berlin’s young art milieu at the time.

Overall, the review positions the exhibition as an important and timely presentation, introducing audiences in Copenhagen to artistic approaches that were gaining momentum and visibility internationally, and underscoring Gallery NEU’s role as a key platform for emerging contemporary art.

Front cover, Catalogue for the exhibition

Back to Stalke Galleri exhibition archive