Political and social tensions are plunging people into a collective state of nervousness and vulnerability. On the threshold between delusion and reality, between the self and the external world, the exhibition explores those moments in which contradictory emotional experiences arise.
On Nervous Grounds uses selected works from the collection of the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg to demonstrate how art has created spaces of emotional resonance from the 1970s to the present day. The focus is on works that address emotional states, evoke them themselves, or have emerged from a specific emotionality. The exhibition invites us to reflect on what touches us emotionally or throws us into inner turmoil. Thus, without interpreting reality, the exhibition approaches our highly emotionalized present.
With their unique potential to raise existential questions and to capture or generate intense and extraordinary moments, the works on view encourage us in a special way to reflect on our own emotional experiences. They make it immediately apparent that feelings are not purely subjective and neutral in nature but are in fact closely linked to social and political orders as well as our own values, experiences, and imaginations. The various artistic strategies also reveal how emotions can be deliberately evoked, directed, and amplified, but also controlled, manipulated, and suppressed.
According to the sociologist Eva Illouz, most emotions are a dialogue we conduct with the world. But how can such a dialogue be consciously initiated, and how can an emotional state be made visible? The artist Ariel Reichman engages intensively with human vulnerability and, through his interactive light installation I AM (NOT) SAFE, has found a way to give expression to individual feelings. At the same time, the light of the changing LED lettering points out that emotions are always fleeting and unstable.
The works on view by the artists Heinkuhn Oh and Sylvain Couzinet-Jacques remind us that emotions are mostly social in nature. They generally relate to other people or to one’s own self and manifest with particular intensity especially in times of existential change. The two artists offer insight into the emotional state of a young generation that feels isolated and disconnected in the face of societal militarization or a perceived lack of prospects. Their works make us compassionate by evoking empathy.
Not only real situations, but also fictional or imagined ones can trigger intense emotions. The photographically staged realities of Cindy Sherman and Jeff Wall are composed in such a way that the unease of the depicted scenes is transferred to the viewers: The stylized moments, reminiscent of familiar film scenes, create an inner restlessness. The installations by Rebecca Horn and Mithu Sen leave even more room for the viewer’s own imagination. Far removed from our usual horizon of experience, they appear particularly excessive, theatrical, and, at the same time, sensually poetic. In this way, they generate a strong emotional tension and simultaneously make ambivalent feelings tangible.
However, emotions are not merely an expression of vulnerability; they are also a way of dealing with it. Through radical and often ecstatic actions, artists such as Christian Falsnaes and Gilbert & George not only create unsettling situations but also expose themselves to unfamiliar experiences within their performances and consciously make themselves vulnerable. Half a century ago, Jürgen Klauke already challenged this vulnerability by transcending gender categories and traditional notions in his art.
Exhibition: On Nervous Grounds. Between Delusion and Reality
Curator: Elena Engelbrechter
Curatorial Assistant: Linus Jantzen
Works by Christian Falsnaes, Kapwani Kiwanga, and Jürgen Klauke within the context of the collection for the first time. In the exhibition, the works enter into a thematic dialogue with those by Sylvain Couzinet-Jacques, Gilbert & George, Douglas Gordon, Rebecca Horn, Olga Koumoundouros, Maix Mayer, Heinkuhn Oh, Ariel Reichman, Mithu Sen, Cindy Sherman, Jeff Wall, and Jordan Wolfson.
Exhibition duration: May 9–September 27, 2026
Opening Hours:
Tuesday through Friday, 10 am–6 pm
Saturday, Sunday, and Holidays 11 am–6 pm
Address and contact:
Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg
Hollerpl. 1, 38440 Wolfsburg
www.kunstmuseum.de
Art is enthusiasm, and art is knowledge. The Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg wishes to share this knowledge. It strives to be a place of identification for the citizens of the city and the region and, of course, also wants to appeal to international visitors. It wants to take an artistic look at the world from the standpoint of Wolfsburg in order to contribute to an understanding of global events in all their complexity with the help of current art themes. The Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg wishes to inspire and to build bridges with art. With contemporary digital strategies, it strives to communicate its contents to the widest possible audience, arouse curiosity, and inspire enthusiasm for (inter)active encounters with art. The Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg intends to further expand its significance with a scholarly and curatorially ambitious exhibition program. The central starting point is both the high-caliber collection and an independent program that focuses on contemporary art, but also takes positions of classical modernism into account in order to open up larger cultural contexts for the public. As a place of cultural education for all, the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg aims to be a meeting place for people from a wide variety of social backgrounds, with fascinating artistic positions and themes of global relevance. The Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg strives to be a place where visitors can feel at home at their own level of knowledge through differentiated offerings of information, where they can learn interesting facts about art, culture, and society and also make emotional experiences. At the same time, it also sees itself as a critical analyst and companion of global developments The Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg strives to be an open, vital, and dynamic place of art and culture for everyone.
