Hyperborea, at Wilhelm Hallen, part of Hallen Kunstfestival, 6–14 September, with works by Assaf Hinden, David Shamie, Jack O’Brien, Kingsley Ifill, Lukas Heerich, Naama Tsabar, Nicolás Lamas, Shinoh Nam, and Shuang Li.

Drawing from Catherine Malabou’s The Ontology of the Accident: An Essay on Destructive Plasticity, the exhibition considers how objects, like identities, are subject to irreversible transformation. Malabou describes destructive plasticity as a force that “does not produce a new form but results in a formlessness, a loss of identity.” Applied to materiality, this suggests that objects do not passively store history; rather, they exist in a constant state of flux, where memory is broken and remade.

Content Industrial Complex, at 032c Gallery, Kurfürstendamm 178, Berlin, with works by Allen-Golder Carpenter, Paul Ferens, Azize Ferizi, Shuang Li, David Shamie, Phillip Timischl, and Ryan Trecartin.

The rise of the object as a central figure in cultural discourse has shifted its role from its simple functionality to that of a mediator within systems of signs. No longer confined to its utility, the object becomes a participant in meaning-making, disrupting traditional notions of subjectivity. As Jean Baudrillard observed, objects function as passwords, codes that grant access to symbolic systems that structure relationships, identities, and cultural hierarchies. These passwords are not merely tools of navigation; they also operate as mechanisms of inclusion where the ability to decode a symbol determines one’s access to meaning.

Passwords operate in a dual capacity: they serve as both gateways and barriers. In a world increasingly defined by simulacra, Baudrillard argues that passwords collapse the distinctions between the real and the simulated. The object no longer simply represents, it produces meaning, becoming a critical node in a network of signs that shapes the social fabric.

The exhibition explores the potential of objects, their meanings shifting as they move through social, cultural, and digital contexts. This interplay recalls the moment a baby encounters its reflection in a mirror for the first time, discovering itself while simultaneously confronting a fragmented, externalized image of identity. The object of the mirror becomes more than a surface, it is a threshold, a site of recognition, alienation, and self-construction. Similarly, the objects in this exhibition shift between individual and collective narratives, shaping not only how identities are constructed but how they are communicated and understood. From the hyper-curated presentation of a refrigerator as a marker of elite aesthetics, inspired by Kris Jenner’s fridge, to the cryptic codes embedded in Black meme culture, the works in “CONTENT INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX” reveal the significance of objects as either tools of survival and resistance or as markers of luxury and aspiration. These meanings are not static but shift depending on the social, cultural, and historical contexts in which the objects are embedded.

Baudrillard’s idea of objects as thresholds resonates throughout the exhibition. Objects function as shifting references, their meanings contingent upon the observer’s cultural and social framework. They complicate our understanding of identity, inviting interpretation: What do they reveal, and what remains obscured? Who holds the keys to decoding their significance?

Do You Like Me? Do You See Me?, at 032c Gallery, Kantstraße 149, Berlin, with works by Cory Arcangel, Will Benedict & Steffen Jorgensen, Richie Culver, Lukas Stoever, and Jonas Wendelin.

An exploration of voyeurism, the ethical and emotional complexities of observing others from a distance. The viewer becomes both spectator and participant. How does the gaze shape power dynamics and influence our construction of self and others?

Through moments of passive observation, the exhibition encourages intimate self-reflection, urging viewers to confront the blurred boundaries between connection and control, pleasure and responsibility.

James Bantone merges art, fashion, and objecthood, drawing on Achille Mbembe's concept of the "entrepreneur of the self." Through the figure of the mannequin, Bantone's work examines the shifting relationship between human subjectivity and objectification in contemporary culture.

Dr. Martens boots become both cultural artefact and site of aesthetic transformation, adapting to evolving societal needs while retaining their heritage of craftsmanship.

Productive Narcissism, the launch exhibition of 032c Gallery, Berlin, for Berlin Art Week, with works by Jon Rafman, Hugo Comte, Ser Serpas, Sissel Tolaas, Amalia Ulman, Lukas Heerich, Ana Viktoria Dzinic, Jordan Derrien, and Cezary Poniatowski.

Referencing Boris Groys' essay "Self-Design, or Productive Narcissism" and Todd Haynes' cult film Safe, the show investigates how we are placed into permanent uncertainty about our own taste, style, and personality.

Groys argues that design has transformed society itself into an exhibition space in which individuals appear as both artists and self-produced works of art. The contemporary persona is formed primarily from external entities producing a desire for continuous reinvention.

Fallen Angels, for angels.sc3 at City SALTS, Basel, with works by Mathis Altmann, James Bantone, Benjamin A. Huseby & Serhat Işık (GmbH), Berenice Olmedo, sidony o'neal, Erwan Sene, Ser Serpas, and Jan Vorisek.

Weaving together artistic disciplines across fashion, politics, history, and culture, dissolving societal associations around fashion to open a collaborative discourse.

The exhibition initiated a broad dialogue touching on politics, history, sociology, and culture, and how they are salient not just for artistic but also for fashion practices.

Devils on Horseback, at 032c, Berlin, February 2023, with works by Tom Burr, Jesse Darling, Lewis Hammond, Lukas Heerich, Atiéna R. Kilfa, Michel Majerus, Kayode Ojo, and Ryan Trecartin.

Garments are beliefs to be worn. Clothes dress our intimacies, disguise what we are ashamed of, and enhance what we are proud of. They wrap our existences, functioning as material entities that accompany us through life.

The exhibition centers on archives and bodies and their relation to garments, fashion's material manifestation gives physical body to non-physical things, keeping a textile record of cultural paradigms, personal experience, collective consciousness.

As part of Moncler's "The City of Genius," unveiled during Shanghai Fashion Week, Rick Owens created a special collection of exaggerated duvet jackets that act as both sculptural forms and personal sanctuaries, wearable cocoons that function as shields from the outside world.

Drawing on Joseph Beuys' performance I Like America and America Likes Me, Owens applies the concept of the gallery as cocoon to his design of spaces and garments. The refuge, the tour bus, the soundproof bed, the duvet jacket, all iterations of the same idea: insulation as both protection and art.

"I want fantasy to be part of every day. I wanted to corrupt the banality of everyday life with the glamour and theatre of radical fashion.", Rick Owens