From 20 February 2026, Haus am Waldsee will present the exhibitions “Upcoming” by artist Gianna Surangkanjanajai and “Carousels” by artist Rey Akdogan. To mark the 80th anniversary of Haus am Waldsee, the exhibition series Seit … (Since …), developed especially for the anniversary, will be launched at the same time with artist Luciano Pecoits. The openings of the three presentations will take place on Thursday, 19 February 2026 at 7 p.m.
Image above: Gianna Surangkanjanajai, Removed, 2025, Courtesy of the artist.
Gianna Surangkanjanajai (born in Cologne, lives and works in New York) works primarily with sculpture and reflects in her practice on situations in which form emerges from the conditions of its surroundings. Her works often incorporate geometric bodies, which, however, appear less as fixed forms than as starting points and structures that shift or become porous in the course of material processes.
Transparent bodies contain materials that react sensitively to light, temperature and gravity. Here, sculpture eludes the certainty of objecthood and instead emerges as an arrangement that constantly readjusts itself and opens up to external conditions. In moments when the works operate on the threshold between material and immaterial presence, this openness unfolds into an expanded field of possibilities.
This processual nature also characterises the title of the exhibition, which follows its chronological progression: “Upcoming” in the run-up, “Open” during the exhibition period and “Closed” after the exhibition has ended. Surangkanjanajai is developing a group of new works for Haus am Waldsee that interact with the rooms of the building, with its angles, passageways and light axes. The exhibition is curated by Beatrice Hilke.
Rey Akdogan (born in Heilbronn, lives in New York) focuses her attention on materials and processes that implicitly shape our visual present. Her works encompass different media and often take on spatial forms that oscillate between projection, sculpture and installation. Akdogan investigates how affective spaces are created and how colour, light and material properties shape sensory experience. The materials she uses come from scenographic and commercial contexts, such as colour filters or Mylar. In their conventional contexts, they serve to direct the gaze and regulate attention. Akdogan removes these materials from their usual functions and incorporates them into her works as independent, form-giving and visible elements.
A focal point of the exhibition at Haus am Waldsee is Akdogan’s Carousel works, which she has been developing since 2010. Thin layers of printed plastic and packaging fragments are mounted in 35 mm slides and projected. With each rotation of the slide projector, the tones change: colours shift, lines and structures find new alignments, textures dissolve. The projections are not based on photographic images, but arise from material overlays and cut-outs that modulate over time. What was once familiar becomes enigmatic, while remaining tied to its material origins.
The exhibition ‘Leidenschaftslose Mechaniken’ (Passionless Mechanics) by Luciano Pecoits (who lives and works between Munich and Vienna) is the first chapter in the exhibition series ‘Seit…’ (Since…) developed for the anniversary.
In his practice, the artist uses photographic production processes and archival materials to draw conclusions about the conditions of their contexts of origin and how these continue to have an impact on our present day. In doing so, he places particular emphasis on provenance research as a method of examining art, its institutions, their histories of origin and self-perceptions.
His new works, created especially for the exhibition, are the result of more than two years of research into the history of the Haus am Waldsee building. Based on administrative documents from the post-war years, such as files from restitution and denazification proceedings, the artist traces a fine network of actors and ownership structures. Supplemented by new reproductions of the few surviving photographs of the building as a residence, he reveals the extent to which the house was involved in political power structures and National Socialist networks, and how these interconnections remained influential into the post-war period and beyond.
The exhibition is presented in the café, the building’s former garage, on a display architecture developed by Georgian curator and archivist Nina Akhvlediani (who lives and works in Tbilisi), which allows for flexible forms of presentation. ‘Dispassionate Mechanics’ is the first of three chapters to be presented on display over the course of the year. Designed by different artists, they shed light on new perspectives on the history of the institution. The exhibition is curated by Anna Gritz and Pia-Marie Remmers.
WHEN?
Opening: Thursday, 19. February 2026
Exhibition dates: Friday, 20. February – Monday, 25. May 2026
WHERE?
Argentinische Allee 30,
14163 Berlin
Deutschland
