This year, the Scharf-Gerstenberg Collection’s annual reorganisation of its exhibition in the Marstall focuses on two contemporary artists: the photographer Kai Bornhöft and the painter Frank Tornow. For the first time, the concept of complementary contrast emerging from the juxtaposition of their works also determines the hanging of the collection’s own holdings.
Image above: Frank Tornow, Sombra, Hokkaido und Apfel, 2025, Öl auf Holz © Frank Tornow, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2026.
The principle of the unusual juxtaposition plays an important role in Surrealism: ‘As beautiful as the chance encounter of a sewing machine and an umbrella on a dissecting table’, as Lautréamont put it – a quote cited by André Breton in the First Manifesto of Surrealism. For the surprising encounter between things that one does not usually associate with one another gives rise to a third element, a mystery that stimulates our perception and is capable of steering our thinking in unexpected directions.
The juxtaposition of works by Kai Bornhöft and Frank Tornow creates a similar interplay. In this instance, however, the roles appear to be reversed: whilst the medium of photography is generally considered to have a representational function, here it is Tornow’s painting that allows the depicted objects to be identified at a glance. Conversely, the freedom of invention usually accorded to painting seems to determine the representation in Bornhöft’s photographs: only on closer inspection can the subjects of the analogue photographs—which were sometimes created through repeated copying—be identified.
In the juxtaposition of the two artists’ works, this ‘otherness’ of the medium becomes particularly evident. Here, the exquisite painting technique—reminiscent of Jean Siméon Chardin (1699–1779)—combines with Bornhöft’s eye for the enigmatic dimensions of the seemingly trivial to form something ‘third’ that appears to be concealed behind a veil. At the same time (and perhaps precisely because of this), it sharpens one’s own perception, even when viewing other works. Such a ‘powerful interplay’ sets seeing and thinking in motion, as in quantum physics – or in Surrealism.
Kai Bornhöft, born in 1968 in Kiel, lives and works in Berlin. On display are photographs from various series (ten, Exit Ghost, True Colours, Redox and others) dating from 2003 to 2025. Bornhöft’s works are held in the collections of international institutions such as the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the New York Public Library.
Frank Tornow, born in 1959 in Gifhorn, lives and works in Berlin. His still lifes, all oil on wood, were created between 2020 and 2026. Following his studies at the HBK Braunschweig and the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan, Tornow was awarded various art prizes and working grants.
‘Wechselwirkung’ is curated by Kyllikki Zacharias, Director of the Scharf-Gerstenberg Collection.
WHEN?
Exhibition dates: Friday, 17 July – Saturday, 15 November 2026
Opening hours: Wednesday – Sunday, 11 am – 6 pm
WHERE?
Sammlung Scharf-Gerstenberg
Schloßstraße 70
14059 Berlin-Charlottenburg
