Art of Two - Between Autonomy and Collaboration22.05. - 22.09.2026
HausKunstMitte
Christ Mukenge, *1988 in Kinshasa, Congo and Lydia Schellhammer, *1992 in Konstanz, Germany.
The duo lives and works between Kinshasa, Congo and Brandenburg, Germany.
Photos: Michael Lüder
The group exhibition at Haus.Kunst.Mitte., scheduled to run from mid-May to mid-August 2026, spans 22 exhibition rooms and brings together artist couples from the past 50 years. It will showcase works from East and West Germany during the 1970s and 1980s, as well as pieces by currently active couples living in Berlin.
Artistic production is presented as a dialogical process characterized by both intimacy and friction. Partnerships are revealed as productive structures in which exchange, competition, and mutual support are interwoven in style, motifs, and attitude. In this way, art history can also be read as a history of relationships. The focus is on artistic collaboration and its conditions: the exhibition examines educational and working contexts, visibility, career paths, and societal frameworks.
The art collection of the Berliner Volksbank is the main lender and will present works by historical artist couples, providing a frame of reference for the contemporary works. Two previous exhibitions have already focused on individual artist couples, forming the starting point for this expanded exploration.
Currently working artist couples each design their own spaces and present their works in the immediate vicinity.
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