ANNUAL PREVIEW 2026

Catherine Opie
The Pause That Dreams Against Erasure
February 14 – July 19, 2026

Opening: Friday, February 13, 2026, 7 pm
Children’s vernissage: Friday, February 13, 2026, 5.30–7 pm

The Fridericianum is now presenting Catherine Opie’s first institutional solo exhibition in Germany, concurrently with the artist’s show at the National Portrait Gallery in London. The presentation in Kassel is designed by the artist as a site-specific installation in which she enters into a dialogue with the architecture and history of the historic building. On display are key series of works spanning a period of over thirty years: from early portrait photographs in the LGBTQIA+ communities to photographic series that explore landscapes as resonant spaces for identity, hopes, and traumas, and from documentation of movements such as Black Lives Matter to protest marches in the context of Donald Trump’s presidency.

The exhibition is being generously sponsored by Maria Seferian.

The Kunsthalle receives further significant support from the Rudolf Augstein Stiftung.

Media partner of the show is Monopol Magazin für Kunst und Leben.

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Raque Ford
The only one willing to do the hard part
March 13, 2026 – January 2027

Opening event for the site-specific intervention:
Thursday, March 12, 2026, 7 pm

The artist Raque Ford, born in Columbia, Maryland, in 1986 and living in New York, combines in her practice artistically formed shapes with strong color contrasts and slogan-like text. Through her use of plastic and other industrial materials she creates an aesthetic that hovers between abstraction and simple visual codes. Layered up like collages her works can be located in the realms of sculpture, painting, and graphics and reference the cutouts of the late Henri Matisse, Minimalism, and Pop Art. At the Fridericianum, the artist is creating designs for both public elevators.

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Charles Ray
August 22, 2026 – January 3, 2027

Opening: Friday, August 21, 2026, 7 pm
Children’s vernissage: Friday, August 21, 2026, 5.30 pm

A photo of a sculpture of a person all in white. /

Charles Ray was born in Chicago in 1953 and has lived in Los Angeles since 1981. He is considered one of the most important sculptors of the 20th and 21st centuries. For over five decades, he has created artworks that examine the contemporary world, his life, and ideas concerning physicality and spirituality, all through the discipline of sculpture. Ray has explained that he doesn’t think about sculpture as much as he thinks sculpturally. Throughout his career, he has expanded and redefined the scope of his work in many ways.

With the generous support of the Karin und Uwe Hollweg Stiftung, the Stiftung Stark für Gegenwartskunst and LEAP Art Foundation.

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Mohammed Sami
Hostless
October 3, 2026 – January 3, 2027

Opening: Friday, October 2, 2026, 7 pm
Children’s vernissage: Friday, October 2, 2026, 5.30–7 pm

In his new body of work Hostless, Mohammed Sami focuses predominantly on internal spaces. The paintings become a site for mnemonic processes, mental operations in which abstraction falters and something unsettling begins to seep through. Rooms become spectral containers, holding the residue of events that agreed to stay unnamed despite of the availability of the crime evidence.

With the generous support of AMA Venezia

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FURTHER HIGHLIGHTS:

Kassel Museum Night
Saturday, September 5, 2026

International Museum Day
Sunday, May 17, 2026

Further projects to be announced soon.