MUNSTER.- “The Company We Keep Makes the World We Live In” is the title of the year-long research, exhibition and discourse program at Westfälischer Kunstverein in Münster, Germany under the new artistic direction of Theresa Roessler. [1] It focuses on the political and resilient potential of friendship, taking this both as a prerequisite for productive collaboration and as a model for constructive political relations. The program is rooted in the assumption that friendship transcends borders and categories of identity politics. As a form of relationship that (still) has not been institutionalized, it can evade the repressive, neoliberal, patriarchal status quo, undermining and exposing it. Friendship demands long-term commitment, understanding and empathy, and precisely therein lies the potential that is to be explored, that might counterpose the polarizing dogmatism of the present.

Central to the collective consideration of friendship is Hannah Arendt’s observation that “the political element of friendship lies within the fact that in true dialogue, each friend can comprehend the truth of the other’s opinion. A friend does not so much comprehend another as a person, but recognizes the way their mutual world appears to the other, who, as a person always remains distinct and different to themself.” [2] The program reflects friendship as a mode, a condition, a filter, a potential framework for action—as a praxis that, following Arendt’s sentiment, enables us to hold and to hold on.

[1] The program title quotes a sentence from Paul Formosa’s review of Bethania Assy’s Hannah Arendt—An Ethics of Personal Responsibility (2008). [2] Arendt, H. (2016): Sokrates. Apologie der Pluralität, ed. Matthias Bormuth. Berlin (Matthes & Seitz), 53.

Exhibitions

Nikima Jagudajev: Basically
March 22–April 27, 2025
German premiere: March 21, 6–11pm
Special opening hours: 2–7pm

Basically is ongoing, constantly changing depending on where it is performed, tried out, played and viewed. Basically is a performance but equally an exhibition, choreography, recording studio, sewing workshop, schoolyard and all it is yet to become. Basically allows us to discover the unexpected, make contact with the strange, paying attention to disorder. Basically resurrects extracurricular activities, offering an opportunity for “re-schooling.” Basically is played by all, constantly creating itself – from the interaction of gallery visitors and three on-site performers. Basically is fluid and ephemeral.

With Matti Aikio, Samuel Baidoo, Matilda Cobanli, Emmanuel Edoror, Yoh Morishita, Maria Muehombo (aka M I M I), Lucas Lopes Pereira, Salomon Leonard Poutsma, Laura Stellacci, Lester St. Louis and Louise Trueheart

Eve Tagny
July 5–October 5, 2025
Opening: July 4, 6pm

Rooted in lens-based media, Eve Tagny’s multidisciplinary practice interlaces performance, writing, and research into spatial installations that reflect narratives of sorrow, resilience, and fortitude. She reads landscapes as witnesses of individual and collective disruptions, yet reveals their concealed potential for remembrance and regeneration. Drawn to the materials, forms, and cycles of nature, Tagny’s work questions what a relationship to nature might look like beyond the dominant Western idea of it, which reduces it to an object of careless exploitation and scientific scrutiny. In her most comprehensive presentation to date, Tagny continues her exploration of the entanglements between colonialism, botanical science, and the commodification of nature and the body, unveiling a site-specific installation featuring newly commissioned video works.

Rosa Aiello
November 15, 2025–February 8, 2026
Opening: November 14, 6pm

“What is the glue that binds community? What is this bond made of? Is it time spent together? Acts of care? Physical proximity? Being there in an emergency? Gifts? Working side by side? Shared values, shared risks, or political solidarity? Can filmmaking alter our understanding of place and sense of belonging?”—With these questions, artist, author, and filmmaker Rosa Aiello opens the conceptual space of her first institutional solo exhibition in Germany at the Westfälischer Kunstverein. Drawing from her profound interest in structures, Aiello works with social formations to develop new film works and site-specific architectural interventions. The endeavor is defined by a deeply collaborative and interdisciplinary approach, as Aiello invites relational processes into the various moments of production: from experimental documentary and improvisational filmmaking methodologies, to hosting artist responses to the exhibition itself.

Upcoming events

Peggy Ahwesh
Screening: The Pittsburgh Trilogy
May 14–18, 2025

In the 1980s, Peggy Ahwesh carried her Super 8 camera everywhere, fascinated by social formations, relations, and interactions, drawn to something she would describe as “a sociology of space.” Ahwesh’s work often centered on individuals within small, intimate spaces—sites where people perform, experiment, and improvise, revealing different facets of the self in relation to others. The Pittsburgh Trilogy (1983) exemplifies this approach, offering intimate portraits of her friends. In May, the Westfälischer Kunstverein will present The Pittsburgh Trilogy for the first time in Germany. The event will include an artist talk, as well as contributions by students from the University of Fine Arts in Münster.

Texte zum Nachdenken
Readings by Céline Mathieu, Sanna Helena Berger and Becket MWN
June 5, 2025

Texte zum Nachdenken is a series of reading events that locates text as an artistic practice in the field of visual arts. TzN serves as a platform and format for interdisciplinary exchange and was founded by artist Benedikt Bock in 2020. Since 2023 artist Sarah Lehnerer is part of the team. On June 5, TzN will host an evening with contributions by artists Céline Mathieu, Sanna Helena Berger, and Becket MWN.

More events will be announced over the course of the year. For further details on the program, please feel free to contact our press office, visit our website, or sign up for the newsletter.

Director, curator: Theresa Roessler / Exhibition management: Jenni Henke, Jana Peplau.