GÖPPINGEN.- John Wood and Paul Harrison opened their exhibition OH at the Kunsthalle Göppingen.
British artists John Wood and Paul Harrison have worked together since 1993. Through their films, drawings, objects, and sculptures, they examine human behavior, communication, and the norms of daily life. The artists’ films are minimalist in their staging and move between chance and control. Wood and Harrison combine seriousness and absurdity in short sequences that humorously reflect on everyday situations. They integrate and test objects and actions within clear choreographies, often leading to unexpected events. Their works have a pseudoscientific quality and take place in specially designed environments.
Wood and Harrison's OH highlights the artist duo's video works, featuring a selection from the past 25 years. The exhibitionis completed by the installation 21 Signs For a City (2025), specially developed for public spaces in Göppingen. Twenty-one signs in the urban environment disrupt familiar perspectives and humorously challenge our everyday perceptions.
John Wood (b. 1969, Hong Kong) and Paul Harrison (b. 1966, Wolverhampton) make single-channel videos, multi-screen video installations, paintings, prints, drawings, and sculptures that elegantly fuse advanced aesthetic research with existential comedy. They met in 1989 at the Bath College of Higher Education and have worked together since 1993. Their work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston, the Kunstmuseum Thun, Mori Art Museum, the Ludwig Museum, the Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum, the Kunstmuseum Luzern, the Marc Fassiaty Video Foundation, the Harris Museum and Art Gallery, the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, the Ulster Museum, and the Carnegie Museum, among others. Numerous institutions hold their work in their collections, including The Tate, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Albertina Museum in Vienna, the UK Arts Council Collection, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the UK Government Art Collection, the Kadist Foundation in Paris, the Mudam Museum of Modern Art, the Tel Aviv Museum, the Ludwig Collection, the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, the Musée d’Art Contemporain in Languedoc-Roussillon, and the Museo de Antioquia, Medellín, among others. The artists’ studio is located in Bristol, UK.
The Kunsthalle Göppingen has been showcasing international contemporary art since 1989, presenting it engagingly through exhibitions in the Kunsthalle, art in public spaces, and interactions in digital environments. "Art is happening!" Kunsthalle Göppingen’s motto. Visitors' active participation is essential. The Kunsthalle creates space for encounters with art, dialogue, and engagement with it. Visual art reflects themes that touch our everyday lives and raise existential questions and feelings. Works of art enable us to learn about the world and ourselves.
Art education is a fundamental component of the Kunsthalle Göppingen. It offers lively exchange through various programs for children, youth, adults, and families. The Kunsthalle is a place where creativity, openness, and curiosity are given space. Close cooperation with educational institutions is essential in this regard. The museum thus embraces its sociopolitical responsibility and, with innovative and exemplary projects, continuously develops strategies to participate in current discourses and attract new visitors in a constantly changing society.
