HANNOVER.- Kunstverein Hannover inaugurates three new presentations that explore the presence of institutions in the urban landscape, questioning the different facets of the notions of “access” and “control”.

March 28–May 4, 2026
Florentina Holzinger: CRASH PIPE

Florentina Holzinger (b. 1986) is an Austrian choreographer, director and performance artist whose practice is known for its extreme physicality. Relying on mastery of skills such as stunts, aerial work, endurance training, combat sports, Holzinger’s work straddles the line between high culture and entertainment, recombining ballet, opera, circus, martial arts, freak show aesthetics and reality TV formats. Having abandoned education in architecture she went on to study choreography at the Academy of Theatre and Dance in Amsterdam, focusing on the body. In 2026 Holzinger represents Austria at the 61st Venice Biennale.

CRASH PIPE (2026) is Holzinger’s latest public installation: a massive, rideable skateboard ramp, weighing over twelve tons, propped on a pile of crumpled, discarded cars. Its title plays on the lingo of skating (a recurring theme in Holzinger’s practice). There “halfpipe” denotes a U-shaped skating tool—and the idea of “crash” as a nod to the inevitable falls that define the sport’s masochistic thrill, the notion of “riding the cityscape”, as well as the more morbid sense of danger referenced by mangled cars that support the ramp. Inaugurated by the artist accompanied by three performers with a skate routine, for the coming weeks the work has crash-landed in front of Kunstverein’s 19th-century building, blocking traffic, where it can be used freely and will then move to Hannover’s Raschplatz for permanent use.

The work can also be read as a comment in the debate on the “right to the city” that pits the concepts of “car-oriented” (a paradigm of German post-war urban planning influenced by Hans Bernhard Reichow's 1959 book Die autogerechte Stadt) against “car-free”, as well as “restricted areas” against “free access”. The work casts subcultural actions not as a nuisance or “misuse” of urban space, but – along with art, sport, unauthorized interventions, a way of reclaiming the urban panorama.

CRASH PIPE was made possible by the City of Hannover and Sparkasse Hannover. It was created in collaboration with the Berlin architecture collective raumlaborberlin, DAFTAR inc. and commissioned by Kunstverein Hannover in the context of its current group exhibition. The project is curated by Christoph Platz-Gallus.

March 28–July 19, 2026
Under the Milky Way. Abstraction, Autonomy, and Post-Vandalist Tendencies in Contemporary Art

“We make images. For me, this whole debate of ‘art or vandalism’ can finally be put to rest.” —Graffiti writer and conceptual artist Moses, interview (2021)

Under the Milky Way invites the raw chaos of street-level defiance bringing together protagonists and collectives whose artistic practices might be associated with speculative post-vandalist tendencies in contemporary art grounded in resistance, self-empowerment, and autonomous abstraction. What began decades ago as forms of resistance in public space and unauthorized painting has now evolved into a new artistic language used by graffiti legends, intervention pranksters, as well as rouge abstractionists across canvas, urban space, and conceptual interventions in the porous space between institution and the city. At times staking political positions, at others fiercely asserting the freedom to act on pure personal impulse, the work of those artists is best described by three terms: abstraction, autonomy, and—depending on one’s perspective—post-vandalism.

With Amos Angeles, Alexandre Bavard, Cäcilia Brown, Stephen Burke, Bus126, Brad Downey and Akim, Antwan Horfee, Hams Klemens, Klub7, Daniel Laufer, Mischa Leinkauf, Martina Morger, Moses and Taps, Christoph and Sebastian Mügge, Patrick Niemann, Rocco and His Brothers, Veli Silver, Mathias Weinfurter and Angst Yok.

Under the Milky Way is curated by Larissa Kikol and Christoph Platz-Gallus. A catalogue will be published in summer 2026 by DCV Verlag.

The exhibition is supported by the Lower Saxony Ministry for Science and Culture (MWK), VHV Foundation, Stiftung Niedersachsen, Nord LB Cultural Foundation, and Karin and Uwe Hollweg Foundation. The project is realised in cooperation with Cumberlandsche Bar, Municipal Cinema (KoKi), and Literaturhaus Hannover.

March 28–December 31, 2026

Jenny Brosinski: Mistakes that already ended & stories that may never be true

Jenny Brosinski (b. 1984) has been selected for the thirteenth edition of the annual Stufen zur Kunst project which showcases site-specific interventions in the stairwell in the east wing of the Künstlerhaus Hannover for approximately a year.

For her most recent project Mistakes that already ended & stories that may never be true, Brosinski created an immersive abstract landscape that unfolds over four floors of the stairwell, shifting with every climb, its motifs are painted freehand, directly on the walls, resembling fragments of unfinished graffiti or acts of deliberate defacement. It revolves around two sculptural works: one consisting of a set of lines suspended in the stairwell, like a drawing hovering space, the other, I Was Looking at All the Life (2021), one of Brosinski’s best known pieces. Displayed on the ground floor, this bronze cast of a seated unicorn covering its eyes, anchors the installation with its humorous yet commanding presence.

In 1999, the architectural firm Pax + Brüning redesigned the eastern entrance to Stiftung Niedersachsen as well as the barrier-free access to the Kunstverein. Since 2010 the “Art in Architecture” project has been realized here as a collaboration between the two institutions. All previous works and participating artists are presented at www.stufenzurkunst.de.

Mistakes that already ended & stories that may never be true is curated by Christoph Platz-Gallus. Stufen zur Kunst is made possible by Stiftung Niedersachsen.