FLORENCE.- The “junger westen” art prize winners Jeewi Lee, Mona Schulzek and Jeehye Song, from the collection of Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, presented at Villa Romana in Florence.

Curated by Nico Anklam.

It was a bright blue sparkle, like a cold fire, reflected on shimmering age-old stones in the dark that were wet from the sea. Having remained largely hidden since antiquity, the Blue Grotto was rediscovered in 1826 and fueled a romantic obsession of German artist in the 19th century. The sea-filled cave on Capri, illuminated by sunlight entering through an underwater opening, became the subject of many artworks to come. But it was particularly the early ones such as those by Heinrich Jakob Fried (1835) that talk about the fascination with the physical world and its visual phenomena. They evoke the poetry of water, stone, and light, and allow us to travel to any imaginable place—may it be the center of the Earth or into the infinite cosmos, or at times they condense all of this at the same time. Or, to put it differently, it was also very prototypical for the world in the age of accelerating modernism, that upon the demystifying of unseen sites follows their aestheticization.*

The three most recent winners of the oldest art prize in Germany after WWII, the “junger westen” at Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, may appear to have no direct connection to the traditions of German Romanticism or the obsession with Italy that Europe’s North had so strongly since the late 18th century. At least, so it seems. Their fascination with volcanic stones and meteorites from the universe, their curiosity about air bubbles, sand and waves, and the ability to bring on canvas the painterly twilight of the moon, that could be just as much the mobile phone screen reflected on someone’s face at night allows to wonder: maybe Jeewi Lee, Mona Schulzek and Jeehye Song are indeed very akin contemporary companions to the traveling artists from more than 200 years ago.

The collaboration between our two institutions, Kunsthalle Recklinghausen and Villa Romana in Florence, carries the title “Mutual Presence.” It brings together Germany’s oldest art prize, awarded by Villa Romana in Florence, and the country’s oldest postwar art prize, awarded by Kunsthalle Recklinghausen from a venue housed in a former bunker in western Germany’s coal-mining region. Through the works of Jeewi Lee, Mona Schulzek and Jeehye Song this exhibition pays tribute to what artistic practices are capable of, and to what society owes artists: even in difficult times, art continues to make the world a place of wonder.

“Mutual Presence” is a collaborative project between Villa Romana in Florence, Italy, and Kunsthalle Recklinghausen in Germany—institutions connected to two of Germany’s longest-standing art prizes. The collaboration begins with "Tales of Traces, Stones and Moonlight", curated by Nico Anklam, with Kerstin Weber-Baumann, research curator and Theresa Widua, curatorial assistant from Recklinghausen. The second chapter of “Mutual Presence” will open on September 12, 2026 at Kunsthalle Recklinghausen. Curated by Villa Romana director Elena Agudio and curator Mistura Allison, the group show will bring together the Villa Romana Fellows 2023, 2024, and 2025, presenting their work in Recklinghausen. It brings together Germany’s oldest art prize, awarded by Villa Romana in Florence (this year to Charmaine Poh, Susanne Sachsse, Mikołaj Sobczak, and Gülbin Ünlü), and the country’s oldest postwar art prize, presented by the Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, housed in a former bunker in western Germany’s historic coal-mining region.

*Richter, Dieter. “August Kopisch. Entdeckung der blauen Grotte auf der Insel Capri.” Wagenbach, Berlin, 2009, p 75.