OSNABRÜCK.- In her work, Andrea Pichl combines art and research. She explores how spaces and people’s lives influence one another. In her artworks, the artist often focuses on historic buildings and standardised building components. [‘Standardised’ here means: the building components were always the same. They were used in many different buildings.] For Andrea Pichl, they tell the story of the political and economic developments of their time. They bear the traces of history.

At the Kunsthalle Osnabrück, Andrea Pichl is presenting an exhibition to mark the 40th anniversary of the planetarium at the Osnabrück Natural History Museum. The planetarium’s dome was built by the civil engineering firm of Ulrich Müther from Rügen in the former GDR, with construction managed by architect Gertrud Schille. The dome is a shell structure, a type of construction for which the firm became known from the 1960s onwards, both in the GDR and beyond. Its concrete components support one another without the need for scaffolding. This was a novelty at the time. Structures of this kind are unique and can still be found in many places across Germany today. Some of them formed part of trade agreements between the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR. The dome of the planetarium in Osnabrück was also part of such a deal.

Andrea Pichl translates the history of the planetarium’s construction into a large-scale installation, in which the nave of the Kunsthalle is transformed into a realistic-looking street scene. [An installation is a work of art in space.] In this way, she brings to light a little-known chapter of Osnabrück’s history.

The exhibition is being held in collaboration with the “Museum am Schölerberg – Naturkundemuseum Osnabrück” (Osnabrück Natural History Museum).

Andrea Pichl (DE) is an artist who lives and works in Berlin. She studied at the Berlin-Weißensee School of Art and at Chelsea College of Art & Design in London. Her most recent solo exhibitions include shows at the Kunsthalle Vogelmann, Heilbronn (2026); Galerie Pankow, Berlin (2025); and Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, Berlin (2024). She has participated in group exhibitions at venues including the Konschthal Esch, Luxembourg; the Kunststiftung DZ-Bank, Frankfurt am Main; Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart (all in 2026); KINDL—Center for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2025); and the Nationalgalerie – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin at the Federal Ministry of Finance, Detlev-Rohwedder-Haus (work on loan, 2024). In 2023, she installed a permanent work in the public space of the Kunsthalle Rostock. In 2022, she curated “Where Our Strength Lies: Fifty Female Artists from the GDR” at Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien in Berlin; in 2025, she continued the project at Biesdorf Palace, Berlin. In 2026, she received the Ernst Franz Vogelmann Prize for Sculpture. She is currently a visiting professor at the Berlin University of the Arts.