a) Untitled, 2025 – Ballpoint pen (without ink) on paper

b) Untitled, 2024 – Ballpoint pen (without ink) on paper

c) Untitled, 2022 – Ballpoint pen (without ink) on paper

d) Untitled, 2022 – Ballpoint pen (without ink / reverse side), etching needle (front side) on paper

For Taiyoh Mori, drawing a line is a continuous act of relating to the materiality and quality of existing conditions. In this interplay of specific circumstances, a trace emerges—an imprint of space in time—that ultimately makes this dynamic relationality both experienceable and visible to the eye.

The works presented here emphasize Mori’s reductionist approach, focused on the essence. His interest lies in the process of drawing itself. He is guided by the architecture of his surroundings, the site-specific light, and the spatial relationships. Viewing, for him, becomes a continuous act of tracing.

Taiyoh Mori was born in 1982 in Osaka, Japan. He lives and works in Berlin. After studying at the Seian University of Art and Design in Japan, he continued his studies in painting and graphics at the Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design in Halle, Germany. His works have been exhibited at venues such as the Museum for Asian Art of the National Museums in Berlin at the Humboldt Forum; Drawing Wow/Minuseins, Vienna; and Galerie Rupert Pfab, Düsseldorf. His works are part of the public collection of the Staatliche Graphische Sammlung München. Taiyoh Mori is this year’s Gold Winner of the Paper Art Award Award

Untitled, 2021 – Inkjet Print, Glue, Wood, Putty, Wax

Reduction to the essentials, variation and repetition, forms dictated by the production process — these are just a few aspects of Goekhan Erdogan’s work. He often works in series, frequently using a passport photo as the starting point. The engagement with his own self-image is shaped by many philosophical, art-historical, and social-historical considerations; the outcome is often highly minimalist. Erdogan lifts the photographic image out of its formal frame, forcing the paper into unusual states of design or transforming the motif until it dissolves completely, remaining only as an abstract idea within the work.

This process-driven exploration of material is also evident in the works presented here. What appears to be polished stone and wood grain are in fact offset prints of his passport photo in various sizes, coated with glue, pressed, and dried. Erdogan treats paper like a sculptor — shaping and abrading it. The result are sensual objects, pure natural forms that invite touch despite their visual complexity.

Goekhan Erdogan was born in 1978 in Frankfurt am Main. He studied at the Städelschule Frankfurt and the Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach. Winner of the Dieter-Haack-Award 2011, he regularly exhibits solo and in groups in galleries and art associations across Germany, especially in the Rhine-Main region, as well as at various locations throughout Europe.

Flate Globe – White Night 4, 2025 – Cut on Yupo Paper, Acrylic Dome, Wooden Panel

Noriko Ambe layers individually cut sheets into cohesive sculptures. The thousands of delicate paper sheets evoke organic forms that seem to reveal an imagined journey through time.

Her work Flate Globe unfolds like the many layers of the earth.

Through fine dissection and precise construction of the white paper, she creates complex shapes that generate a unique rhythm of openness and closure.

Born in 1967 in Saitama, Japan, Ambe lives and works in New York City and Japan. She studied at Musashino Art University in Tokyo and has received numerous scholarships and awards. Her works are part of prestigious collections including the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. In 2024, she was awarded the Bronze Paper Art Award by the Haus des Papiers and is represented in their collection.

Grobari – 2009, Stacked, borderless inkjet prints on 100 g/m² paper (3500 pages)

Open Edition

Domanović was born in 1981 in Novi Sad, former Yugoslavia (now Serbia). She currently lives and works in Berlin. She completed her studies at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. Domanović has exhibited widely both nationally and internationally, including venues such as Kunsthalle Wien (Austria), High Line Art in New York (USA), Bundeskunsthalle Bonn (Germany), and Galleria d’Arte Moderna in Milan (Italy). Her works are held in prestigious collections worldwide, including the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Haus der Geschichte in Bonn, and the Zabludowicz Collection in London.

A Stream of Thoughts to Detach Us from the Current #39 – Stone Paper, Glue

Stone paper is a water-resistant material that slowly disintegrates into dust when exposed to UV radiation (sunlight or artificial). Replicas create an impression in museums and collections of the size and texture of past objects. They attempt to establish a relationship between the fleeting objects and our bodies, evoking in us the imagination of how we use them.

For this series of replicas, water toys and beach accessories were recreated in their original size from stone paper. They show signs of use and patched holes, appear half-inflated after a long beach season, or lean against the wall as if about to be taken to the lake. Due to the material properties of stone paper, these sculptures undergo a process of decay—exposure to artificial or natural UV light will slowly dissolve them. In exhibitions, curators decide whether to protect or let the objects deteriorate.

Lucia Kempkes studied Biology and Philosophy at the Free University of Berlin and later Fine Arts at the University of the Arts Berlin and the School of Visual Arts in New York. In 2014, she founded the art collective Mindscape Universe (2014–2019), which organized projects exploring concepts of simultaneity.

Partition 115, 2018 – Photo object, unique piece

Partition 149, 2020 – Photo object, archival pigment print

Supervision 1–15, 2025 – Two-layered archival pigment print on Japanese paper and Hahnemühle Photo Rag

What remains when photography is stripped of all content? This is the question Christiane Feser explored—and her answer was: light, shadow, and the material of paper. These elements became her playground. Beginning with digital image editing, she has increasingly used "real" tools since 2008. She photographs, then folds and cuts the images, scores and punctures them, adds threads and fibers to their surfaces, and reassembles everything—only to capture it once more through the lens of her camera. To the photographic vision of the camera—anchored in a reality that "once was"—Feser contrasts human perception through the eye. The two- and three-dimensional are interwoven until the image becomes a “photo object.”

At the beginning of her ongoing Partitions series were folded sheets of paper. Out of thousands of folded A4 sheets, Feser created new modules over months, which she captured with her camera and translated back into the three-dimensional. This process deepened her analytical understanding of material, light, and shadow and eventually led her to develop her highly distinctive Partitions. Her large-format work Partition 115, installed in the entrance area, thrives on her masterful handling of paper, which seems to cascade into the space like a waterfall of paper strips.

Christiane Feser was born in 1977 in Würzburg, Germany. She studied at the University of Art and Design in Offenbach. Her works have been exhibited internationally, including at the Frankfurter Kunstverein; the Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Kunstmuseum Bochum; Palazzo Strozzi, Florence; and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Her work is part of the collections of the Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Minneapolis Institute of Art; the Mönchehaus Museum, Goslar; the ZKM Karlsruhe; and the Sammlung Klein. Christiane Feser is the first artist-in-residence of the Paper Residency! at Haus des Papiers.

Ohne Titel (Yeti), 2021 – Oil paint, paperboard

Ohne Titel (Koller), 2022 – Oil paint, paperboard

Felix Becker creates paper sculptures using oil paint and paperboard. His work can be understood as painting on paper, where the support material not only guides the process but essentially determines it.

The sculptures presented here are made from cardboard that is soaked in water, shaped while wet, and then dried. The nature of the wet paperboard influences the process, as it only retains rudimentary modeling during drying and otherwise surrenders to gravity. Becker uses this unruliness to maintain forms that require the viewer’s imagination to search for specific figures. Using painting techniques, the artist responds to this challenge by emphasizing or extending the individual shapes that the paper has formed, always with the intent of leaving part of the search open.

Felix Becker was born in 1987 in Frankfurt am Main. He currently lives and works in Berlin, though his works are exhibited worldwide. Becker has shown his work at venues such as Apartamento in Marseille, Medientheater Humboldt-University in Berlin, and Maus Contemporary in Birmingham, USA. He completed his studies at the Akademie der Künste Berlin in 2021.

Patchwork 43, 2023 – Cardboard, paper on cardboard

Patchwork 44, 2023 – Cardboard, paper on cardboard

Layering 18, 2023 – Paper on cardboard

Since childhood, artist and designer Cem Bora has been influenced by the world of textiles—a theme that played a prominent role in his everyday life through his family background. As a teenager, he devoured fashion magazines and immersed himself in fabrics, threads, and colors. It was during this time that he began developing his paper collages, in which he deliberately assembles visual fragments from magazines and newspapers into entirely new compositions. Layered and intertwined, his works form paper structures that often evoke a surprising sense of familiarity upon closer inspection.

A key conceptual principle in Bora’s practice is the strict selection of his source material: he uses only paper that has entered his household through purchases or postal deliveries. This material is then deconstructed and reconfigured into new visual narratives.

Cem Bora was born in 1965 in Istanbul and lives and works in Berlin. After studying at the Fashion Institute of the Lette Verein Berlin, he worked for trend offices in Paris and Amsterdam and later founded his own fashion label. Since 2005, Bora has exhibited his paper-based works in Berlin, Basel, Paris, and Luxembourg, among others. His art is included in the Modebild collection of the Lipperheide Costume Library, part of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.

Inherited Desire, 2018 – Lithograph on BFK Rives paper

Since the mid-2000s, Jorinde Voigt has developed a unique graphic system to translate experiences, thoughts, and sensory impressions based on philosophical writings and patterns of communication in music. Voigt transforms her subjects into a personal grammar expressed through precisely drawn lines and writing systems, sometimes appearing as dashed color spots, colorful collages, or gold leaf inlays.

Jorinde Voigt’s works are held in numerous prestigious collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Kunsthaus Zürich; The Morgan Library & Museum, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich; Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, Munich; Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin, among others. Her works are exhibited internationally and accompanied by extensive publications.

a) Untitled – Analog collage on paper

b) Untitled – Analog collage on paper

In her collages, Ismene creates her own order—deliberately working with analog techniques. For this trained hand weaver, touching, experiencing, tearing, and playing with paper is an essential part of the creative process. Her play with materiality and form is extremely free. The layers appear sketch-like; the elements are so delicate and lightly assembled that they seem as if they could fall apart at the slightest touch. This lightness is distinctive, reflecting her deep understanding of the medium, enriched by her knowledge of hand weaving.

A central theme is the play with representations of bodies, evoking expectations through partial forms and motifs. Yet, through skillfully integrated omissions and moments of disruption, she manages to break these expectations and leave them unfulfilled—a subtle refusal of the voyeuristic gaze.

Ismene was born in 1973 in Bochum. She lives and works in Berlin. She studied philosophy and completed an apprenticeship as a hand weaver. She draws inspiration from both disciplines for her work as a freelance artist, which she began in 2017.

Set, 2021 – Archival pigment print on FineArt paper with assemblage elements

Currently, Fee Kleiß explores the remnants of recent history: working experimentally, deconstructively, and almost archaeologically, she uncovers a complex network of connections between natural and culturally produced objects. She disassembles, transforms, and creates new relationships until the things lose their original meaning and fuse into something new.

In the works shown here, she combines found objects with deliberate compositions. Chance meets conceptual planning. Flat surfaces become spatial, conquering the room.

Fee Kleiß was born in 1984 in Kuchen, Germany. She initially studied Fine Arts and Philosophy in Mainz and later became a master student at the University of the Arts Berlin under Valérie Favre. She has received numerous awards and scholarships, including the Regina Pistor Prize, DAAD travel scholarship for Indonesia, Dorothea Konwiarz Scholarship, and the Paper Residency! scholarship. Her works have been exhibited in solo and group shows at Künstlerhaus Dortmund, Kunstverein Siegen, Atelierhof Kreuzberg, Salon Mutlu, Galerie Schwarz Contemporary, and various galleries and cultural venues in Copenhagen, Paris, and New York.

Ja Ja Ja, Nee Nee Nee, 1970 – Multiple / Vinyl Record, Edition 281/500

die erde spricht, 2021 – Poster

Design: Detlef Fiedler, Cyan, Berlin

Photo: Caroline Tisdall Published by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Düsseldorf

In the sound recording, Joseph Beuys rhythmically repeats the words “Ja ja ja, Nee Nee Nee.” It resembles a mantra-like chant — caught between affirmation and negation, between departure and retreat. The title itself constitutes the entire work: language becomes a sound body, an artistic gesture.

The ambivalent intonation evokes lamentations or ritual expressions heard at funerals. Beuys was inspired to create this sound piece after hearing mourning chants during a funeral. The work thus unfolds an existential tension between life and death, affirmation and denial, leaving space for personal interpretation through its simplicity.

“Ja Ja Ja, Nee Nee Nee” is an early multiple — a serially produced artwork — which Beuys issued in an edition of 500 copies. To make collecting his works accessible beyond the wealthy elite, he offered all 557 multiples at low prices during his lifetime.

The poster shows a famous portrait of Joseph Beuys, taken by British curator Caroline Tisdall in 1976. The inscription “die erde spricht” (“the earth speaks”) references the artist’s spiritual connection to nature, which deeply influenced his work until his death. It reflects his belief that nature is a living organism capable of communicating with humanity. The earth “speaks” through ecological disasters, climate change, and resource scarcity — we should listen and take responsibility.

The poster was published by the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia for Beuys’ 100th birthday. As part of the extensive PR campaign titled “beuys2021,” more than 20 other large-format neon-colored posters were produced, combining iconic portraits with powerful slogans from the artist.

(Text: Dr. Sarah Frost)

RHIZOME, 2022-2023 – Paper, Ink, Colored Pencils, Needle

Verena Freyschmidt works with chance as the driving force of her inspiration. From there, she sets deliberate accents, repeated with minimal variations.

In the series RHIZOME, the artist combines paper cutouts into an ever-changing wall installation. The abstract forms resemble elements from nature and invite viewers to glide along with the flow of the work.

Born in 1975 in Frankfurt am Main, Freyschmidt studied History and Art Education in Gießen and later Painting in Mainz and Düsseldorf. From 2015 to 2019, she held a teaching position at Alanus University in Bonn. Her works have been exhibited worldwide, including at Petaling Street Art Space in Malaysia; Galerie Maurer in Frankfurt/Main; and the Gallery of the University of Belgrade, Serbia. Among many awards and scholarships she has received, she won the Paper Art Award (Bronze) from Haus des Papiers in 2025.

Rider on the Storm / Nargis, 2020 – Print, embossing, wax

Jana Schumacher's primary artistic focus lies in abstract drawing and site-specific installations. Through these two contrasting modes of expression—fine and delicate on one side, large-scale and space-consuming on the other—she explores themes of unpredictability, form-finding between order and chaos, action and reaction, the fusion of art and science, and natural phenomena such as storms and cyclones.

During her Paper Residency, Schumacher's engagement with the material became increasingly physical. She used tools, machines, heat, liquids, and wax in her interventions. Working both indoors and outdoors, she pushed the boundaries of what paper could endure: embossing it on stone surfaces, scoring her large-format prints, sanding and heating their surfaces, and forcefully pressing materials into the paper until they re-emerged on the reverse side. A final layer of wax provided both a sealing effect and areas of partial translucency. The organic and uncontrollable quality of the wax creates a physical contrast to the manipulated digital print. Conceptually, the works created during her residency form a philosophical reflection on humanity’s attempt to impose order and control upon the elemental forces of nature.

Jana Schumacher was born in 1983 in Bonn, Germany. She studied design with a focus on drawing and graphics at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences. Since 2011, her works have been regularly exhibited, primarily in Germany and the United States. Since 2015, she has collaborated with her partner Drew Matott on teaching and workshop projects across the U.S.

a) Tree Branches, Yellow, 2023 – Embroidered on photo collage

b) Landscape Vessel (3), 2022 – Photographs sewn, thread

In the history of photography, the photograph was long regarded as a depiction of what was shown—conveying a seemingly objective view of the world. And yet, photographs are always only a fragment, revealing an individual or even arranged perspective of the subject. Artist Gisoo Kim adds another dimension to her personal photographic gaze through the use of needle and thread. In creating her photo collages, she works manually, placing each stitch deliberately by hand.

In the works presented here, Gisoo Kim uses thread as a drawing gesture. Lines separate or connect the elements of her analog photographs. The stitches can be read either as wounds or as repairs.

In her photo collage object Landscape Vessel, the threads are used to shape individual photos into a vessel-like form. Metaphorically, this vessel serves to receive and contain, while quite literally consisting of individual photographic fragments. From a distance, it appears as a confined container, but as the viewer approaches, the interior reveals lush, green landscapes. Different places and moments are linked together, offering a view into a new, self-contained world.

Gisoo Kim was born in 1971 in Seoul, South Korea, and currently lives and works in Essen, Germany. After studying sculpture at the City University in Seoul, she received travel grants that took her to Germany, Hungary, and Poland. She went on to study fine arts at the University of Fine Arts Hamburg and at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. Her works have been shown in numerous solo exhibitions in Germany, Portugal, and France, as well as in international group exhibitions, including in the USA and China. In 2023, she received the Silver Paper Art Award at Paper Position Berlin.

Untitled (O. T.), 2024 – Sumi-e Paper

Karolin Schwab connects the inner with the outer in her works. The visible with the invisible. Stillness and movement. Process and result. Nature and the human-made.

Based on an earlier work titled Floating Home, Schwab addresses the theme of “home” in the installation shown here, exploring its fragility and mutability. With delicate approach, she tackles a particularly heavy and urgent topic of our time.

Born in 1987 in Stralsund, Schwab lives and works in Berlin. After earning her Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of East London, she completed her Master of Fine Arts under Ai Wei Wei at the University of the Arts Berlin. Alongside numerous national and international exhibitions, she has received extensive scholarships and awards, including a place in the Paper Residency! 2024 program at Haus des Papiers in Berlin.

Clutch, 2010 – Onion skin paper

Anna Handick’s work stems from a fascination with nature and a concern for its preservation and restoration. Her artistic practice explores survival strategies and adaptations, dependencies, and symbioses—phenomena she aims to reflect back into society. She primarily works with natural materials, examining their possibilities and limitations to develop environmentally conscious artistic approaches.

In the work presented here, Anna Handick uses onion skins as an alternative raw material to create her delicate, paper-thin spheres.

Anna Handick was born in 1985 in Nuremberg, Germany. She currently lives and works in Nicaragua. She studied sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg under Claus Bury. Her works have been exhibited in numerous solo shows in Germany, Switzerland, and Nicaragua. She has received various grants, including the Debutant Award from the Bavarian State Ministry for Science, Research and the Arts and the Young Art Award from Artforum Ute Barth. Her works are part of the collection of the Fundación Ortíz Gurdián Museum in León, Nicaragua, and the Cultural Foundation of the Sparkasse Nuremberg. In 2020, she founded the project Abacaxi Artspace.

Untitled, 2025 – Red colored pencil on cut Hahnemühle Rice Paper, mounted on cardboard

Edition of 40 (available for purchase through us)

Hinsberg is one of the most prominent German artists who has significantly shaped the concept of so-called “space drawing” and the medium of paper cutting. Since the 1990s, her work has focused on drawing and various processes of its deconstruction. She draws and transforms the hand-drawn lines through cuts and perforations in the paper surfaces. Her works range from delicate paper-cut grids to expansive, floating paper strips, as well as interiors clad in colored paper. All of these are impressive examples that demonstrate how the medium of drawing has long surpassed the narrow definition of lines on paper.

The piece shown here, with its delicate form, embodies this transformation between drawing, relief, and three-dimensional object. The “usual” carrier—the paper—becomes the drawing itself, becomes line, yet also emerges as an emphasized body that seemingly floats, casting a gentle shadow on the background. The material itself takes center stage.

Born in 1967 in Karlsruhe, Hinsberg studied in Munich, Dresden, and Bordeaux. Alongside a professorship for drawing at HBK Bremen, she has been Professor of Conceptual Painting at HBKsaar Saarbrücken since 2011. She has received numerous scholarships, awards, and publications. Her works are exhibited internationally and held in various collections, including: Chinati Foundation, Marfa, TX; Graphische Sammlung, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich; Hamburger Kunsthalle; Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin; Kunstmuseum Stuttgart; Folkwang Museum, Essen; Museum of New Zealand, Wellington; Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe.

sixteen days of recording water (seven layers), 2022 – 7 different Hahnemühle papers, evaporated puddle water, environmental materials

The moment of total concentration

and intuitive devotion.

A symbiotic intimacy.

Adrenaline, heat, dirt, water, violence.

Reconciliation.

Testimony.

Jessica Maria Toliver communicates with paper as if it were a breathing organism. In her dialogue with the material, she incorporates found or manipulated structures, transforming them into paper cuts, drawings, spatial installations, and sculptures. Recently, Toliver has worked on multi-layered series that explore the contrast between rough, archaic forms and delicate fragility. The resulting works investigate paper on a highly abstracted and conceptual design level.

Born in 1976 in Coburg, Toliver lives and works in Schwerte, North Rhine-Westphalia. After assisting in set design in Dortmund and Berlin, she decided in 2008 to pursue independent visual art, focusing on paper ever since. Her works are part of museum collections such as the Gustav Lübcke Museum in Hamm and the Haus des Papiers in Berlin, as well as the Bürgerstiftung Rohrmeisterei in Schwerte and numerous private collections. She was a fellow of the Paper Residency! program in 2022.

a) One Leaf, One Day (20.03.–19.04.), 2024 – Colored pencil on paper, cut

b) ICE 563, Saarbrücken – Munich, 2024 – Colored pencil on paper, paper cut into thin strips

c) Behind the Square, 2025 – Acrylic between paper, scored and peeled

Suyoung Kim’s paper works move between drawing, collage, and sculptural object. Through precise cuts, layering, and subtle use of color, Kim explores the materiality of paper as an autonomous medium of space, movement, and memory. Her works appear both delicate and focused—as if the paper itself begins to speak a silent language. In the tension between surface and structure, reduction and density, Kim creates pictorial spaces that assert a quiet yet powerful presence.

Suyoung Kim was born in 1971 in South Korea and is currently active there. She lived in Germany for many years and received her MFA from the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in 2004. Her works have been exhibited internationally, including at the Seoul Museum of Art, Korea; Space CAN, Beijing, China; and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Gwacheon, Korea. Her works are part of several notable collections, including SeMA, the Asia Art Archive in Hong Kong, and the Artist Pension Trust Collection in New York.

Kitsune Lady, 2021 – Papier-mâché object

Leiko Ikemura is considered one of the most significant contemporary artists of our time. Her paintings and sculptural works revolve around themes of transformation and the fusion of human and nature. The hybrid creatures and mythical beings she portrays are always depicted in a hazy, liminal state—frozen in the act of becoming. A defining feature of her practice is the ability to merge two vastly different spheres: European and pan-Asian culture. Her quiet landscapes and predominantly female hybrid figures often express a sense of ambiguity and delve into the depths of human nature.

While Ikemura’s sculptures are usually made from bronze, terracotta, or glass, she has now, for the first time, created a three-dimensional work in paper specifically for the Haus des Papiers. In doing so, she expanded one of her most iconic series of resting heads with two new pieces in brilliant white papier-mâché. The raw, unpolished white surface, combined with delicately modeled facial features, subtly evokes the inspiration behind the work: the Kitsune—a mythical ice fox spirit that takes the form of a beautiful young woman. The dreamlike presence of Ikemura’s work is always captivating, but here, an additional quality has emerged: physical lightness.

In Kitsune Lady, this is especially apparent—a fragile form, a breath of paper.

Time seems suspended. Everything comes to rest. Breath fills us, like life.

Leiko Ikemura was born in 1951 in Tsu, Japan. At the age of 21, she moved to Europe to study literature, later switching to painting in Seville. She has received numerous awards, including the August Macke Prize (2009) and the German Critics’ Prize for Visual Arts (2001). From 1990 to 2015, she taught at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK). Her works have been shown internationally at venues such as Kunsthalle Karlsruhe; Kunstmuseum Basel; MCBA Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne; Museum of East Asian Art, Cologne; the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; Nevada Museum of Art, Reno; and Weserburg Museum of Modern Art, Bremen, among others. Her work is held in collections including Centre Georges-Pompidou, Paris; the art museums of Basel, Bern, and Zurich; Kunsthalle Nürnberg; and Museum Kunstpalast Düsseldorf.

Aurora #10, 2025 – Archival pigment print on Japanese paper, double-layered, framed with museum glass

Aurora #22, 2025 – Archival pigment print on white gold

Astrid Busch transforms entire spaces, yet she does so with a gentle and restrained approach. In her site-specific installations, she combines photography with a variety of materials, ranging from her own photographs to archival finds. All these elements are brought together into multimedia compositions that unfold spatially, forming mosaic-like arrangements that nevertheless remain closely tied to their respective sites.

Astrid Busch was born in 1968 in Krefeld, Germany. She studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg and the Weißensee Academy of Art in Berlin, where she was a master student under Prof. Katharina Grosse. Her works are included in numerous collections, including Hetjens – German Ceramic Museum, Düsseldorf; Kunststiftung NRW, Düsseldorf; Neuer Berliner Kunstverein and the Museum of Technology, Berlin; and the Museum of Applied Arts, Gera, among others.

Cluster, 2021 – Installation of 20 Vinyl Records’ Covers Wrapped in Cellophane

Rosemarie Trockel is one of the most significant and influential German conceptual artists of our time. For over three decades, she has ranked among the top echelons of the global art scene. Her wide-ranging oeuvre deliberately resists easy classification and includes collages, video installations, drawings, ceramics, and knitted pictures. These latter works brought her worldwide fame from the mid-1980s onward: her machine-made “wool pictures” and “knitted helmets” often featured culturally and politically charged motifs and patterns. They ironically referenced the cliché of traditional “women’s work,” striking a chord in their era. Trockel frequently comments on women’s roles in society and the art world, often reversing or subverting them, sometimes delivering social critique that is subtle, sometimes humorously provocative.

When asked about the material paper, Trockel responds with packaging art. Here, the material is encountered in an already industrially recycled form. “If the cellophane remains sealed, it is art. If you tear it open, it becomes an everyday object.” For the museum, Trockel presents a Cluster composed of strictly arranged and conceptually organized LP covers. The motifs on these packaging objects correspond with each other, and their dialogue generates a background noise of associative chains. There is no escape; viewers are compelled to engage with encoded visual messages and to take a stance. Am I for it? Am I against it? In our modern everyday language, mutilated by icons and emoticons and reduced to simple images, Trockel’s complex image fragments touch upon the collective subconscious. Her messages are not simple. They disrupt.

Born in 1952 in Schwerte, Trockel studied at the Cologne Werkschulen but struck out on her own path in the early 1980s. After solo exhibitions in Cologne and Bonn, her work gained significant attention especially in the USA, with shows at MoMA New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, among others. She has received numerous prestigious awards and participated in key exhibitions, including being the first woman to exhibit in the German Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 1999. Other highlights include Skulptur Projekte Münster (2007), Documenta X and XIII in Kassel, and major museum retrospectives at the MMK Museum for Modern Art in Frankfurt and Museum Ludwig in Cologne. Many of her works are part of important collections worldwide. From 1998 to 2016, she was a professor at the Düsseldorf Art Academy. In 2012, she co-founded the Cologne cultural institution Akademie der Künste der Welt. She was a fellow of the Paper Residency! program.

1. JOSEPH BEUYS

Poster Hamburger Kunsthalle (Earth Telephone), 1992 – Offset on paper, Courtesy CESA Collection, Berlin

Poster Kunstmuseum Bonn (Urobject. Earth Telephone), 1997 – Offset on paper, Courtesy CESA Collection, Berlin

Poster Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt (Earth Telephone) – Offset on paper, Courtesy CESA Collection, Berlin

For Joseph Beuys, the preservation of nature was a lifelong concern. “Art is the only form in which environmental problems can be solved,” he stated in a 1978 interview with Die Zeit magazine. This conviction was evident not only in long-term agroecological projects such as 7000 Oaks (1982–87), where he planted 7,000 oak trees for documenta 7 in Kassel, more than doubling the local tree population. Even his early work Urobject – Earth Telephone from 1967 admonishes the lost connection between humans and nature: No connection at this number? Who is sender or receiver remains ambiguous in this multi-interpretable sculpture. The Paper Future Labs by Haus des Papiers shows posters from the Hamburger Kunsthalle and Kunstmuseum Bonn promoting their collections featuring the Earth Telephone.

Joseph Beuys, an action artist and sculptor, was born in 1921 in Krefeld. From 1946 to 1952, he studied painting and sculpture at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and later became a master student of Ewald Mataré. From 1961 to 1972, he held a professorship at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, from which he was dismissed due to his advocacy for admitting all students without numerus clausus and repeated occupation of the secretary’s office. This was based on his concept of an “expanded notion of art.” Beuys engaged deeply with humanism, social philosophy, and anthroposophy. He died in 1986 in Düsseldorf. In 1979, the Guggenheim Museum in New York held a retrospective of his work. (Text: Sarah Frost)

2. EVA BULLERMANN

Petri Dish 1 – Carboxymethylcellulose, Glycerin

Petri Dish 2 – Foam from Carboxymethylcellulose and Microcrystalline Cellulose

Petri Dish 3 – Carboxymethylcellulose, Glycerin – dried on various substrates

Vial 1 – Eggshell membrane

Vial 2 – Luffa sponge gourd

Vial 3 – Skin between leek layers

Vial 4 – Leek layer

Air cushions from Carboxymethylcellulose, Glycerin glued with wheat starch paste

Framed:Carboxymethylcellulose, Glycerin – pattern generated with the Grasshopper program showing formation of shape through water and air in plantsCarboxymethylcellulose, Glycerin, air-filled chamber glued with wheat starch paste – sample from highly concentrated gelsCarboxymethylcellulose, Glycerin, onion cell pattern3D print from PLA (Polylactide) – sample

In her master’s thesis titled “Shaping with Cellulose, Air, and Water”, Bullermann investigates the possibilities of using stable, biodegradable structures of cellulose fibers. Inspired by nature, Eva Bullermann attempts to create resource-efficient complex structures that incorporate air and water as materials in the design process. The displayed samples show models made from the cellulose derivative carboxymethylcellulose, commonly used as a thickening agent in the food industry. Derived from cellulose, it can be mixed with water into a viscous gel, which can be cast, foamed, and dried into shape.

Eva Bullermann (*1993, Bavarian Forest) is a textile and surface designer. Her artistic work focuses on the formation of shape in biological materials and material design. She recently worked as a project assistant and designer in the Matters of Activity project CollActive Materials, where speculative design was tested as a method of science communication through workshops.

3. ESTHER STÖGERER + JANNIS KEMPKENS

BLACK LIQUOR, 2020 – Prototype shoe

Black Liquor complete catalog with all materials

Petri Dish 1 – Raw material spruce shavings

Petri Dish 2 – Recycled cotton fiber

Petri Dish 3 – Recycled cellulose

Petri Dish 4 – Coffee grounds

Esther Kaya Stögerer and Jannis Kempkens, former graduates of Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin, work as designers in material research. Esther focuses on sustainability in the fashion industry and its supply chains. Jannis concentrates on material transformation in the context of waste and overproduction. Within the Black Liquor research project, they collaborate with an interdisciplinary network of partners to develop materials and products based on lignin, a by-product of biorefineries and the global paper and pulp industry.

Black Liquor uses lignin to create materials for the furniture and fashion industries, promoting a paradigm shift from petroleum-based to bio-based materials and products.

Together with other designers, they founded the design studio Circology, which focuses on material research and circular product design.

4. SOLVEIG GUBSER

Paper Inks

Alongside her work as a designer, Gubser intensively engages with drawing, installation, intervention, and photography. Her focus is on process-oriented, generative work, serially developed visual language, and its further development possibilities. Elements of chance, found objects, and everyday observations from nature and life are inspiration and starting points for her work.

The excerpt shown here from her work Paper Inks explores the recycling of used colors on and within paper. Notepads, which serve as an important source of ideas during her artistic process, are recycled at the end of a project by extracting the inks. The filtered, collected, and labeled inks are stored in the bottles shown here. Gubser then investigates the inks’ durability, light sensitivity, and reuse possibilities.

Solveig Gubser (b. 1984) is a designer (MA Industrial Design, UdK Berlin) and freelance artist from Switzerland. She currently lives and works in Denmark.

5. LEONIE TSCHERNICH

Momi, 2024 – Momigami technique, paper, wax, konnyaku starch (shoe prototype)

The shoe concept Momi uses paper as an upper material that is transformed into a fabric-like material through the Momigami technique, made water-repellent by a natural wax coating. It retains the advantageous properties of paper, such as easy printability, seamless foldability, and natural dyeability. This opens countless new possibilities for color and material design in footwear.

This prototype was created as part of the Paper Products semester project at the Faculty of Design at the Technical University of Nuremberg, led by Prof. Olaf Thiele in the Computer Generated Object Design module.

Born in 2004, Tschernich lives and studies in Nuremberg, focusing on typography, computer-generated object design, and UI design.

6. JOY SCHOELLER

Etoui, 2024 – Sugarcane by-products, cotton-latex rubber, glue

Etoui stands for “And yes” in the sense of sustainability, style, and design. The paper is made 100% from sugarcane by-products and sealed with a cotton-latex rubber. This tooth care case offers nature lovers, whether outdoors or traveling, a sustainable alternative to conventional plastic or polyester cases.

This prototype was also created as part of the Paper Products semester project at the Faculty of Design at the Technical University of Nuremberg, led by Prof. Olaf Thiele in the Computer Generated Object Design module.

Joy Schoeller trained as a technical model maker in her family business Leif Schoeller. She attended the Technical High School for Design in Nuremberg and is now studying design at the Technical University of Nuremberg with focuses on computer-generated object design, graphic, spatial, and event design.

7. NICHOLAS PLUNKETT

Fecal Matters, 2019 – Cellulose, pectin, natural dyes

Lobke Beckfeld, Elisabetta Goltermann, Nicholas Plunkett, Melissa Kramer

Can recycled hygienic paper be worn as clothing or even used as tableware? Where do our reservations about this recycled material come from, and can they be overcome? These questions were explored by Nicholas Plunkett, Elisabetta Goltermann, Melissa Kramer, and Lobke Beckfeld in the greenlab research laboratory at Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin. The greenlab’s overarching theme focuses on the circular economy model, which opposes the linear usage model by advocating cyclical reuse: non-biodegradable materials should be kept continuously in production and reuse cycles, while biodegradable materials return to nature as nutrients.

In the Fecal Matters project, the team examined design potentials and applications of cellulose reclaimed from wastewater toilet paper. Approximately 83 million rolls of toilet paper are produced worldwide daily, requiring the felling of about 27,000 trees every day for international consumption. The project experimentally and practically explores ways to reintegrate cellulose into another material cycle and process it into textiles.

The greenlab at Weißensee Kunsthochschule connects practice-oriented research projects with industry to develop innovative concepts for sustainable and environmentally friendly products and services.

8. RELEAF PAPER

Shopping bag – Recycled urban leaves

Releaf Paper is a young, innovative company transforming green waste into valuable raw materials for the paper and packaging industry. By combining scientific and entrepreneurial enthusiasm, they change public perception regarding responsible resource use in paper production.

Founded in 2021 in Ukraine through the collaboration of a talented scientist and a successful entrepreneur, Releaf Paper extracts valuable fibers from urban green waste (such as fallen leaves, which are often seen as garbage) and processes them into innovative paper products.

9. TU MUNICH, Campus Straubing for Biotechnology and Sustainability - Felicitas von Usslar, Alexander Helmbrecht, Dr. Cordt Zollfrank

Balsa wood after delignification

Beech wood, untreated cross-sections

Various wood samples at different stages of surface delignification

Dried cellulose foam – made from bacterial cellulose

Cottonid samples

The project “From Wood to Paper” at the Chair of Biogenic Polymers at TU Munich demonstrates the transformation of wood into cellulose and further into paper.

Starting materials such as balsa and beech wood are chemically delignified, where the lignin is removed while preserving the cellulose structure. Various stages of delignification are documented, from solid wood through cellulose fibers to paper variants. Innovative materials like bacterial cellulose foam and Cottonid are also presented. Microscopic images illustrate the structural changes during the process. The project highlights the conversion of wood into sustainable paper and cellulose products.

Dr. Cordt Zollfrank leads the Chair of Biogenic Polymers at the Technical University of Munich’s Straubing Campus. Alexander Helmbrecht works as a research associate and doctoral candidate at the Chair of Biogenic Polymers under Prof. Zollfrank. He previously studied Renewable Resources (Bachelor and Master) at TU Munich, Straubing Campus, and joined the chair in October 2021. Felicitas von Usslar is also a research associate and doctoral candidate at the same chair. After undergraduate studies in chemistry, she specialized in inorganic and applied materials science in her Master’s program. A research semester at Stockholm University deepened her enthusiasm for cellulose research before joining the chair at the end of 2021.

Untitled (O.T.), 2024 – Layered paper, glued, cut

Kulu Ojha’s works are more than images – they are spatial experiences. They engage the viewer directly, opening a dialogue between inner and outer worlds, between the picture plane and imagination.

Deeply rooted in the cultural heritage of his home region of Odisha, Ojha integrates elements of traditional architecture and geometry into his work – particularly those found in the region’s historic temple complexes. At the same time, he incorporates influences from other eras, such as the perforated patterns of the jalis from India’s Persian period. The result is a series of hybrid visual worlds that merge past and future, culture and nature, reality and fiction. His working process is as unique as it is time-consuming. Ojha composes his pieces through subtraction: multi-layered sheets of laminated paper are manually cut, individual layers revealed, and finally assembled into panel-like compositions. These meditative processes, carried out with precision and attention to detail, produce works that radiate a quiet, contemplative intensity.

Kulu Ojha was born in 1989 in Odisha, India, and studied graphic arts at M.S. University in Baroda. His works have been shown at the India Art Fair, Paper Positions Berlin, and the Art Center Silkeborg Bad in Denmark, among others. He has participated in artist residencies in both Mannheim and Kolkata. Ojha is the 2025 Silver Winner of the Paper Art Award.

Untitled (from the series The Chinese Version), 2015 – Embossing on Handmade Paper

As a multimedia artist, Jia’s practice encompasses installation, sculpture, photography, and performance. Having studied and worked in both China and the USA and currently living in Berlin, Jia reflects in her work on both Western and Chinese cultural norms. She questions how our cultural context influences the way we read images, as well as the impact of technological developments on intercultural communication.

Jia’s interest goes beyond visual language; for example, in her series The Chinese Version, she explores the relationship between the aesthetic qualities of Chinese characters and their semantic function. In 1952, Mao Zedong mandated the simplification of Chinese characters under the pretext of improving the literacy of the population. Jia considers this claim a fallacy—not only because literacy rates have not increased significantly since, but also due to the resulting loss of expressive possibilities.

According to Jia, the simplification of Chinese characters has undermined the centuries-old ability of calligraphers to convey complex ideas relying on both the visual and semantic potential of the written text. She argues that by restricting written language, we limit critical thinking—a mechanism to control an entire population. In the works of The Chinese Version series, Jia uses both simplified and “lost” or forbidden characters. Although they appear printed, Jia carefully painted each character with a brush. The piece exhibited in the museum is an edition featuring embossed characters on paper.

Born in Beijing in 1979, Jia co-founded The Practice Society (of Independent Film) in China. After studying architecture at the North China University of Technology (Beijing), she completed a master’s degree in traditional Chinese drama at the Chinese National Academy of Art (Beijing). Jia has lived and worked in Berlin since 2009 and has participated in numerous international group and solo exhibitions in galleries and museums. In 2022, Jia was selected by ArtConnect as one of the ‘Artists to Watch ‘22’.

My Mirror, 2022 – Perforated paper

Amparo Sard’s work centers on the essence of being human. In her image compositions, she explores the relationship between the self and the collective world of thoughts surrounding it.

Her finely pierced paper artworks consistently feature self-portraits combined with recurring symbols and visual elements. She leaves the interpretation of her often deeply enigmatic and, despite realistic elements, abstract compositions open to the viewer. The technique she developed and perfected—paper piercing—allows her to precisely depict dreamlike and nightmarish scenes and beings. She creates hybrid creatures: humans merged with plants, places, garments, or situations. These beings have limbs that appear natural but could never exist as such in nature.

In her works, Sard exploits the pliability and formability of the willing material, compelling it with needle, body warmth, and the guided pressure of her hands into three-dimensional narratives.

Amparo Sard was born in 1973 in Mallorca, Spain. She studied at the University of Barcelona and the New School University in New York, earning her doctorate in 2018 from the University of Barcelona. She has received several awards, including the Golden Medal Award from the Italian government and the First National Award in the Deutsche Bank Identity Competition in Berlin. Her solo and group exhibitions have been shown worldwide, including in the USA, the Netherlands, Portugal, Germany, and Morocco.