Ausstellungseröffnung Peter Kaaden

In the organizer's words:

Exhibition & video installation: "GOOD" by Peter Kaaden

Opening: Friday, June 27, 2025, 18:00-22:00
Location: DER__RAUM, Annastraße 38, Essen-Rüttenscheid
Aftershow party: Hotel Shanghai

With the exhibition "GOOD", internationally renowned photographer and director Peter Kaaden returns to the place where his visual language originated: Essen. The exhibition will be shown in the newly opened project space DER__RAUM in Rüttenscheid - curated by the Essen-based collective Zinnober e.V.

On display is a selection of open work prints from the last few years - unsorted, raw, direct. Not a classically framed gallery presentation, but a deliberately fragmentary insight into a visual archive that has grown over the years. It is about bodies, night, proximity, pop culture - and everything in between.

At the center is the video installation "GOOD" (2025) - an experimental short film that Kaaden created in close collaboration with CGI artist Nikol Mlinova. Inspired by classical symbolism, biblical motifs and the photographs of science photographer Lennart Nilsson, the film interweaves real footage with computer-generated images, deliberately shifting the boundaries between reality and abstraction.

"GOOD" tells of birth and death, love, time and transformation - an abstract journey through life itself. The film was made shortly after the death of Kaaden's father, which is deeply inscribed in his visual language. A decoupled voice leads through the sequences, while a dense, immersive soundscape fills the room. With vocals and live performance by Markus Nikolaus (formerly Lea Porcelain), who will accompany the evening musically.

Peter Kaaden was born in Essen in 1989. He spent his early years between clubs, concerts and the streets of the city - an environment that had a lasting influence on his visual language. After an apprenticeship as a photographer in his home town and a short period of study in Dortmund, he moved to New York, where he worked for Ryan McGinley, among others. He later became head of photography at Rolling Stone Magazine, published several books (Mittelkinder, Gold & Silber) and exhibited his work worldwide. Kaaden now lives and works in Paris.

The fact that "GOOD" is being shown in Essen is no coincidence - it is a return, an homage and a thank-you at the same time. To the Ruhr region, to friendship, to making without distance.
Following the exhibition, Peter Kaaden is hosting an after-show party at Hotel Shanghai, his "old base". There will be drinks, music - and perhaps a spontaneous DJ set. Only hits. Of course.

Exhibition:
"GOOD" by Peter Kaaden
June 27, 2025, 18:00-22:00
DER__RAUM - Annastraße 38 - Essen-Rüttenscheid
Live: Markus Nikolaus