EXO - wonder what your garden looks like

In the organizer's words:

The artists' collective is exhibiting for the first time and cordially invites you to the Kunsthaus Essen. EXO - that's Josefine Henning Bösherz, Christina Sauer, Marlon Bösherz and Kayo Goede.

Under the title "wonder what your garden looks like", the exhibition opens up a multi-layered dialog between installation, sculpture, book art, poetry and painting. In their diversity, the artistic positions resemble the diversity of a garden - as a living space full of contrasts and cycles.

The garden becomes a symbol: for life, fading and new beginnings. An invisible connection is created between the works, a concentration on the moment in which transience becomes the source of something new. The garden appears as a place of remembrance, as a meeting place for the most diverse existences - a place where the private and the public meet.

Time and again, man comes into view: as intervener, designer, cultivator. The garden can thus be experienced not only as a naturally grown space, but also as a man-made utopia of an ideal nature.

Opening: 16.05.2025 from 7 pm. All artists will be present. There will also be a performative reading as part of the vernissage.

Josefine Henning Bösherz (she/her *1993 in Marburg) is a multimedia artist from Essen. Since graduating in 2020 in fine arts with Jochen Stenschke at the HKS Ottersberg, she has had solo and group exhibitions throughout Europe in cities such as London, Barcelona, Vienna, Kassel, Berlin and Hamburg. She has been nominated several times for various scholarships and prizes and received a scholarship from the Kunstfonds, Senator for Culture in Bremen, in 2022.

Her art moves in the media: painting, drawing, sculpture, performance, poetry and printing techniques and is characterized by a feminist approach. In line with this queer-feminist orientation of her artistic work, she has also trained as a sex educator and is chairwoman of the equal opportunities commission at the HKS Ottersberg, where she has been a lecturer in painting and drawing since 2020.

Since 2024, she has been a part-time guest student at the Düsseldorf Art Academy in Lena Newton's stage design class. Henning-Bösherz works repeatedly and passionately in group contexts. Among other things, an elementary component of her artistic work is the collaboration with her partner Marlon Bösherz, with whom she exhibits and performs as a duo.

Christina Sauer (she/her/*1998 in Herrenberg) is a multimedia artist, stage and costume designer based in Düsseldorf. She began her education at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart and is now studying at the Düsseldorf Art Academy under Lena Newton. She has had exhibitions, performances and theater productions throughout Germany, mainly in the independent scene.

Marlon Bösherz (*1992 in Dorsten) already published hand-bound editions of his poetry and organized performative readings during his studies at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. Bösherz tours throughout Europe with the band Botticelli Baby and his artistic performances, readings and works have taken him to group and solo exhibitions in Vienna, New York, London, Hamburg, Kassel, Düsseldorf and Mettmann. From 2019 to 2020, he moved into a studio on the Seine with a grant from the Cité des Arts. He also works as a guest lecturer and teacher in Ottersberg and Düsseldorf. He graduated in 2023 as a master student of John Morgan. He was also an assistant to Durs Grünbein for many years. He lives and works in Essen.

Kayo Goede (no pronouns/*1993 in Cologne) lives and works in Cologne. In summer 2024 Kayo graduated from the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf as a master student of Lena Newton. The collectively curated graduation room, with Margareta Bartelmeß and Robert Rickli, was awarded the Art Academy Prize for Graduates. In 2023 Kayo received the Deutschlandstipendium. Kayo's oeuvre operates at the interface between installation, sculpture, stage design and performance, in which the sensual experience of (plant) materials plays an important role. In both individual and collective work, Kayo sees artistic creation as a potential for joint reflection on socio-political issues. Already during her studies, several group exhibitions and interdisciplinary projects resulted in cooperation with the Schauspielhaus Düsseldorf, Kunstpalast Düsseldorf, Augustiner Museum in Austria, BBK Düsseldorf, Tanzstation Barmer Bahnhof, Cheers for Fears and other institutions and art associations. In May 2025, Kayo's first solo show will be on display at BaustelleSchaustelle Essen.

The exhibition is made possible by a grant from the Cultural Office of the City of Essen.

Free admission. Pre-registration not necessary.

Opening hours: Mon 5 - 8 pm, Fri to Sun 3 - 6 pm