Sensual surfaces seduce the eye, inviting the viewer to simply enjoy. Karin Kneffel paints canvasses that exert a magical attraction. Her realist painting draws the viewer into sophisticated visual worlds in which her skillful arrangement of formal ornaments and the interplay of colors blend into an optical fireworks display. However, the works retain a secretive aloofness, as if the perfect, inviting, yet sealed-off surface is deliberately preventing a closer look.

Works by László Moholy-Nagy and other renowned contemporary artists-scientists are counterposed with those of two newcomers. They all trace the poetry and magic that evoke the interplay of light and shadow. The installation illuminates a path from our human existence in the universe, to the stars, to the hereafter, eternity, infinity, to the extra-terrestrial, where things play out that we cannot contemplate which both frighten and fascinate us at the same time.

A major figure in contemporary art, Jeff Wall has deeply transformed the way we think about photography. By aligning it with a broader pictorial tradition and appraising it in its relations to other arts – painting first, but also cinema and literature – he has redefined its essence and extended the field of its possibilities. © Jeff Wall

The academic field dealing with the inner structure of the body is directly at the interface of art and science. The precise documentation of the body for teaching purposes was formerly mostly the result of close collaboration between visual artists and anatomists. While macroscopic anatomy deals with things that are visible to the naked eye, today’s focus is on cell biology and, therefore, on the molecular level. (ERES-Stiftung) © Thomas Struth