Kunst – Numéro Berlin

SCHAU, FENSTER AT KADEWE: IN CONVERSATION WITH SEBASTIAN HOFFMANN

Anna Klusmeier — Fri, 02 May 2025 11:15:13 +0000

From April 22 to May 10, 2025, KaDeWe becomes a site of transformation – turning its iconic display windows for the first time into a public exhibition space. Curated by Sebastian Hoffmann and featuring contributions from ten different artists and galleries, SCHAU, FENSTER at KaDeWe is an official part of the Gallery Weekend Berlin 2025 program.

Sebastian Hoffmann shares how the project came to life, the curatorial thinking behind it and what shifts when display windows are reimagined as an art gallery.

Numéro Berlin: To start with, could you tell us a bit about your background and your work as a curator?

Sebastian Hoffmann: I worked in the art trade for quite a bit, as a co-gallerist organizing exhibitions and programs. Two and a half years ago, two friends and I founded an interior firm called Tadan – we like to call ourselves “decorators”. So I’m surprised curating has remained a part of what we do and as important to me as before. The spectrum between decorating and curating is narrower than I thought. They’re really not the same, however, they’re both about relating things to each other and spaces, situations.

How did your collaboration with KaDeWe come about?

We’d done a couple of smaller projects before, including a loan for the brasserie upstairs – black-and-white photographs by the Latvian artist Edgars Gluhovs, of a wine tasting and paired with a quote from “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”: “Anybody with their nose pressed against a glass is liable to look stupid.“ After that, I jokingly ended an email with: “Next up – the windows…”

So it started out as a joke?

That kind of joke you wish becomes a reality. And then, a few weeks later, they somehow picked it up and asked if we could talk about it. KaDeWe had collaborated with artists before, but I wanted to do something with no products from the store. Then we had the idea to align it with Gallery Weekend. That’s why all participating artists are represented by galleries involved in the festival’s program.

What’s your personal connection to KaDeWe?

I’ve been going there since the ’90s – mostly with my grandmother. Whenever she said her lipstick had run out, I knew we were going to KaDeWe. In hindsight, it was probably just an excuse, no lipstick’s gone that quickly – but it becamone of our rituals. I live nearby now, still go often, even just to wander around.

What were the biggest challenges in curating this kind of gallery?

How did you combine your own curatorial vision with the commercial demands of the project?

Very much. They were in for all the irritation. And it works – if you hang around the storefront for 20 minutes, you’ll see all kinds of reactions from passersby and learn so much. Highly recommended!

You also talk about the window as an artistic medium. What exactly does that mean for you?

Each window is a different case. Benjamin Heisenberg’s video piece, for example, runs on old TVs – like in a vintage electronics store. Isabella Ducrot’s large-scale painting functions like a stage set. Every window required its own approach.

How does curating in public space differ from working in a gallery?

You reach people who didn’t actively decide to look at art. Most come across this exhibition by accident. Sometimes one person stops and others follow, changing the dynamic entirely. That’s also why we wanted the windows to be as heterogeneous as possible.

How thin is the line between art and commercial display when art is shown in a shop window?

Very thin – and that’s what makes it exciting and adds more potential to the works shown. Pamela Rosenkranz’s “Pour Yourself“, a set of Evian bottles could easily be mistaken for a product display. John Miller’s “Dress Rehearsal for the Revolution“ is a band consisting of mannequins, this band is entirely confusing in all their dead-pan glory. For this work, the project is a „homecoming“, somehow.

What did you focus on when selecting the artists?

Some names and even works came to mind immediately – Josefine Reich, John Miller, Saâdane Afif who, with his ready-made approach, created a minimal yet effective work using reflective road sign foil – even the windowpane becomes part of the piece.

You reference the tradition of 1960s New York window displays. What inspires you about that?

Artists like Warhol, Rauschenberg, or Jasper Johns worked with or for department store windows with creative freedom of sorts but always with products from the stores.

What does it mean for art to be accessible around the clock, outside of institutional opening hours?

It’s a gift. The displays are especially striking at night – with movement, light, reflections. The city becomes part of the work. People are more focused, less distracted. The viewing experience is different at every part of the day.

What happens when curated art meets an accidental audience?

New meanings emerge. Alexandra Bircken’s window shows a sculpture containing motorbike gas tanks, hair, fire – familiar but disorienting elements. It catches people and that tension between recognition and confusion creates engagement.

What do you take away from this project for your future work?

Optimism. The collaboration was smooth – with all the galleries, especially the artists and the store. And it’s a reminder: irritation is a good thing. It opens doors, especially outside traditional spaces.

And finally – if someone passes by a window and stops, what would you consider a successful encounter with the art?

People actually stopping, really looking – maybe even missing their bus. Or the father who came with his daughter three days in a row to pick a new favorite window each day. That’s the best thing that could happen.

MEET THE WOMEN HARD TO THE CORE- Croft & Kidney Bishop’s debut book shines a light on the ladies of the UK’s bodybuilding community

Anna Klusmeier — Tue, 22 Mar 2022 13:16:45 +0000

^{Picture courtesy of Celia Croft}

CORE – “ part of something that is central to its existence or character.” as defined by the English dictionary, perfectly encapsulates the air around London-based photographer Celia Croft’s debut Photobook alongside Art Director Kate Kidney-Bishop. A bronzed, diamante-encrusted Ode to the women of the UK’s bodybuilding community, ‘CORE’ flexes its muscles, championing the Glamazons competing across multiple divisions of an otherwise male-centric sport. The athletes dedicate a large portion of their lives to regimental training and structure, especially around competition season, all while being busy, hard-working women across their individual trades. Launched under female-run publishers CHERRYBOY , the book features 42 glossy images, chronicling the athletes in all their taut, stoic glory. Placed somewhere between stylized and documentary, Croft and Kidney-Bishop’s series documents the subjects in both fantastical hyperbole (donning hair to the ceiling and acrylic nails that could kill) as well as the reality of comradery they share between them.

^{Picture courtesy of Celia Croft}

Underneath the layers of golden tan, sparkly acrylic heels, and rock solid abdominals, what is really at the core of the project is a sense of subverting the archetype of femininity. Showcasing both amplified hyper-femme attributes paired with supreme physical strength, usually synonymous with men. These women wear their devotion to their craft on their literal sleeves in the form of rock-hard biceps and immaculately sculpted physiques typically seen on the marble sculptures of Michelangelo. Both avid spectators to the subculture, Croft and Kidney-Bishop’s objective was to portray the athletes as their utmost authentic selves letting them use their own competition bikinis and poses, merely embellishing them with quaffed bouffants, stark lighting and occasionally a prop sword. The book communicates the pairs admiration of these women in the playful sincerity of the body of work, amongst images of muscle flexing, glitzy headshots and playful set-ups, small glimpses of the women interacting with one another, posing for selfies reveal the sense of kinship amongst a group of athletes who are usually competitors.

But who are the women behind the sculpted wigs and glittery quads? Found through surfing Facebook groups and bodybuilder forums, Croft and Kidney-Bishop strung together their squad of muscle mavens through social media and word-of-mouth recommendations by the women. “I just had a message through Instagram. I went down to London for the first shoot and they told me roughly what kind of things to bring. The second shoot they came to Norwich we did it near my local gym.” explains the book’s covergirl, Norfolk based professional dancer and PT Vicci Lee. “The pictures I’m really proud of, I couldn’t believe it was me. It was just insane and it was great to work alongside such talented girls who knew exactly what they wanted.” This kudos also shared by one of the other main faces of the project Andrea Beers, “I loved their quirky twist … the girls were so great and it was an absolute pleasure to work with them, I’m very honoured and very privileged I was able to take part in it.” A Hairdresser by day and in her free time World Championship finalist (alongside accolades from competitions like UKBFF, IBFA and FITX) Beers revealed her roots as a dancer stemmed her start as a powerlifter, eventually progressing into competitive bodybuilding after watching a friend compete. A commonality shared both with herself and Lee being that they started training young as teenagers with dancing backgrounds, the women both furthered themselves through regimental training, Lee inspired by the physiques of athletes from shows like Gladiator and Beers with power-lifting began sculpting their bodies to superhero proportion, in the hope to kickstart their athletic careers.

^{Picture courtesy of Mari Kuno}

This common-ground of hard graft and respect to the sport is whatcreates the inherent sense of community that exudes from them, Beers gushed, “there is so much pleasure in seeing someone succeed and we may all be competitors but there is nothing but love and friendship backstage. You may be keeping an eye on the side to see what your competition is looking like but in the same breath, it’s brilliant… There seems to be a special bond somewhere.”

“It’s really great this book has come out to show female solidarity, I’m a big believer of girl power right from the spice girls in the 90’s, that is definitely my vibe always has been, it always will be!”

-Vicci Lee

^{Picture courtesy of Mari Kuno}

Both went on to reveal how even in one of the most visually gendered sports there is a level playing-field between the sexes, dismissing the idea that they face any gender-based obstacles or imbalances while in competition. “We all get treated the same, we all are treated really fairly at the shows, it’s all very well done, everyone has their moment to shine” explains Lee. Beers went on to clarify, “When it comes to bodybuilding and competing you’ve got to put the graft in so regardless of whether you’re male or female you’ve got to have your diet, training, off-season spot on. You need to train hard” The more the women explained, the more evident it became that the common misconception of female bodybuilders is that what they do is entirely rooted in the visual aspect. Yes, this is a key component, however understanding their sentiments to the craft, is to understand it’s a cathartic process of self-improvement and release, outside of the realm of vanity. The competitive aspect is just a symbolic pat-on-the-back for their hard work and determination, yet both Vicci Lee, Andrea Beers and all the women of the CORE project prove that the art of bodybuilding is an exercise in taking full autonomy of your body and smashing any binary idea of physique to create your own ideal, on your own terms.

^{Picture courtesy of Celia Croft}

CORE by Celia Croft and Kate Kidney Bishop is out now, published by CHERRYBOY.

Words by Adam Last

Pictures by Celia Croft & Mari Kuno