Anna Kasten – “Bootshaus”
Folding diagrams / Computer art

Dates: 16 November to 20 December 2026
Opening: 16 November 2026 at 7.00 pm
Introduction: Dr Johannes Schmidt / art historian

“May you always have a hand’s breadth of water under your keel” [Idiom]

The exhibition “Bootshaus” presents a unique collection of computer-generated images, created over a period of ten years, from 2010 to 2020. The exhibition offers an insight into the creative development of an artist who has consistently and intensively utilised digital image-making as a medium of artistic expression. Central to this is not only the pictorial quality, but also the deliberate play with the format: each work consists of several DIN A4 pages joined together, which, as folded images, create a surprising interplay between fragmentation and wholeness.

In this small retrospective, the ‘boathouse’ functions as a metaphorical space – both a refuge and a starting point for a visual journey. It symbolises both stability and flow, representing retreat, contemplation and creative development. This dual nature of the place is reflected in the digital compositions: the visual worlds oscillate between static stillness and dynamic movement, between figuration and abstraction.

The choice of computer art as a medium is not merely technical in nature, but carries profound implications for our understanding of art in the digital age. The artist processes pixel-based structures and algorithmic processes in such a way that an organic aesthetic unfolds. The synthetic images appear alive, as if they were filling a space – between the real and the imaginary, the technical and the poetic.

The use of individual DIN A4 sheets offers the viewer a tactile and, at the same time, conceptual experience. Sticking the pages together to form a large-format image encourages active engagement: a tension arises between attention to detail and overall composition, and seeing becomes an act of discovery. Each sheet functions as a mosaic piece within a complex pictorial structure that stands on its own whilst simultaneously forming part of a larger whole.

In terms of content, the works address a diverse range of themes that have evolved over the course of the artist’s long creative career. They reflect both personal and societal issues, which take on a new dimension through the digital perspective. They explore space and time, identity and transformation, nature and technology – motifs that are abstracted and reinterpreted through visual language.

The ‘Bootshaus’ exhibition invites visitors to explore the intersection between traditional art and digital innovation. It demonstrates how shifts in media can give rise to new forms of artistic expression that are both technically fascinating and enable profound aesthetic experiences. The retrospective is therefore not only a tribute to a phase of the artist’s career, but also a reflection on the role of art in the context of digitalisation.

‘Bootshaus’ builds a bridge – between the analogue and the digital, the transient and the timeless, the individual and the universal. The exhibition opens up a space for reflection and perception that goes beyond mere observation and stimulates dialogue about art, technology and the human condition.