Hanne Darboven (1941–2009) is considered one of the most important and enigmatic figures in postwar German art. Though based in Hamburg, it was during a two-year stay in New York in the late 1960s that the conceptual artist discovered what would become her life-long project: the spatializing and visualization of time in its various forms—as lifetime, time working and writing, and historical time. Monika Sprüth and Philomene Magers have the exclusive privilege of working with the Hanne Darboven Foundation, the foundation entrusted with the artist’s estate.
Hanne Darboven, installation view, Sprüth Magers, Los Angeles, 2016
Photo: Joshua White
Photo: Joshua White
DISPLAY, PAUSE, REPEAT
Group Exhibition with Hanne Darboven, Leben, leben/Life, living and Opus 25A “Ludwig van Beethoven”
KaDeWe, Window, Berlin
Through May 9, 2026
For Gallery Weekend Berlin, KaDeWe once again transforms its ten shop windows into an exhibition titled Display, Pause, Repeat, running around the clock from 27 April to 9 May. Curator Sebastian Hoffmann approaches the shop window as an autonomous medium, focusing on its performative potential this year. The ten windows of the iconic department store feature installations by David Byrne, Hanne Darboven, Simon Denny, Leila Hekmat, Ken Lum, Claudia Mann, Harry Nuriev, Kayode Ojo, Sophie Reinhold, and Ian Waelder.
The project also extends into the interior of the building: throughout the entire period, an excerpt from Hanne Darboven’s Opus 25A: Ludwig van Beethoven will play every hour on the hour, while on the second floor an escalator installation developed specifically for the project incorporates video works by Heiner Franzen.
