Ruprecht von Kaufmann

Ruprecht von Kaufmann's project explores the intertwining of current social and political developments with those of the Weimar Republic around a century ago. The parallels are numerous – and often disturbing. In the 1920s, dissatisfaction with the political system grew; economic upheaval led to ideological radicalisation and escalated into hatred and persecution of those who thought differently.


Today, we are once again experiencing a period of profound upheaval – marked by a never-ending series of crises at the end of the fossil fuel era. And once again, democracy appears to be under threat: from the rise of right-wing populist forces and the growing threat of war in Europe. Against this backdrop, Ruprecht von Kaufmann chose Otto Dix (1891–1969) as his artistic reference point to explore how an artist today can capture the ‘dance of a society on the brink’ in visual form.

The result is a panopticon of contemporary figures: punks who treat passers-by with contempt; aristocrats trapped in the pitfalls of their family history; elegantly dressed hipsters who carelessly walk past a sleeping homeless person; rap stars whose obsession with success becomes an impenetrable mask. They are all children of their time – and yet timeless in their doubts, joys and longings, which they share with people from a century ago.

What makes the collaboration between the artist and the Kunstverein so special is that Ruprecht von Kaufmann took several years to develop the exhibition from scratch and tailor it precisely to the architectural conditions of the rooms. The work Altbau-Idylle (Old Building Idyll), for example, responds to an architectural element of the building, which was constructed during the Wilhelminian period: a bay window. The five panels of the work are tailored to its dimensions and are placed in a semicircle in front of the windows. The illusionistically painted pictorial space now also shows such a bay window, in which a couple, dazed by drugs, lies on a mattress.

The painting that gives the exhibition its title, Herbstabend (Autumn Evening) – the largest work in the exhibition – was created for the wall of the entrance hall. From a diagonal angle above, we look down into the courtyard of a typical old Berlin building, which looked exactly the same a hundred years ago. The perspective can cause dizziness.

Ruprecht von Kaufmann was born in Munich in 1974 and has lived in Berlin since 2003. The exhibition HERBST is the internationally successful artist's first exhibition in his adopted home city in ten years.

Curated by Dr. Marc Wellmann, artistic director of Haus am Lützowplatz (HaL)

Programme (in German)

Artist talk
Thursday, 11 September 2025, 3 p.m.
Ruprecht von Kaufmann in conversation with Dr Marc Wellmann
(Special event as part of Berlin Art Week 2025)

Reading and discussion
Thursday, 16 October 2025, 7 p.m.
Maximilian Steinbeis: Die verwundbare Demokratie. Strategien gegen die populistische Übernahme (The Vulnerable Democracy: Strategies Against Populist Takeover)
The subsequent discussion with the author will be co-moderated by attorney Dr. Ulrich Karpenstein.

Artist talk
Thursday, 13 November 2025, 7 p.m.
Ruprecht von Kaufmann in dialogue with producer and documentary film director Nicola Graef

Reading and discussion
Wednesday, 10 December 2025, 7 p.m.
Jens Bisky: The Decision. Germany 1929 to 1934

• Location: Haus am Lützowplatz, Lützowplatz 9, 10785 Berlin
  
• Opening hours Tuesday to Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
  
• Free admission