Uncertain Maps

Franz Ackermann, Jens Bleckmann, DAG, Ólafur Elíasson, Esther Ernst, Julius Hartauer, Michael Golz, Christian Pilz, Isabell Schulte

Exhibition: February 27 – September 6, 2026

Curators: Ludwig Seyfarth & Klaus-Peter Kirchner

Rarely are cartographic maps crystal clear records of given things. Even when they suggest rationality and objectivity, they operate in a zone that is never free of subjectivity between depictions and signs, between image and language – ultimately, between reality and fiction – also because they work on scales that define how much detail can be shown with precision. On printed world maps you are unlikely to find the location of KAI 10 | ARTHENA FOUNDATION. Only digital maps allow you to zoom in as close as you wish. But some countries and places can only be found on fictional maps, such as Morrowland in Michael Ende’s famous Jim Button novels. Cartographically inspired fiction is not only the stuff of children’s books but also features in the work of many artists. Here we encounter creative recordings and encryptions of travel experiences alongside detailed sketches of freely invented places and countries. Ostensibly cartographic structures, whether steeped in sign language or profusely ornamental, can evolve into entirely unique worlds. Much of what can be seen in Uncertain Maps retains an intriguing ambiguity: is it a representation or evocation of an exterior reality, of landscapes and cities? Even images created for practical and scientific purposes can be “read” differently from their original cartographic intention, as for instance the satellite photographs compiled by the Icelandic National Land Survey. When artists sound out a particular terrain, be it reality or a figment of their imagination, their mappings typically become Uncertain Maps that will take us down paths not found in any ordinary atlas.

 

Public guided tours | 3 pm: 01.03. | 15.03. | 29.03. | 12.04. | 26.04. | 10.05. | 31.05. | 14.06. | 28.06. | 12.07. | 26.07. | 09.08. | 23.08. | 06.09.2026