THE ARTISTS
DJOURINA
Marta Djourina investigates light phenomena on analogue photographic paper, using light as a subject, tool and object of investigation. In her ongoing series of large-format unique works, she transforms the photo lab into a stage for performative light gestures, moving from corner to corner with various light sources and describing the entire image surface of the photographic paper of 6 m x 1.83 m. She combines photographic and painterly gestures to make the hidden visible and capture fleeting moments.
Her approach combines long exposure techniques and spontaneous light interactions, creating a balance between precision and unpredictability and transforming her movements into visual traces, redefining photography as a physical performance.
Marta Djourina, *1991 in Sofia, studied art history and completed her studies in fine arts as a master student at the UdK Berlin. Her works have been shown in numerous international exhibitions, most recently at the Berlinische Galerie, Goethe-Institut Bulgaria, ICA-Sofia. Her works are in the collection of the Berlinische Galerie and the Eskenazi Museum of Contemporary art, Indiana University in the USA, among others. She has received the BAZA Award (2021), the Eberhard Roters Scholarship, the Artist in Residence of the Federal Foreign Office (2022), the Marianne Brand Prize for Photography (2022), and others. Her works are recently on display in her solo exhibition “Glowing Attraction” at the Haus am Kleistpark. In May Marta won the EMOP Arendt Award and is currently presenting works at Sofia Arsenal - Museum of Contemporary Art and the Musée national d'archéologie, d'histoire et d'art (MNAHA) in Luxemburg.
Her approach combines long exposure techniques and spontaneous light interactions, creating a balance between precision and unpredictability and transforming her movements into visual traces, redefining photography as a physical performance.
Marta Djourina, *1991 in Sofia, studied art history and completed her studies in fine arts as a master student at the UdK Berlin. Her works have been shown in numerous international exhibitions, most recently at the Berlinische Galerie, Goethe-Institut Bulgaria, ICA-Sofia. Her works are in the collection of the Berlinische Galerie and the Eskenazi Museum of Contemporary art, Indiana University in the USA, among others. She has received the BAZA Award (2021), the Eberhard Roters Scholarship, the Artist in Residence of the Federal Foreign Office (2022), the Marianne Brand Prize for Photography (2022), and others. Her works are recently on display in her solo exhibition “Glowing Attraction” at the Haus am Kleistpark. In May Marta won the EMOP Arendt Award and is currently presenting works at Sofia Arsenal - Museum of Contemporary Art and the Musée national d'archéologie, d'histoire et d'art (MNAHA) in Luxemburg.
MAURSBERG
Toni Mauersberg treats painting as a site of comparative inquiry and dialogue. Her ongoing series, Pas-de-deux, pairs abstract and figurative works in diptychs that span centuries of art history, creating moments of visual conversation across time. Through careful mimicry, reinterpretation, and formal invention, Mauersberg stages image-against-image encounters that reflect, contradict, or complete one another. These pairings unsettle binary oppositions such as figuration versus abstraction, inviting viewers to explore the space where recognition gives way to thought, and painting becomes a form of knowledge. Combining technical rigor with conceptual curiosity, her practice turns looking into a choreographed reflection on perception.
Toni Mauersberg (*1989 in Hannover) studied Fine Arts at the Universität der Künste Berlin with Leiko Ikemura and Michael Müller, alongside degrees in Jewish Studies and Cultural and Religious Studies from the Freie Universität and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Her work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions at Galerie Georg Nothelfer, KINDL – Zentrum für zeitgenössische Kunst, Villa Dürckheim Weimar, and the Katholische Akademien in Freiburg and Munich. She has received the Schulz-Stübner-Preis für Malerei, the Georg-Meistermann-Stipendium, and scholarships from the Cusanuswerk and the Dorothea-Konwiarz-Stiftung. In 2022, she was a fellow of the Goldrausch Künstlerinnenprojekt. She lives and works in Berlin.
Summer Hours, 2023. Oil on canvas, 140 x 120 cm
Emotional moon faces, hybrid beings or tired harlequin costumes roam the works of Cora Wöllenstein (*1988 in Lörrach) - tragicomic figures that tell stories with the help of symbolic elements. Inspired by folklore’s and autobiographical experiences, Wöllenstein invents her protagonists and creates personal allegories that raise questions around belonging, identity and a universal sense of connectedness.
In her ongoing work Earth Widening Girth, And Other Bereavements, (2024-25), Wöllenstein places paintings, costumes and sculptures in relation to one another. In their whimsical or desperate state, these works defy the exhausting societal pressures of productivity while questioning how to navigate time as a scarce resource.
Cora Wöllenstein's work has been shown in international solo and group exhibitions, including at the Bothnia Biennale in Vaasa (Finland), the Städtisches Museum Braunschweig and in numerous project spaces in Montreal, Berlin, Helsinki and other cities. She completed her B.F.A. at Concordia University in Montreal and received her Meisterschüler title from the Braunschweig University of Art in 2018.
Emotional moon faces, hybrid beings or tired harlequin costumes roam the works of Cora Wöllenstein (*1988 in Lörrach) - tragicomic figures that tell stories with the help of symbolic elements. Inspired by folklore’s and autobiographical experiences, Wöllenstein invents her protagonists and creates personal allegories that raise questions around belonging, identity and a universal sense of connectedness.
In her ongoing work Earth Widening Girth, And Other Bereavements, (2024-25), Wöllenstein places paintings, costumes and sculptures in relation to one another. In their whimsical or desperate state, these works defy the exhausting societal pressures of productivity while questioning how to navigate time as a scarce resource.
Cora Wöllenstein's work has been shown in international solo and group exhibitions, including at the Bothnia Biennale in Vaasa (Finland), the Städtisches Museum Braunschweig and in numerous project spaces in Montreal, Berlin, Helsinki and other cities. She completed her B.F.A. at Concordia University in Montreal and received her Meisterschüler title from the Braunschweig University of Art in 2018.