Overture

Graduate Exhibition: 16. Juli – 10. August 2025

Städel Museum, Schaumainkai 63, 60596 Frankfurt am Main
Opening hours: Tuesday–Sunday, 10:00–18:00; Thursday, 10:00–21:00

Opening: Tuesday, July 15, 2025, 19:00 – 22:00

Entrance via Holbeinstraße, opposite building number 8.
With a performance program by the students.

Under the title Overture, 30 graduates present their final exhibition at the Städel Museum. After up to five years of studies in Fine Arts, the exhibition marks not (only) the end of their study time, but presents also a prelude to what is yet to come. Overture points towards the horizon of artistic practice, and the process of developing and rediscovering one’s own approach to art and its relevance, again and again.

The students’ works offer insights into current artistic discourses, and yet, they grapple with timeless themes, which they bring into their own present and world: the politics and aesthetics of everyday life; the relentless circulation of images; the fluidity of identity; affects such as desire, vulnerability and longing; the traces of history and time; the limits of language and communication; the artificiality of our relationship with nature and the conditions of production – also in relation to one’s own position. The students’ media and practices are as rich as their themes: film, video and sound meet installation and sculpture, painting and collage, as well as conceptual and performative interventions.

The artists are Mariia Andreeva, Charlotte Berg, Linus Berg, Sam Cottington, Arnaud Ferron, Samuel Georgy, Tomás Loureiro Gonçalo, Anima Goyal, Giulia Guidi, Aerin Hong, Gašper Kunšič, Gregor Lau, raúl itamar lima, Salome Lübke, Fuki Matsumoto, Rosa Nitzsche, Vincenzo Ottino, Deshaun Price, Emmilou Roessling, Killa Schuetze, Juri Simoncini & Elisa Diaferia, Elsa Stanyer, Nicholas Stewens, Mahmoud Tarek, Siyu Tian, Vera Varlamova, Xtina Vargas, Punch Viratmalee and Ming Yuan.

From the classes of Monika Baer, Gerard Byrne, Judith Hopf, Hassan Khan, Tobias Rehberger, Willem de Rooij and Haegue Yang.

Curated by Johanna Laub.

Graduate Prizes

As part of the exhibition, prizes and stipends will be awarded to students for the best graduation projects, selected by a jury. The award ceremony will take place during the opening on July 15.

Catalog

A catalog produced by the graduates is published to accompany the exhibition and is available free of charge. It contains individual contributions by the students, providing insights into their works, research and ideas. The catalog also includes an essay by guest professor Ghislaine Leung and further contributions by professors.

Program and guided tours

Further information about the program and public guided tours will be published shortly.

Supporters

Overture is made possible by major support from the Hessian Ministry of Science and Research, Art and Culture; Allen Overy Shearman Sterling LLP and the Ernst Max von Grunelius-Stiftung. We thank the Städelschule Portikus e.V., the Stifung Städelschule für junge Künstler, the Sammlung Pohl gGmbH, Plastische Chirurgie Frankfurt | Hochtaunus and the Heinz und Gisela Friederichs Stiftung for the donation of graduate prizes and stipends.