ACADEMY SELECTION 24 – Part I: Human Encounters

Message from the patron Miriam Koch

Dear friends of culture,

Düsseldorf’s history is deeply rooted in art and culture, especially the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. For over 250 years, artists have developed their talents here and left a lasting mark on the art world.

The close connection between the people of Düsseldorf and their art academy is also reflected in the most recent visitor numbers of over 40,000 at the last tour in February 2024. I count myself as a regular visitor to this event.

Art academies invite visitors to tours and events not only in Düsseldorf, but all over Germany. I think the idea of gallery owners Bärbel and Matthias Kellermann to bring a selection of young artists from all over the country to Düsseldorf is great. Over 50 students and graduates will have the chance to present their work here.

I fully support this commitment and look forward to the dialog between the different works of art that will take place at this year’s ACADEMY SELECTION. I also find the opportunity for the public to have a say in the ACADEMY SELECTION AWARD particularly exciting. I would therefore like to invite all Düsseldorf residents and visitors to visit the “Human Encounters” and “Encounters with Nature” exhibitions and cast their personal vote. I’m already looking forward to the results!

Miriam Koch, Councillor for Culture and Integration

Outstanding works by 56 artists in two exhibitions

Once again this year, the gallery was able to sort the works according to two general themes: Part 1 of the ACADEMY SELECTION revolves around people and society, the examination of self-identification, self-doubt, conflicts and commonalities – from immigration issues to digital personalities. We place these works under the umbrella theme of “Human Encounters”.

ACADEMY SELECTION – The nationwide selection of young academy art

With the ACADEMY SELECTION, Galerie Kellermann once again presented a nationwide selection of young visual art by students and graduates of German art academies from Kiel to Düsseldorf and Munich in 2024. Our aim is to discover outstanding young talents throughout Germany and invite them to Düsseldorf.

With this 3rd edition, we showed works by 56 artists from 13 academies. Graduates and students from Kiel, Hamburg, Berlin, Münster, Essen/Wuppertal, Düsseldorf, Siegen, Leipzig, Dresden, Karlsruhe, Stuttgart, Nuremberg and Munich were represented. On display was an interdisciplinary selection of painting, sculpture, digital/multimedia and analog installations.

It is noteworthy that our selection was very international due to the many exchange students from all over the world. In addition to Germany, our participants came from Africa (Kenya), China, Georgia, Great Britain, Italy, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, South America (Peru), South Korea, Syria and the USA.

As in the past two years, all visitors to both exhibitions (Part I and Part II) were invited to nominate their three favorites. The finalists’ works were then presented in a special exhibition entitled “THE FINALS”. The highlight was the award ceremony on July 31. Together with patron Miriam Koch, gallery owners Bärbel and Matthias Kellermann announced the winners Si Cheng and Sina Link. The “ACADEMY SELECTION AWARD” is endowed with 5000 euros.