Summer fête at Cadoro Invitation
Lore Bert und Dr. Dorothea van der Koelen
Heat waves, vacation season, the World Cup – the signs are clear: summer has arrived in Germany. But the warm season also has its bright spots, and one of them – for all art lovers – is our popular summer festival. To celebrate this joyful occasion, we invite you once again this year to CADORO – the Center for Art and Science in Mainz-Hechtsheim.
This year’s summer festival will take place on August 15. Once again, we’ve put together an exciting and varied program for you, which we’d like to present below. We hope to welcome you in person to our summer festival on August 15. Please use the registration form to let us know how many people will be attending and which events you plan to attend, so that we can plan accordingly.
Following the welcome and champagne reception in the elegant glasshouse at the Cadoro – Center for Art and Science in Mainz, the festive program begins in the spacious showroom next to Lore Bert’s studio. The world-renowned Mainz-based paper artist, who celebrated her 90th birthday this year and was honored by Minister of State for Culture Dr. Wolfram Weimer with the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon for her life’s work, will present her latest publication, titled Towards the Light, at Cadoro starting at 2:00 p.m. The catalog documents Lore Bert’s eponymous Biennale exhibition at the Church of San Fantin in Venice, which continues to break attendance records and is regarded as one of the summer’s major cultural events.
The catalog, which has just arrived hot off the press, documents the entire exhibition project—from planning and coordination through transportation and installation to the opening of the breathtaking and expansive environment that has deeply moved the audience.
Following the book presentation, coffee and cake will be served on the first floor of Cadoro, so that all art lovers can enjoy a refreshment before the next event begins. Starting at 3:30 p.m., Philipp Neßler & Julia Seifried – also on the first floor – will present their exhibition Experimente Ex: Ordinary Things to the public. Neßler and Seifried are already familiar to friends of the Gallery van der Koelen from their participation in the popular Experimente project series, in which young art students independently realize exhibition projects featuring their own works – including press relations and catalog production.
Sculptor Philipp Neßler first participated in Experimente IV · 4+8 in 2021, where he captivated the audience with his delicate swing installation Effi.
In 2024, he participated alongside his artistic partner Julia Seifried in the group exhibition Visions of Beauty, marking the gallery’s 45th anniversary. In this exhibition, the two artists presented an impressive concrete sculpture in the shape of a tunnel cross-section.
Vienna-based art historian Antonio Quint-Vila – who was also participating in the Experimente series in the past – will deliver the opening address and provide a more detailed overview of the artistic approach of the artist duo. We won’t reveal here what the two have prepared for our summer festival. The best thing to do is to visit us on August 15 and see the works in person.
Starting at 4:30 p.m., the program continues on the ground floor. There, we have prepared two new exhibitions for you: both Sebastian Dannenberg and the artist duo Carolin Liebl & Nikolas Schmid-Pfähler will each present an exhibition that together occupy the exhibition space.
Sebastian Dannenberg – who was first shown at the gallery in the inaugural edition of the 2015 Experiments series – situates painting within space. His interventions strike a balance between spatial reference and the autonomous quality of a transportable work. His attempt to assert painting where it does not normally occur – on ceilings, floors, in passageways, as wall-mounted pieces, or in corners – is an additive process. Despite this act of addition, the viewer seems to be deprived of their typical perception of space. The artist combines minimalist structures and elements with painting and his artistic signature. For his exhibition on the occasion of our summer party, Sebastian Dannenberg chose the title Experimente Ex – Great Escape.
Carolin Liebl & Nikolas Schmid-Pfähler also made their debut at Cadoro in 2015 and have since been regularly featured in themed exhibitions as well as in solo shows in Mainz and Venice.
Using elements of robotics and scientific processes, the artist duo from Offenbach creates sculptures and installations that explore the aesthetic, social, and ecological impacts of technological developments. In their work, material qualities of a visual and tactile nature are just as important as programmed processes, laws of physics, and chemical reactions. Carolin Liebl & Nikolas Schmid-Pfähler entitled their exhibition to be shown at our summer festival Experimente Ex – Forever Fading.
Alexander Wasner, SWR culture editor and art enthusiast, will deliver the opening remarks for this dual exhibition.
In our popular bazaar area on the ground floor of Cadoro – Center for Art and Science we’ve also prepared new editions and small-format works for you, as well as the accompanying publications from Chorus Publisher for Art and Science, all tailored to the various exhibitions we’re presenting throughout the building. This way, you can learn more about art and artists – and perhaps find a lovely treat to take home to brighten up the summer for yourself or your loved ones.
