VANITAS is devoted to a theme that has accompanied humankind since the earliest advanced civilisations: transience. The title refers to the Latin term for that which is transient, which at the same time denotes transformation and constant change. The exhibition brings together works by contemporary artists that grapple with fundamental questions of life, decay and death as universal human experiences. The exhibition was curated by Dr. Dieter Kistner.
The works on display span the most varied media — from painting through sculpture and three-dimensional objects to audiovisual works and the traditional Japanese repair technique of Kintsugi, in which fractures are made visible with gold rather than concealed.
At its centre is the installation Metamorphosis by the artist duo Arscubis (Silvia Eisele and Achim Großmann): a photo series of 415 images that documents the decay process of windfall apples, making the beauty of the transient visible over a long period of time.