When does the exhibition start?

The exhibition starts on 21.05.2026 at 11:00 AM.

How long does the exhibition run?

According to the press kit, the exhibition will be on view until 19.07.2026.

What is the admission fee?

The regular admission fee at the Fridericianum is 6 Euros, reduced 4 Euros. Admission is free on Wednesdays.

Is the Fridericianum accessible for people with disabilities?

Yes, the building offers ramps, elevators, and accessible restrooms. Accompanying persons with the appropriate ID also receive free admission.

Are there guided tours of the exhibition?

Yes, the Fridericianum regularly offers public tours as well as booked tours and workshops.

Where is the museum located?

The Fridericianum is located at Friedrichsplatz 18 in 34117 Kassel, near the Friedrichsplatz stop.

Catherine Opie brings visibility, protest, and poetry to Kassel

Name: Catherine Opie – The pause that dreams against erasure
Start: 2026-05-21T13:00:00+02:00
End: 2026-07-19T20:00:00+02:00
Location: Fridericianum

Catherine Opie at the Fridericianum: An artistic experience between visibility, memory, and resistance

The Fridericianum presents The pause that dreams against erasure, the first institutional solo exhibition of Catherine Opie in Germany. The exhibition, specifically designed for Kassel, combines the clear language of photography with the history and architecture of the building and opens an intense space for work examination, aesthetic experience, and cultural education.

Portraits, landscapes, protest: three constants of a multifaceted work

Since the early 1990s, Catherine Opie has developed a complex oeuvre of photographs, films, art books, and installations. Her imagery revolves around identity, belonging, and social imprinting. The exhibition gathers central groups of works from over three decades: early portrait shots from LGBTQIA* communities, landscapes as resonance spaces for hope and trauma, and documentation of protest movements such as Black Lives Matter and the marches against Donald Trump’s presidency.

A visual language between documentation and poetic concentration

Opie's work connects to the socially oriented photography of the 20th century and updates it with great precision. Her compositions combine documentary precision with formal calmness, often carried by an almost sculptural presence of the human body and a quiet, intense light direction. This balance makes her works a distinctive position in contemporary art: politically alert, visually sovereign, and aesthetically unmistakable.

The Fridericianum as a resonance space

In the historic building of the Fridericianum, the exhibition unfolds its particular effect. The rooms, the architecture, and the history of the house enter into a dialogue with Opie's works, whose questions about visibility, representation, and alternative life concepts are concentrated here. Those who visit the exhibition experience not only an exhibition but a multifaceted art experience that intertwines photographic art, exhibition curation, and contemporary analysis.

Visit, mediation, and museum experience

The Fridericianum offers regular tours, workshops, and museum educational programs. Thus, the exhibition is aimed not only at specialized audiences but at everyone who understands art as experience, insight, and social dialogue. The accessible entrances, the location at Friedrichsplatz, and the clear visitor structure make the exhibition visit pleasantly manageable.

Conclusion: Catherine Opie provides a focused look at identity, visibility, and political presence in Kassel. Anyone seeking contemporary photography, conceptual art, and a reflective exhibition atmosphere should definitely experience this exhibition live at the Fridericianum.