When can the Charles Ray exhibition be seen at the Fridericianum?

The exhibition can be seen from August 22, 2026 to January 3, 2027.

How much does admission cost?

The regular admission fee is 6 Euros. The reduced admission fee is 4 Euros; students and trainees pay 2 Euros.

When is the Fridericianum open?

The Fridericianum is open from Tuesday to Sunday and on holidays from 11 AM to 6 PM. On Thursdays, visiting is possible until 8 PM.

Are there guided tours of the exhibition?

The Fridericianum offers regular public tours. The costs are included in the admission fee.

Is admission free on certain days?

Admission is free on Wednesdays. Children and youth up to 18 years, school classes, and students with a cultural ticket also visit the exhibition for free.

Are there any special notes regarding the exhibition?

The exhibition contains representations of nudity. The Fridericianum recommends viewing the work Oh! Charley, Charley, Charley… only from the age of 16 onwards.

Charles Ray in Kassel: How Sculpture Transforms Body, Space, and Perception

Name: Charles Ray
Start: 2026-10-31T11:00:00+01:00
End: 2027-01-03T18:00:00+01:00
Location: Fridericianum

Charles Ray at the Fridericianum: Sculpture as an Intense Spatial Experience

From August 22, 2026 to January 3, 2027, the Fridericianum in Kassel will dedicate the first institutional solo exhibition of US-American sculptor Charles Ray in Germany. The exhibition visit leads to a concentrated art experience about physicality, material, scale, art history, and the question of how sculpture not only occupies space but also produces it.

When Sculpture Consists of Space

Charles Ray, born in 1953 in Chicago and living in Los Angeles since 1981, is among the most significant sculptors of the 20th and 21st centuries. For more than five decades, he has been exploring the contemporary world, questions of physicality, and notions of spirituality through sculpture. His works range from a few grams to nearly twenty tons in weight.

Ray's artistic practice intensely engages with art history, the genesis of art, and installation in space. His works combine conceptual precision with an immediate physical presence. Scale, proportion, surface, and material become independent carriers of meaning.

Body, Material, and Perception

The contemplation of the works unfolds between proximity and distance, weight and lightness, familiarity and irritation. Light, forms, surfaces, and the architecture of the Fridericianum shape the exhibition atmosphere and constantly direct attention to the relationship between the human body and the sculptural object.

Central themes include the perception of the body, the tension between real and artificial appearance, and the question of the cultural memory of sculpture. Ray expands classical sculpture through complex production methods and a contemporary engagement with consumer culture, media images, and existential experiences.

A Return to Kassel

After his participation in documenta 9 in 1992, Charles Ray returns to the documenta city with this exhibition. The Fridericianum thus presents an important stop in the international reception of his work and opens an art-historically informed perspective on his continuous redefinition of sculpture.

The exhibition contains representations of nudity. The work Oh! Charley, Charley, Charley… also implies a virtual sexual act. The Fridericianum recommends viewing this work only from the age of 16 onwards.

Visit and Cultural Education

The Fridericianum is open from Tuesday to Sunday and on holidays from 11 AM to 6 PM, and until 8 PM on Thursdays. Public tours take place regularly; their costs are included in the admission fee. Additionally, individually designed tours and workshops are offered for groups, students, and children.

Conclusion: An Art Experience Between Body and Space

Charles Ray at the Fridericianum promises a compelling aesthetic experience, in which sculpture becomes a thought movement. Art history, materiality, body image, and architectural spatial effects combine to create an exhibition of high intellectual and sensory density. Those who want to experience contemporary art and sculpture directly should visit this exhibition live in Kassel.