Book launch on the 20 February 2026, 18:00 at ifa Gallery Berlin.
The new publication Spheres of Interest traces the intensive artistic and curatorial engagement with the ifa art collection and opens up new perspectives on working with collections. The ifa – Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations holds a unique selection of around 24,000 works of contemporary art from the 20th and 21st centuries. About half of these works were acquired for ifa exhibitions that have been touring worldwide for over 50 years; the other half were transferred from the collection of the Centre for Art Exhibitions of the GDR (ZfK), which became part of ifa in 1991. Today, the collection includes works by artists such as Otto Dix, Hannah Höch, Käthe Kollwitz, Rosemarie Trockel, Wolfgang Tillmans, Helga Paris, Henrike Naumann, and Selma Selman.
Artists Isaac Chong Wai, Lizza May David, Wilhelm Klotzek, Ofri Lapid, Adrien Missika, and Gitte Villesen, together with curators Inka Gressel and Susanne Weiß, have examined and activated distinctive works, structures, and exhibition histories of the ifa art collection, as well as its shaping through the partial integration of the ZfK holdings. The book offers insights into these diverse approaches and poses critical as well as humorous questions for future research-based and curatorial work with collections. Spheres of Interest is published by DISTANZ Verlag and designed by Achim Reichert.
Together with the artists present, we continue the dialogue shaped by a range of artistic approaches. Additionally, selected works created within the context of the three exhibitions at the ifa galleries in Berlin and Stuttgart will be presented. Ongoing research is giving rise to further new narratives, which will also be given a voice. Achim Reichert will speak about the graphic concept that binds together and unfolds the richly illustrated publication.
With Isaac Chong Wai, Lizza May David, Wilhelm Klotzek, Ofri Lapid, Adrien Missika, and Gitte Villesen, as well as Achim Reichert, Inka Gressel, Susanne Weiß, and the partners of DISTANZ Verlag.
Now available from DISTANZ publishing house.
