NAK Neuer Aachener Kunstverein will be closed until January 6, 2026. Happy holidays.

Béla Pablo Janssen

Theater der Sonnenzuwendung

Exhibition
February 1 - April 12, 2026

Opening

Saturday, 31 January 2026, 5-11 pm
Garden sauna for guests (please bring a towel)
Welcome address by Prof. Ilka Helmig, 7 pm
Introduction by Maurice Funken, 7:15 pm
Live radio broadcast: pilot.radio.fm

Publication Launch

Saturday, 28 March 2026, 6-9 pm
Conversation with Maurice Funken, Sebastian Hammerschmidt, and Julia Martel
Live radio broadcast: pilot.radio.fm

Closing Event

Sunday, 12 April 2026, 2-6 pm
Live radio broadcast: pilot.radio.fm

NAK Neuer Aachener Kunstverein is pleased to announce Theater der Sonnenzuwendung, an exhibition by Béla Pablo Janssen (BPJ) that explores perception within broader planetary contexts.
The notion of Sonnenzuwendung unfolds as a solar-driven, cosmic rhythm – a mode of attention shaped by planetary cycles that foregrounds the entanglement of human and non-human processes. Against this backdrop, the exhibition brings together multiple bodies of work and site-specific interventions, reflecting on the contemporary relevance of the Gesamtkunstwerk as a critical and experiential form.

In doing so, BPJ draws on his long-standing engagement with archival logics. Practices of collecting, layering, and reassembly shape the exhibition’s structure, making systems of narration and order visible while subtly disrupting them.
Rather than offering a single, linear narrative, Theater der Sonnenzuwendung opens up a field of intersecting references through which alternative modes of coexistence are explored.

Published in conjunction with the exhibition is
Drawings 2001-2026 (fig. 1-145), released by Collection Alber Verlag, with texts by Sebastian Hammerschmidt, Julia Martel, and Thomas Merian.

Artist Bio

Béla Pablo Janssen (b. 1981, Cologne) studied at HAW Hamburg, UdK Berlin, and HBK Braunschweig. His exhibitions and residencies have taken him to Basel (Basel Social Club, #notforsale), Brussels and Paris (Jeanroch Dard), Düsseldorf (Kunsthalle, LRRH_), Cologne (artothek, GALERIE ALBER), Rio de Janeiro (Instituto Inclusartiz), São Paulo (FAAP), and Tokyo (Sam Francis Residency). Recent publications have appeared with Salon Verlag, Sorry Press, and Spontan Verlag.

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