Farkhondeh Shahroundi
1 MAY until 27 JUN 2026
Opening – 1 MAY 2026, 6-10 pm
Farkhondeh Shahroudi,
blackside riding into the wave, calm diving, black pearls, waves
breaks full moon, 2017,
stitched cloths, stitched gloves, Dimension variable,
installationview: Villa Romana, Florence, Italy
Photo: Ela Bialkowska, OKNOstudio
Courtesy the artist and Galerie Barbara Thumm
Farkhondeh Shahroudi (born 1962 in Tehran, Iran) is an Iranian visual artist and poet who has lived in exile in Germany since 1990, primarily in Berlin. In her interdisciplinary artistic practice, she works with painting, drawing, installation, textiles, photography, video, and performance. The central themes of her work include self-location, language, memory, migration, and cultural translation. She often combines poetic texts with material elements such as fabrics or carpets, creating expansive, multi-layered works. Shahroudi studied painting in Tehran and art and design in Dortmund and is now regarded as one of the most important voices in contemporary art addressing exile and diaspora.
Shahroudi is the first recipient of the Exile Visual Arts Award, presented by the Körber Foundation in cooperation with the Exile Museum Berlin Foundation. She has also received the Hannah Höch Prize.
Gülbin Ünlü
Almost Ünlü
1 MAY until 27 JUN 2026
Opening – 1 MAY 2026, 6-10 pm
Installation view:
Gülbin Ünlü,
Shifting the Silence, Lenbachhaus, München 2025,
Photo: Lukas Schramm,
Courtesy the artist and Galerie Barbara Thumm
Based in Munich and currently a fellow at Villa Romana in Florence, Gülbin Ünlü is a contemporary artist who reimagines the limits of the art canon. Since graduating from Munich’s Academy of Fine Arts in 2018, where her experimental approach earned her the Erwin and Gisela von Steiner Foundation Award, she has developed a style that is both intellectually deep and vibrantly accessible.
At the heart of her work is a signature “mash-up” philosophy. Rather than sticking to one medium, Ünlü creates a dialogue between painting, photography, video, and sound. She is best known for a unique hybrid technique a seamless blend of printmaking and painting that results in fragmented, multilayered structures. Her art explores affective archives and hidden narratives, offering a form of aesthetic resistance against standard ways of seeing.
Installation view:
Gülbin Ünlü,
Ultrahappy, Villa Stuck, 2025,
Photo Thomas Splett,
Courtesy the artist and Galerie Barbara Thumm
This ability to bridge the gap between classic technique and raw, modern expression has led to exhibitions at Europe’s most prestigious institutions, including the Pinakothek der Moderne, Haus der Kunst, Berlinische Galerie, and Villa Stuck.