Sculptor Asta Gröting presents a remarkable multimedia exhibition at Frankfurt's Städel Museum that creates what she calls a "summit meeting of species" with aesthetic precision. The show, titled "A Wolf, Primates and a Breathing Curve," features works from the past decade, including seven video pieces and a laser projection, demonstrating how sound and moving images serve as equal partners to three-dimensional art.
The exhibition showcases Gröting's ability to focus artistically on highly specific objects and situations with remarkable sharpness. Born in Berlin in 1961, the sculptor presents films where objects fly through cinematic air - from lemons to carriages - while another work displays her hands seemingly modeling the faces of various people. The Berlin-born artist transforms the traditional museum space into an immersive environment where visitors experience art differently than in a conventional cinema setting.
Watching all seven films in their entirety presents a temporal challenge, and the absence of seating suggests this isn't the intended viewing method. The exhibition only reaches completion when the museum guard activates the sound system and the echo from the museum corridors falls silent. A spatial soundtrack emerges - a thoroughly cinematic composition of woodwinds and other instruments that cannot be precisely located but fills the darkened gallery space.
The most captivating piece features a wolf and dog encounter that stops every visitor in their tracks. Gröting stages the approach between domesticated animal and its wild ancestor in deliberately slowed motion, building tension through slow-motion sequences of bared teeth, lunging, and submission. The dog bites the wild animal's lip, which the wolf tolerates while attempting to snatch a piece of meat. These leisurely flowing images allow for detailed observations that zoo visits typically only provide after long periods of patient waiting.
The same patience or luck is required to catch the right moment when viewing the orangutan - described as a particularly peaceful primate - positioned on the reverse side of the wolf and dog installation. This contemplative viewing experience extends to other works in the exhibition, including carefully prepared breakfast drinks in the video "First Drink" and footage of a cherry tree captured during morning and evening twilight hours.
The newest work, "Matthias, Helge and Asta," presents a unique collaboration lasting nearly nine minutes. A blue curtain dominates much of the video's runtime before gradually revealing actor Matthias Brandt, who poses the question: "Have you failed?" Musician Helge Schneider and artist Gröting attempt to respond through facial expressions alone. Schneider breathes audibly, shrugs his shoulders, and gazes, while Gröting smiles mildly. When she appears ready to speak, she immediately interrupts herself. The question repeats once or twice before Brandt simply observes in silence.
The projection allows unlimited interpretation - friendly, benevolent, neutral responses all seem possible. The mischievous quality in Helge Schneider's face, previously understood as part of his comedic public persona, may have simply always existed naturally. The longer viewers study the protagonists' faces, the less important any evaluation becomes, as a nonverbal state takes hold. This piece is particularly significant as it features Schneider during his highly publicized 70th birthday year, presenting him as one being among many in the art museum context.
The moving images Gröting has produced hover in quiet simultaneity within the dark exhibition space, creating a well-composed, concentrated summit meeting of species. By the exhibition's end, the dog, wolf, and orangutan appear similarly close or distant to viewers as the actor, artist, and Helge Schneider, blurring the boundaries between human and animal consciousness through the power of patient observation and multimedia art.
The exhibition "A Wolf, Primates and a Breathing Curve" runs at the Städel Museum in Frankfurt am Main until April 12, 2026, offering visitors an extended opportunity to experience this unique interspecies dialogue through contemporary video art.
