Where on Earth Are You?

October 17, 2026 – January 10, 2027
EXHIBITION

Haytham el-Wardany, Jess Flom, Dani Gal, Patricia Gómez / María Jesús González, Johan Grimonprez, Hassan Khan, Rosalind Nashashibi, Noh Suntag

The question of which side one is on has (once again) taken on enormous weight in recent years: right or left, rich or poor, on the side of Israel or Palestine, in front of or behind the border fence. Some of these positions are a matter of choice, others are not – yet in both cases they can have far-reaching social and existential consequences. National border policies are becoming increasingly restrictive. Those who try to cross these borders risk their lives. An undesirable political stance can cost someone their job, reputation, or funding. While those crossing the borders of Fortress Europe insist, with great courage and perseverance, on their right to something other than a precarious life, on the other side of the fence, the fear of losing privileges causes ethical stance, solidarity, and empathy to fade. The exhibition Where on Earth Are You? advocates for daring to take a stronger stance and embracing greater solidarity and empathy. It presents works by contemporary artists who respond to the increasingly precarious and authoritarian conditions of the present in critical, resistant, and at the same time empathetic ways. At the heart of the exhibition are lines of conflict shaped by the geopolitical reconfigurations that followed the Second World War. The title is taken from the eponymous essay by British author Frances Stonor Saunders on the technologies and deadly consequences of today’s border regimes.

A starting point for the exhibition is the figure of the refugee: a figure that challenges the nation-state’s construction as being tied to the place of birth. Rather than focusing on the dehumanization of refugees, the exhibition foregrounds their insistence on life and a future.

Particular focus is placed on Gaza and other occupied Palestinian territories. Their conditions, marked by violence, displacement, and destruction in violation of international law, despite the deaths of tens of thousands, are met with widespread apathy in Germany. The exhibition presents these sites as threshold spaces between everyday life and escalation, life and survival, isolation and solidarity, violence and care.

The increasing ideological hardening and authoritarian policies are reminiscent, in part, of the atmosphere of the Cold War. North and South Korea are among those national formations whose borders to this day result from the geopolitical conflicts of that era. The exhibition approaches this situation as well as moments within the Cold War when forms of community other than the nation-state seemed possible – as discussed, for example, in the decolonial and Non-Aligned movements of the 1950s and 1960s.

The exhibition’s display is based on the preceding exhibition resistant theatre by siren eun young jung. It includes a platform for exchange and discussion, which is also used as part of Where on Earth Are You? Like a palimpsest, the new exhibition inscribes itself into the previous one.

Opening
Friday, October 16, 2026, 7 p.m.

Tour + Panel with the Artists and Curators
Saturday, October 17, 2026, 1 p.m.

Curators
Hans D. Christ, Iris Dressler

Supported by
Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst des Landes Baden-Württemberg
Kulturamt der Stadt Stuttgart
Innovationsfonds Kunst Baden-Württemberg
Pro Lab, Stuttgart