»Light pictures. The paper worlds of Alexej Tchernyi«

The GRIMMWELT in Kassel is presenting the work of the artist Alexej Tchernyi (Berlin) in a new temporary exhibition from November 30th 2024.

His fourteen dioramas on the history of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm's "German Dictionary" have been part of the permanent exhibition since the GRIMMWELT was opened in 2015 and form one of the highlights there. They recount the varied and complex history of the Grimm Dictionary project with impressive artistic means and a wealth of details. The tenth anniversary of the exhibition centre in the coming year offers the GRIMMWELT the opportunity to draw a thematic connection, recognising Alexej Tchernyi and his work with his first major solo exhibition. He has produced five new paper dioramas especially for the GRIMMWELT, telling the story of the origins, development and current worldwide success of the "Children's and Household Tales". This exhibition is a continuation of the GRIMMWELT’s unique concept, which aims to explain by interaction the world of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm's life and work. The presentation of contemporary works of art opens up new perspectives and new areas of thought concerning the museum’s central theme.

"We are delighted to be able to present new and impressive visual worlds by the artist Alexej Tchernyi in this exhibition. The artist has a unique ability to depict multi-facetted historical and social correlations, and this has led to a renaissance of the diorama as an art form. Tchernyi's dioramas are characterised by a fantastic density of narrative and have meanwhile been shown at numerous exhibition venues," says Jan Sauerwald, Managing Director and Programme Director of the GRIMMWELT Kassel.

The exhibition is divided into four sections. The central section covers those dioramas which deal with the people who contributed fairy tales, the way the material was created, how Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm wrote the tales down, and how they were received by their contemporaries. In the first section, the exhibition shows a gallery of relief sculptures which are formed by the artist out of paper and light, by removing material or building it up in layers. This area offers a first glimpse into the artist’s creative process from the paper to skilfully constructed portraits and landscapes. In addition, this solo exhibition provides an insight into the artist’s cinematic work, since he also works on animated films and frequently draws on this experience when creating the scenery for his dioramas. At the end of the tour there is an archive room showing film documentaries about Alexej Tchernyi's artistic practice and techniques. These allow the public to enter the artist's studio, as it were, and "look over his shoulder" as he works. Here the visitors can also find material that was used when creating the dioramas on the history of the "German Dictionary" which belong to the permanent exhibition in the GRIMMWELT. Retrospectively, this illustrates how one of the GRIMMWELT’S most popular works of art came into being with the help of previously unshown material from the GRIMMWELT archive. As a further attraction in the archive room there are hands-on stations, where visitors can make their own stop-motion films and experience how a diorama is made.

Paper as a material was necessarily important for the Brothers Grimm during their research into the German language and culture, but Alexej Tchernyi places it at the centre of his artistic work, making its material quality itself an object of research. He works almost exclusively with paper, bringing it to life with the help of various techniques and lighting. This approach is reminiscent of films or slides. Like them, Tchernyi's pictorial representations only function through the use of light and backlighting.

"My artistic media are paper and light. You might say that the starting point of the work was fascination with a torn piece of paper: when it was lit from behind, I discovered the complex textural play of the silhouette." That is how Alexej Tchernyi describes his art. In a meticulous examination of the material, he has developed two contrasting techniques for working with paper: subtraction and addition. He either creates bas-reliefs by cutting slices in the paper, or he builds up a kind of collage sculpture using layers of paper pulp. Both techniques have one thing in common: they are only brought to life by backlighting. With these two sculptural techniques which he has invented, he creates photorealistic and abstract representations of astonishing complexity using only the materiality of the paper.

The artist Alexej Tchernyi, who was born in Ukraine in 1976, lives and works in Berlin. After studying stage design in Kharkiv (Ukraine), he first studied fine arts at the University of Kassel and then animation at the HFF Potsdam. Apart from the GRIMMWELT Kassel, dioramas by Tchernyi can also be seen in the Schöningen Research Museum, the NAWAREUM in Straubing and the Futurium in Berlin.

The exhibition is generously supported by the documenta Stadt Kassel, the district of Kassel, the Kasseler Sparkassenstiftung and the Sparkassen-Kulturstiftung Hessen-Thüringen.

Exhibition duration:
30|11|2024 – 06|07|2025

Further motifs on request.

Director | Programme Manager GRIMMWELT Kassel
Jan Sauerwald

Exhibition concept
Alexej Tchernyi
Ute Lilly Mohnberg, Julia Ronge, Johanna Rüskamp, Jan Sauerwald

Production management Studio Tchernyi
Anna Iskina

Production management GRIMMWELT Kassel
Maren Allmers

Graphic design | Exhibition motif
Studio Terhedebrügge

Illustration 
Nina Kaun

Education
Julia Ronge

Press | Public relations | Marketing
Katja Blum, Julia Ronge, Johanna Rüskamp

Administration
Stefanie Büscher, Christine Großberndt, Johanna Rüskamp, Lina Schmidt, Timo Vogt

Technical support | Light | Media
Sophie Hilbert, Armin Jakob, Marvin Kinkele, Julius Kress oHG, Ralf Mahr, Malermeister Wiktor, Rolf Tonhäuser, Weingart & Marth
Oscar Loeser, Paul Milmeister

Diorama design
Paul Milmeister

Documentary film
Oscar Loeser

Arthandling | Conservation support
Srećko Barišić

Editing
Rea Triyandafilidis

Translation
Neville Williamson

Artistic collaboration
Anna Gasparyants, Konstantin Tchernyi, Lia Vinogradov

We would like to thank for the support
Prof. Dr. Holger Erhardt, Johannes Ickler, Stadtmuseum Kassel
Mark Derr-Fandard, Holmer Feldmann, Lars Hetmanek, Hennadii Lesnychyi, Evgueni Mikheev, Viacheslav Shulika, Andrej Troffimov, Maxim Vassiliev, Ella Yalonetski, Oleg Zayarnyi, Wu Zhi

We would like to thank the sponsors of the exhibition

Documenta Stadt Kassel

Landkreis Kassel

Kassler Sparkassenstiftung

Sparkassenstiftung Hessen-Thüringen

If, despite careful checking, the rights of third parties (e.g. copyright) have been infringed, please notify us accordingly.

In der GRIMMWELT Kassel kommen die Brüder Grimm und ihre Märchen in der Jetztzeit an: Künstlerisch, medial und interaktiv vermittelt dieser neu geschaffene Erlebnisraum das faszinierende Leben, Wirken und Werk der Brüder. Das international ausgerichtete Ausstellungshaus zeigt, wie Sprache, Kunst und Kultur zusammenhängen und sich im Wandel befinden. Wertvolle Originale, künstlerische Installationen sowie interaktive und multimediale Elemente laden in der Dauerpräsentation »Märchenhaft von A bis Z« zum Entdecken ein. Kinder und Erwachsene, Kunstinteressierte sowie Märchenliebhaber*innen finden hier einen Ort des Staunens und Austauschs.

Doch die GRIMMWELT ist mehr als nur ein Ort der Märchen. Hier wird das Erbe der Grimms, deren Sprachforschung wegweisend war, kritisch und zeitgenössisch betrachtet – auch mit den Mitteln der Kunst. Die GRIMMWELT versteht sich nicht als klassisches Museum, sondern als lebendiger Ort der Vermittlung – ein Ausstellungshaus, das wie das Werk der Grimms selbst, die Besucher*innen durch das Labyrinth der deutschen Sprache und Kultur führt.