Magali Reus
Salt
23 May–26 Jul 2026
What draws us to certain things? How are we lured and captured by objects? Dutch artist Magali Reus’ recent sculptures engage mechanisms of seduction and deception to explore wider economies of attention and desire. Constructed using a myriad of fabrication languages – from handicraft to mass production – these works create their own ecology of materials. Their silhouettes conjure familiar forms yet remain indeterminate in both identity and function.
The new sculptures – presented within a scenography developed for the Kunstverein’s exhibition hall – are envisaged as shimmering apparitions. While the wall‑mounted works from the Rig series resemble larger-than-life fishing lures or earrings and play with the dynamics of enticement, the freestanding sculptures Streamers evoke ailing spruce trees and fish skeletons, like relics of past excess. In their arrangement, the groups of sculptures diagram cycles of consumption: from the initial seductive force of a commodity, fuelled by strategies of packaging and design, to its eventual rejection and decay. Yet here, it is exactly those discarded remnants that refuse their assigned place and celebrate a glamorous return.
The exhibition is supported by:
Image: Magali Reus, Streamers (Marshall) (Detail), 2025, Courtesy of the artist, The Approach, London; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York; Galerie Greta Meert, Brussels; Galerie Mai36, Zurich. Photo: Eva Herzog
Programme
Fri, 22 May 2026, 7 pm
Opening Night with Speeches by Ulrike Pulzer (Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands) and Heinrich Dietz (Kunstverein Freiburg)
Wed, 3 Jun 2026, 7 pm
Curator’s Tour with Heinrich Dietz
Fri, 12 Jun 2026, 4 pm
Junge Kunstfreund*innen
Refuse – Reuse
Upcycling Workshop (registration required)
Sun, 14 Jun 2026, 4 pm
Guided Tour with Dieu Thanh Hoang
Sun, 21 Jun 2026, 2–4 pm
Children’s Workshop
6–12 years (registration required)
Wed, 24 Jun 2026, 19 Uhr
Advertising and Desire in Capitalism: A Brief Cultural Theory
Lecture by Leon Hartmann
Fri, 26 Jun 2026, 5 pm
Junge Kunstfreund*innen
Guided Tour and Get-together
Wed, 1 Jul 2026, 7 pm
Guided Tour with Johanna Thorell
Mon, 13 Jul 2026, 7 pm
Table Talk
Sun, 26 Jul 2026, 4 pm
Guided Tour with Dieu Thanh Hoang