Parallel to the exhibition “German,” the art museum is showing the first solo exhibition by artist Fabian Reetz in Baden-Württemberg.

After reunification, German-speaking gothic bands began to spring up in southern Germany. In a period often regarded as one of upheaval, cultural continuities came to the fore. Bands such as Das Ich and Relatives Menschsein drew inspiration for their lyrics from Romanticism, the Baroque and early Modernism, performing their songs in theatrical settings to synthetic dark wave sounds. Neue deutsche Todeskunst (New German Death Art) examines how epochal references shape the image of humanity, moral concepts, and worldviews up to the present day. The focus of the exhibition in Heidenheim is on how the economic conditions after reunification relate to music production in reunified Germany. Artifacts from a disused open-cast mine, wallpaper from teenagers’ bedrooms, and elements from a recording studio form a complex assemblage that also explores contradictory and dark aspects. The new works are embedded in the long-running series East German Gothic Studies, excerpts of which are also on display.

Fabian Reetz (*1997, Bad Salzungen) completed his studies in fine arts at the Bauhaus University Weimar in January 2025 and is continuing his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. His works have been shown at the Kunsthaus Potsdam, Soy Capitan Berlin, Exile, Cazul 101 in Bucharest, and the Klocker Museum Hall in Tyrol, among others.