Does illusionist art still exist in 2023 and what themes does it deal with? These are the questions that the exhibition “for real” aims to answer.

Painting grapes so close to reality that birds try to eat them, carving Jesus’ stigmata to look as if they were actually bleeding orifices, or positioning a fly in a painting in such a way that the audience wants to scare it away: the ability of the visual arts to imitate nature in such detail that the distinction between fiction and reality becomes blurred, even if only for a brief moment, is a recurring ideal in art history.

At the latest with the avant-garde movements at the beginning of the 20th century, however, these abilities lost their radiance and were increasingly discredited as showmanship. Currently, however, a return to eye illusions, to a new illusionism in art can be observed. This tendency is strengthened by social media and an increased interest in craftsmanship.

The exhibition echt jetzt brings together works by painters, sculptors, designers and content producers that appear deceptively real and only turn out to be illusions at second glance. The goals of the exhibition are, on the one hand, to rehabilitate the illusionary art in the museum and, on the other hand, to answer the question of what motifs and themes the artists are dealing with today. Three central tendencies can be observed here: the fascination with everyday objects, the imitation of materials, and the interpenetration of the virtual and the real.

with works by:
Dean Annunziata / Stefan Bircheneder / Toninho Dingl / Torben Eggers / Tom Früchtl / Sabine Groß / Lieven Hendriks / Gunther Kerbes / Jochen Mühlenbrink / Christine Metz / Julia Obermaier / Lennart Rieder / Philipp A. Schäfer / Imer Shaqiri / Jessi Strixner