Zeitraffer 1985–2005
4 September – 1 November, 2025
Sfeir-Semler Hamburg

Marking Sfeir-Semler Gallery’s 40th anniversary in Germany, Zeitraffer (Time Lapse) opens this Thursday, September 4, and reflects on the gallery’s time in Kiel (1985 – 1998) and first years in Hamburg through 2005.
Covering our first twenty years, Zeitraffer features 20 artists who helped shape the gallery’s early program before the opening of our Beirut branch in 2005 and the subsequent focus on contemporary art from the Arab world. The exhibition follows a loose timeline, highlighting works from our collection that evoke this period, primarily chosen based on the years in which they were created or exhibited.  

Spread across the two spaces, the show invites visitors on a visual journey through our past, starting with works from 1987 by the gallery’s first represented artists: Elsbeth Arlt, with an artist book, and Barbara Camilla Tucholski with a painting from her Langer Schlag series that depicts the demolition of a barn in Övelgönne, as well as pencil drawings from the Strasse series.  
Zeitraffer also features artworks there were specifically created for the gallery. John Armleder, for example, produced a series of paintings for a show in Kiel, one of which is now on view. In 2002, Sol LeWitt transformed the Hamburg space with one of his isometric wall drawings, and we present here a gouache from that period recalling the work. It is displayed alongside a delicately quivering sculpture by Günter Haese, whose kinetic works have been regularly exhibited since 1989. Haese’s catalogue raisonné was published by the gallery in 2013.  

Significant collaborations that were pivotal in shaping the gallery’s early years are highlighted in the show, such as the one with Ian Hamilton Finlay. Our previous exhibition in Hamburg was devoted to Finaly’s work, marking the centenary of his birth; and in Zeitraffer, we present a Carrara marble sculpture of a cloud from 1968, engraved with a concrete poem that celebrates the harmony of wind, waves, water, and air. Similarly, Robert Barry who has been integral to the gallery since its inception, is represented with a large red monochrome painting.  

The exhibition presents works by several artists who were central to our program during those years, including Peter Hopkins, K.R.H. Sonderborg, Bert de Beul, and Lucebert. Sfeir-Semler played a key role in reviving interest in Lucebert in the late 1980s and early 1990s. A former member of the Cobra group, he had faded from the public eye. Working together with Rudolf Springer we succeeded in placing some of his paintings in major collections. As for the youngest artist in the show, Christine Streuli, her pop art-inspired painting Keep Distance was part of the series done for the Swiss Pavilion at the 2007 Venice Biennale.  

On the first-floor, visitors will encounter works by photographer Elger Esser, including one of his poetic, almost monochromic landscapes, captured in Enfeh, northern Lebanon; as well as a 1997 photocollage by Daniele Buetti from his Looking for Love series, in which he alters reproductions of images from fashion magazines, etching scars and tattoos on the models’ skin from the back of the photos. These are paired with a 1985 painting by MARWAN, a Damascus-born artist who lived in Berlin and has been represented by the gallery since 1987. We still represent his estate today, and his work symbolically bridges our early and later programs.   

On the ground floor, Hiroyuki Masuyama’s lightboxes were created in 2000, each from 365 photos taken daily across the 4 seasons in Dusseldorf; while Balthasar Burkhard’s large-format sliver prints of the Alps from 1992/1993 were developed by the artist himself and encased in his signature self-made iron frames. The presentation is completed by Ulrich Rückriem’s granite sculpture, a monochrome canvas by Rolf Rose, and an early painting by Katarina Grosse who was represented by Sfeir-Semler between 1992 and 2002.  Zeitraffer is a heartfelt celebration of the gallery’s formative years. It brings together works from diverse genres - figurative, abstract, minimalist, and conceptual - to create dynamic dialogues, infusing the show with surprising immediacy and fresh energy.