HOUSE OF BALAGAN

To celebrate its tenth anniversary in Düsseldorf Flingern, the Philara Collection is delighted to present HOUSE OF BALAGAN, an extensive survey of the collection, opening in June 2026. The exhibition, featuring well over 100 works by more than 80 artists, will extend from the spacious main hall across all the exhibition areas of the Philara Collection.

The exhibition presents a condensed but representative selection from Gil Bronner’s collection, which today comprises around 2,000 works. The presentation is complemented by works chosen from the collection of Bronner’s parents, who were a formative influence on their son’s passion for collecting. Pieces from the collections of his children, Philip and Lara, after whom the exhibition space is named, are also represented.

In HOUSE OF BALAGAN, the Philara Collection highlights the broad spectrum and diverse connections of its holdings. Here, large-scale installations, such as Melissa Gordon’s Double Perspective (2010) and Tarik Kiswanson‘s ... of ..., at...h, at..., in..., Flower in the crannied wall (the weavers’ machines) (2016) encounter small, intimate drawings on paper by Rosa Loy and Corinne von Lebusa.

Ignacio Uriarte’s Ringbinder Circle, which explores the aesthetics and functionality of office supplies, is made from 180 Leitz-brand ringbinders – a serendipitous reference to the former Leitz factory in Düsseldorf-Reisholz, the previous base of the collection before it moved to Birkenstrasse. Also featured is Gil Bronner’s very first acquisition, purchased in Barcelona in the early 1990s, which laid the foundation stone of his collection. This is Der Seher (1990), a painting by Miguel Ángel Campano, regarded as a key figure in Spanish painting of the 1980s and 1990s. Christoph Westermeier’s photographs provide further, more personal insights, offering glimpses into the private apartment of Bronner’s parents, as well as his own home and collection.

Another section of the exhibition is devoted to works with a common thematic content, such as corporeality. Anys Reimann‘s collage Die Nacht (2021) and the paintings End. Résumé #6 (2025) and ScreenColors 2 (2025), by Heidi Hahn and Rita Ackermann respectively, use widely differing artistic techniques to explore embodiments of femininity. Others, including those by Matthias Weischer, Michaela Yearwood-Dan and Cerith Wyn Evans, engage with themes of domesticity and domestication.

Many other works address social or political issues. In his drawing Die sind nun Minister (1924) George Grosz references the Reichstag election of 1924, during the Weimar Republic, and its consequences. Hanne Darboven explores the representation of time: in her work, history is always an integral component of the present. Over several years, during their investigations of language, symbolism and aesthetics, General Idea, the artists’ collective founded in 1968 by AA Bronson, Felix Partz and Jorge Zontal, created fictional heraldic crests that reflected the effects of mass media, including advertising. For her part, in her large-format paintings, which are at times reminiscent of graphic design, Sarah Morris examines the psychogeography of urban environments and their architecture.

In addition, the exhibition features several artists representative of the art scene in eastern Germany. In works such as Trinkhalle (2003) Christoph Ruckhäberle depicts apparently timeless, cinematic scenes, while Sebastian Gögel draws attention to issues including social ills in expressive paintings such as Signum (2013). In Nadin Maria Rüfenacht’s collages, including Mary’s Garden(2011) and Fisher’s Blue (2011), human, animal and plant forms intermingle.

A further section of the exhibition is devoted to a solo presentation of selected works by Marcel Dzama, some of which are from Gil Bronner’s collection.

Curator: Hannah Niemeier