Michael Beutler: Tapetenwechsel (Change of Scenery)

In collaboration with the Kunstmuseum Gelsenkirchen, the Art Award of the Kunststiftung NRW—Nam June Paik Award 2026 is awarded to the artist Michael Beutler. The internationally renowned award is endowed with 25,000 Euros. 

Michael Beutler is honoured for his expansive installation Tapetenwechsel (Change of Scenery), which transforms the former industrialist villa from the late 19th century into an artistic and artisanal production facility—a multi-storey workshop where waste paper is processed into sculptural objects.

The manufacturing process itself becomes a central component of the exhibition. In specially constructed apparatuses, old books, catalogues and other materials are processed into pulp and used to create long paper webs, which are then used to redecorate the rooms of the villa. Machines, tools and production processes remain visible and on site, making the transformation of the material immediately tangible. The site-specific work combines the industrial and artisanal history of the city of Gelsenkirchen with the idea of the museum as an imaginative place where art inspires shared experiences and thinking ahead. With its interactive component, the work also ties in with the kinetic collection focus of the museum.

Jury member Zoë Gray (Director of Exhibitions, Bozar Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels) said in her laudatory speech for Michael Beutler: “When I was asked to nominate artists for this prize, with a resulting exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Gelsenkirchen with its strong collection of kinetic art, I thought immediately of Michael Beutler. Working across genres, he encourages alternative perceptions, opens up new points of view, and explores new approaches to making art. His works can be understood as reactions to both architectural and social structures. In a world saturated with digital imagery, his work offers an experience rooted in materiality, and a direct, tangible encounter.”

Michael Beutler (born in 1976, lives and works in Berlin and Aachen) studied at the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main under Thomas Bayrle and at the Glasgow School of Art. He is known for his monumental and mainly walk-in installations made of simple, recyclable materials, which he processes with tools he has built himself. The concept of the workshop plays a central role in his work: each of these works is created in a newly established production environment that itself becomes part of the artistic practice.

A support award is also bestowed as part of the Art Award of the Kunststiftung NRW. It is conferred on artist and curator Lisa Klosterkötter (*1990, lives and works in Cologne). For the Kunstmuseum Gelsenkirchen, she developed the multi-part exhibition and event format "Ein Dorf" (A Village), which explores forms of community, neighbourhood and public coexistence. Readings, artistic interventions and performative formats, both indoors and outdoors, reflect the museum’s self-image as a place of reflection and exchange.

The exhibition will remain open until August 16, 2026. Admission is free.

As the largest independent funding institution in North Rhine-Westphalia, the Kunststiftung NRW has been awarding its international Nam June Paik Award for 20 years. In 2023, the foundation has relaunched the award—with the selection and implementation of an outstanding site-specific proposal.

Named after the media artist Nam June Paik, the award is aimed at artists and collectives of all genres. The winners, chosen by an internationally composed jury, will receive a prize money of 25,000 Euros, as well as a solo exhibition in collaboration with a partner institution in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Nominees 2026: Salwa Aleryani, lives and works in Berlin / Michael Beutler, lives and works in Berlin and Aachen / Cyprien Gaillard, lives and works in Berlin and Paris / Renata Lucas, lives and works in São Paulo / Mikołaj Sobczak, lives and works in Warsaw and Düsseldorf.

Events
Literary walk: May 21, 7pm, Lisa Klosterkötter: “Über den Dächern” (Over the Rooftops)
Kunstmuseum Gelsenkirchen
Workshop activation and artist talk: July 2, 5pm, Michael Beutler will open his studio. Kunstmuseum Gelsenkirchen 
Joint tour : July 2, 7pm, Joint tour of the exhibition with Michael Beutler and Julia Höner. Kunstmuseum Gelsenkirchen.
Village fair: July 12, 5pm, Lisa Klosterkötter: “Unter der Markise” (Under the Awning). Kunstmuseum Gelsenkirchen.