Acaye Kerunen and Bernhard Fuchs

Since 2017, the HLHE Dialog series—held in the neighboring Haus Lange and Haus Esters—has brought together artists and designers whose works can be meaningfully related in terms of content. The works of Bernhard Fuchs and Acaye Kerunen could hardly be more different; however, both explicitly invite us to think about the future against the backdrop of past traditions and ecological models. Closely tied to this is the question of what comes next—after art.

Acaye Kerunen’s work—whether as a visual artist, performance artist, author, therapist, or activist—is deeply rooted in her homeland of Uganda. For her sculptures and wall installations, she uses natural materials such as raffia, banana fiber, bark cloth, sisal, beads, natural dyes and intergenerational techniques to transform them. These materials are sourced from the wetland eco-systems of Nalubaale (Lake Victoria) and the Great Lakes region of East Africa. These plants form the basis for traditional handcrafted products and serve as the starting point in Kerunen’s work for a reinterpretation and deconstruction of craftsmanship. Kerunen learned from observing her mother and aunties weaving, sewing, twinning, installing and so much more. Her artworks emerge from the free, intuitive application of craftmanship as well as from collaboration with local women’s groups, whose woven everyday objects Kerunen incorporates into her work. 

“Acaye Kerunen is an artist who effortlessly bridges the gap between craft and art,” says Katia Baudin, director of the Kunstmuseen Krefeld. “This connection is embedded in the DNA of the Kunstmuseen Krefeld, and Kerunen offers a critical and highly relevant reflection on it.” The materiality and craftsmanship of Kerunen’s works conceal an understanding of Uganda’s natural and cultural history. Plant-based materials point to a fragile ecosystem vulnerable to climate change. The Berlin Conference of 1884 plays a significant role in the country’s colonial past. It led to a colonial economic policy focused on the mass production of cash crops (coffee, sugar, tea, cocoa, cotton), which permanently altered nature, local agriculture, and ways of life. In Uganda’s patriarchal society, basketry is still disparagingly regarded as “housework” performed by women. By using their everyday objects, Kerunen gives visibility and value to women and traditional craftsmanship. The title of the exhibition, Apoi—Alur for “I remember / Do I remember? / I am insane / Am I insane?”. The phrases interplay to describes states between self-assurance and doubt. Apoi incorporates the idea of change for the better as an integral part of one’s own thinking. Alur is the primary language of her mother—a nilotic whose people originated in Bar-el Garzel along the river Nile. For the exhibition at Haus Lange, Acaye Kerunen has created new works, which she combines with existing pieces from the past years. Participatory installations, objects, and wall works—as well as photographic works, included for the first time—come together to form a narrative that is both sensory and critical, directly linking the exhibition space to the country of Uganda.

Acaye Kerunen (born in Kampala, Uganda) holds a BS in mass communication from the Islamic University, Uganda. She has been exhibiting internationally since 2018. In 2022, she represented Uganda’s first pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale alongside Collin Sekajugo. In 2024, Kerunen curated and produced Uganda’s pavilion in Venice. In 2026, she has been appointed as the commissioner of the National Pavilion by the Government of Uganda to lead structural transformation for the visual arts sector and mentor fellow curators with the Biennale as a benchmark of activity.

Bernhard Fuchs repeatedly turns his attention to the region he comes from: the Mühlviertel. Since 1994, his walks through the gently rolling landscape have resulted in various thematic series. At times, Fuchs focuses on cars parked along country paths; at others, on forests, or he photographs the people who significantly shape the natural environment of this region. Over decades, a distinctive topographical map has consistently emerged, capturing the individuality and intimacy of the region with precise attention. “Bernhard Fuchs studied, among others, with Bernd Becher at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and has given documentary photography an individual direction,” says museum director Katia Baudin. “With the presentation of his work, we continue our series of exhibitions on the Düsseldorf School of Photography and carry forward a tradition of the Kunstmuseen Krefeld.” At Haus Esters, the Kunstmuseen Krefeld are presenting Fuchs’s most recent series Heustock for the first time. The works were created between 2018 and 2024 in the Mühlviertel. The photographer focuses on a specific architectural space: the hayloft—a traditional storage place for dried grass that was once essential for livestock farming and is now increasingly disappearing in its historic form. The 28 photographs show different old haylofts with their archaic wooden constructions and stored or scattered hay—the “Heustöcke.” Fuchs works with the analog means of photography, including his own analog prints. He photographed the dimly lit interiors using natural light and, in some cases, very long exposure times, making nearly every detail visible—from individual blades of grass to the grain of the wood. Each image contains its own subtly unsettling color atmosphere, and each perspective opens up a different view of these forgotten areas of farm life. The simple composition transforms the hayloft into a stage where a mystical mood can arise, as well as memories of the smell of hay and times past. The titles of the individual photographs ultimately locate each hayloft and haystack in the present, assigning the universal, narrative image a specific place on the map of the Mühlviertel. With Heustock, Bernhard Fuchs once again explores the capacity of conceptual photography. The documentary nature of his images always also contains elements of intimacy, stillness, and dignity.

Bernhard Fuchs (b. 1971, Haslach an der Mühl, Austria) studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and at the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig. His works have been shown internationally in numerous solo and group exhibitions and are represented in major collections, including the Albertina in Vienna, the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, the Museum Folkwang in Essen, the Sprengel Museum Hannover, and the Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz. Fuchs lives and works in Düsseldorf.

The exhibition Bernhard Fuchs. Heustock is a cooperation with the Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz, where it will be on view from May 27 to August 15, 2027. The accompanying book for the Heustock series, published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König, is available at the museum.