2 March – 9 June 2025

Opening: Saturday, 1 March, 5 pm

Serena Ferrario: Hungry Ghosts 

Serena Ferrario develops walk-in installations from drawings, video recordings and collected objects. Born in Italy to a Romanian mother and an Italian father, she grew up in Romania, Italy and Germany. Her works thematise this intercultural imprint and the feeling of being at home everywhere and nowhere. The works are walk-in archives of memory that deal with fundamentally human themes such as family, friendship, love, fears and loss. Ferrario offers visitors a multitude of intellectual points of reference and opens up a multi-layered aesthetic experience.

2 March – 9 June 2025

Opening: Saturday 1 March, 5 pm

Ramazan Can: Where is my Place in this World?  

The exhibition ‘Where is my Place in this World?’ by Ramazan Can (*1988 in Anatolia) at Villa Merkel is the Turkish artist's first solo museum exhibition in Europe, together with the parallel exhibition at the Gustav-Lübcke-Museum in Hamm. The focus is on series of works that deal with the political, cultural and spiritual issues of his origins and that characterise his biography and his work. Can combines familiar visual habits from the Western canon of art history with pictorial traditions from Anatolia, shamanism and references to contemporary Turkish events. In his exhibition, he presents sculptural positions with graphic approaches and painting.

11 July – 5 October 2025

Opening: Thursday, 10 July, 7 pm

(K)eine Pause - Ausruhen im digitalen Zeitalter
((Not) a break – resting in the digital age)

The exhibition deals with resting as a necessity and metaphor in a fast-paced world. There has long been an entire industry in the western world that revolves around resting in digital and analogue space. Resting is associated with work-life balance and functions as a means of self-optimisation. At the same time, it is a physiological and psychological necessity that is often denied to homeless people, refugees or precariously employed people, for example. The exhibition examines this topic using a broad range of artistic positions and a wide variety of media. At the same time, quiet spaces will be created in the Villa Merkel itself and a varied accompanying programme will be offered.

24 October – 23 November 2025

Opening: Thursday, 23 October, 7 pm

Graduate students in the Weißenhof Program of Fine Arts from the State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart

Natalija Borovec, Saskia Fischer, Samira Gebhardt, Bastian Gehbauer, Andreas Grahl, Einan Kaku, Mizi Lee

For the ninth time, Villa Merkel, in cooperation with the Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design, is presenting the graduates of the postgraduate course ‘Meisterschüler:in im Weißenhof-Programm der Bildenden Kunst’. Outstanding graduates develop and realise a project within three semesters.

9 November 2025 — 1 February 2026

Opening: Sunday, 9 November, 3 pm

Rolf Nesch (1893-1975)

Salonausstellung

From 9 November, Villa Merkel will be showing works by Oberesslingen artist Rolf Nesch from its own collection in two cabinet rooms. The exhibition follows on from the presentation ‘Prägungen und Entfaltungen. Rolf Nesch (1893-1975), Nadira Husain (*1980)’ at the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart. On display are works from various creative phases of the artist, who emigrated to Norway in 1933 after the Nazi regime came to power. His art is characterised by his endeavour to merge material properties and visual design into a harmonious whole.

6 December 2025 – January 2026

Opening: Friday, 5 December, 7 pm

Guest exhibition by Esslinger Kunstverein:
Richard Merkle

The Esslinger Kunstverein's traditional annual exhibition at Villa Merkel in 2005 is dedicated to the work of Richard Merkle (*1962 in Dachau/ † 2022 Stuttgart). As a student of Joseph Kosuth, Merkle studied at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart and primarily produced works in the field of Minimal Art. Some of his works are now being presented in Esslingen, where he also lived and worked. The Esslinger Kunstverein is continuing its tradition and organising the guest exhibition at the turn of the year.

Curator: Christian Gögger