A white room. And suddenly, anything is possible.

A whale floats in the air. Black shapes spread across the floor like islands. Luminous sculptures assert their own order. Painting opens up spaces; light takes on an almost physical presence. Everything appears clearly visible—and yet remains enigmatic.

With NEW WUNDERKAMMER, konsum163 – contemporary is transformed into a space that lies between reality and imagination. White walls and a carpet that is white throughout strip the space of its everyday familiarity. A quiet, almost otherworldly atmosphere emerges, in which every color, every contour, and every shift in proportions appears all the more intense. The eye finds peace. And it is precisely this that fills it with wonder.

The exhibition takes up the idea of the historical cabinet of curiosities and gives it a surprising spatial form. The delight in the extraordinary, in unexpected juxtapositions, and in discovery unfolds here with a sense of expansiveness and clarity. The white space allows the works room to reveal their strangeness, beauty, and individuality. It becomes a stage for objects that reveal themselves without giving away their secrets.

The starting point is the monumental whale by the Viennese artist Mela Diamant. In the white room, it seems to emerge from another reality. Its massive body hovers above the floor, as if weight and gravity had lost their hold for a moment. The gallery’s familiar architecture becomes the setting for an unlikely encounter: You stand before a creature from the depths of the sea and meet it eye to eye. Straddling the line between grandeur and vulnerability, physical presence and dreamlike lightness, the whale transforms the atmosphere of the entire space.

Beneath it and in its vicinity, black, amorphous patches of floor create a striking contrast. Their flowing contours break up the white and delineate the areas occupied by the sculptures as opposed to the painted images. On these islands, black pedestals rise up, providing a setting for Thomas Räpke’s colorful works.

Räpke, also known as “Eisenhans,” creates sculptures and objects with a distinctive structural order using black iron, brass, and aluminum. Rectangular, cell-like structures come together to form compositions in which the metal is just as effective as the open spaces between them. For NEW WUNDERKAMMER, he is presenting his objects in vibrant colors for the first time, accompanied by equally vivid murals. This lends his formal language a new sensory dimension. Color alters the perceived weight, emphasizes individual connections, and makes familiar structures appear surprisingly unfamiliar. Set against the black islands, the works develop an almost electric presence—precisely constructed yet full of playful energy.

Petra Schott presents powerful figurative works and new, previously unpublished paintings in which she continues to explore her painterly language. Figures, gestural traces, and intense color schemes converge, intensifying one another while simultaneously leaving room for the indeterminate. A tension arises between physical presence and painterly dissolution that is immediately moving. In the quiet white of the Wunderkammer, these works unfold with a special power: human, sensual, and full of inner movement. The exhibition thus offers a first glimpse into the latest developments in her work—into paintings in which the familiar is transformed and the new is just beginning to take shape.

Miriam Steinberg’s “Fotones” extend this openness into the perception of light. Light becomes both the subject and the artistic medium of her photographic works. Straddling the line between physical phenomenon and poetic manifestation, images emerge whose impact unfolds as the viewer’s attention deepens. What initially appears tangible defies clear categorization. Seeing becomes a process of exploration—an encounter with something that lies between visibility and imagination.

The four artistic works influence one another through their proximity. Next to the floating whale, scales of measurement suddenly seem uncertain. The luminous metal structures counter the silence of the space with their energy. Painting and photography open up further, imaginary spaces within the white architecture. Between them, lines of sight and relationships emerge that shift with every step.

In this way, the Wunderkammer becomes a place where the clarity of the surroundings enhances the mystery of things. One can approach, step back, linger, and follow one’s own associations. Here, the extraordinary needs no hidden corners. It stands openly before us in the bright room—and yet can never be fully grasped.

NEW WUNDERKAMMER provides a space for wonder. Perhaps also for that curiosity with which, as children, we looked at things for which we still lacked the words. A white room becomes spacious enough for a whale, for luminous structures, for human presence, and for light. And for the wonderful opportunity to doubt one’s own eyes for just a moment.