Furore

with
Nina Paszkowski

Graphic: Nora Keilig

Exhibition

5/6/2026 – 21/02/2027
Opening: 4/6/2026, from 6 PM

The solo exhibition by Nina Paszkowski, titled “Furore”, refers to the spectacle that has long shaped the Bärenzwinger: the principle of display and staging—whether through living animals, ideologically charged urban identity, or contemporary art. “Furore” describes a form of public attention that moves between fascination and unease. What attracts and excites can also turn into indignation or anger. Paszkowski approaches this anger through mythological figures whose name resonates in the exhibition title: the Furies. In Greek mythology, they appear as furious avengers who, through an act of mercy, undergo a process of becoming human and transform into the benevolent Eumenides.

In “Furore”, the Furies appear as larger-than-life guardians. Against the backdrop of the site’s history—where spectacle has long been intertwined with control and violence—it remains uncertain whether they will enact revenge or grant mercy here. In Paszkowski’s work, anger does not remain confined to destruction. Instead, it appears as a force capable of breaking open existing conditions and making new forms of coexistence imaginable. The transformation of the Furies is mirrored in a changing constellation of works within the Bärenzwinger itself: over the nine-month duration of the exhibition, anger erupts from the walls of the former bear enclosure in the form of ceramic proliferations, carving out new paths. What remains are open wounds that inscribe vulnerability into the space and raise questions about the persistence of violence and the possibility of healing.

Curated by Janine Pauleck, Annika Reketat and Tina Quednau

4. June 2026
6 PM: Opening
7 PM: Welcome
7:30 PM: DJ-Set

cun_t is a DJ duo, moving between rolling basslines, crunchy 808 rhythms, and hypnotic grooves. Shaped by years of friendship and an ongoing exchange of music, their sets draw on collective joy and sister*hood.

This time, Elena represents cun_t with a carefully selected blend of raw old-school tunes, melodic acid lines, and playful percussion.

You can listen to the set they curated especially for the opening here: Stream cun_t | Furore Opening @Bärenzwinger by cun_t

Friday, 31 July 2026

7 PM: Guided tour and Talk
with Nina Paszkowski

8 PM: Ritual performance “DESCENT”
by Riley Davidson, with sound design by Juan Cernadas

“Furore” – Exhibition tour and conversation with Nina Paszkowski
Join artist Nina Paszkowski and the curators for a dialogue-based tour through the current exhibition “Furore”.

“Furore” is conceived as an evolving exhibition. Over the course of its duration, new works will be added, others removed, and the arrangement of the works within the space will change. On the occasion of the exhibition’s first transformation, this tour offers the opportunity to explore the next chapter of “Furore” together with the artist and curators. The conversation will focus on the conceptual foundations of the exhibition, the making of the works, and the ongoing development of their spatial arrangement.

In “Furore”, Nina Paszkowski engages with the figure of the Furies – mythological beings of vengeance who emerge from histories of violence, injustice, and unresolved conflicts. The exhibition considers rage not only as an emotion, but as a force that carries memories, demands recognition, and can initiate processes of transformation.

“DESCENT” – Ritual Performance by Riley Davidson with Juan Cernadas
“DESCENT” is a performance in which body, sound, and silence evoke memories beyond the realm of logic. A dancer sheds inherited myths, while a sound designer creates a live atmosphere through breath, noise, and sound.

Drawing on the myth of Inanna’s descent into the underworld – one of the oldest recorded texts in history from the Sumerian culture (c. 2100 BCE) – the performance explores descent as a necessary passage and a moment of transformation. At a time when we are collectively confronted with the collapse of established power structures, “DESCENT” asks which ideas and narratives we must leave behind in order to enable other forms of thinking and acting.

The performance becomes a space for wordless rage and grief, for engaging with inherited wounds and the entanglements of past generations. Because transformation begins with descent.

“DESCENT” marks the next chapter of the current exhibition “Furore” by Nina Paszkowski, following the integration of new works into the exhibition. The performance extends the exhibition’s engagement with themes of rage, transformation, and social power relations.

The Bärenzwinger – a historic site built for the display of the supposedly wild – becomes a point of departure for examining violence, spectacle, and the boundaries between self and other. At the same time, the performance reflects on contemporary forms of spectacle, asking how platforms such as social media shape our perception of violence and influence the relationship between witnessing and personal involvement.

Nina Paszkowski lives and works in Cologne. In her artistic practice, she engages with themes such as desire, power, and the interdependence of living beings. She works with ceramics and paper, developing spatial installations that examine the tension between individuality and interconnectedness.

Her installations often consist of large-scale paper cut-outs, for which she partly produces the paper herself, as well as ceramic sculptures. Both bodies of work address notions of fragility and permeability, treating these not as fixed conditions but as shifting states within spatial and relational structures.