Artist Talk

As part of Jack O’Brien’s first institutional solo exhibition in Germany, a conversation will take place between the artist and Alexander Wilmschen, Interim Director and Curator of the exhibition.

O’Brien’s work explores themes of materiality, the symbolic charge of objects, and the shifting of their meanings. The dialogue will focus on the exhibited works and the artist’s methodology.

Jack O’Brien is a sculptor, painter, and conceptual artist. His practice moves between sculpture, installation, and conceptual approaches. A defining element of his work is the use of found everyday objects such as wine glasses, shoes, lightbulbs, stockings, or chairs, which he transforms into complex, spatially expansive arrangements. He studied Fine Art at Kingston University in London and was awarded the Frieze Emerging Artist Prize in 2023. O’Brien lives and works in London.

Alexander Wilmschen is Interim Director and Curator at the Kestner Gesellschaft. He studied art history and philosophy as well as Art History in Global Context in Düsseldorf and Berlin. Since 2022, he has curated group and solo exhibitions featuring artists such as Rebecca Ackroyd, Tracey Emin, Klára Hosnedlová, and Anna K.E. Alexander Wilmschen lives and works in Hanover and Berlin.