Jack O'Brien

Cue the Cue

With Cue the Cue , the Kestner Gesellschaft presents the first institutional solo exhibition of the British artist Jack O’Brien in Germany. The show addresses themes such as staging, visibility, queer identity, and the circular dynamics between consumption, body, and performance. The title refers to the cue, as a theatrical signal, and simultaneously to its possible repetition. This dual meaning reflects O’Brien’s artistic methodology, in which materiality, form, and gesture continuously balance between suggestion and withdrawal, appearance and disappearance. At the center of the exhibition stands a site-specific, large-scale installation in the dome hall of the Kestner Gesellschaft: A theater seating structure from the former dance company NEUER TANZ from Düsseldorf, tilted vertically, is presented to the audience from the back. 54 antique, leather-covered wooden chairs rise from the structure whose empty row numberings hold unengraved silver coins.The stage’s back side appears as a separate plattform, on which a structure of semi-transparent domes arises.

At the rear of the room, Fuel I (2025) is installed. The work refers to the fuel of capitalist economies, in which identity also becomes a resource. High gloss meets raw material: chrome-plated spheres, subway windows with stickers, sprayed plastic surfaces.

In the second room, two 15-meter-long advertising banners, stretched across opposite walls display the works Overflow II and Overflow III (both 2025). These works are based on an ongoing magazine series by the artist, in which he examines and deconstructs the visual language of fashion and lifestyle publications. The works consist of fragmented collages of images, overlaid with translucent foils, epoxy resin, spray paint, and textile applications.

Central to O’Brien’s artistic practice is the work with found materials and objects, in which the histories of human bodies are inscribed. He uses materials such as shrink wrap, cable ties, mesh fabrics, glass, nylon, and epoxy resin as artistic components putting them under tension, deforms, or fragments them. Many of his installations exist in a moment of controlled instability: floating, balanced, distorted. Visible hangings and static openness become part of the staging, as seen in Semblance (2025), where two hanging grand pianos seem to intertwine in a movement.

A publication on Jack O’Brien will be released in conjunction with the exhibition by Bierke Verlag.

Curator: Alexander Wilmschen

Jack O’Brien (born 1993 in London) is a sculptor, painter, and conceptual artist. Central to O’Brien’s artistic practice is his use of everyday objects, which he transforms into new contexts. Jack O’Brien’s installations explore materiality, urban transformation, and social fragility—binding found objects into abstract forms that reflect the entangled, evolving nature of human relationships. Awarded the Frieze Emerging Artist Prize (2023), Jack O’Brien's work is currently featured in Cue the Cue at Kestner Gesellschaft Hanover (2025) and Cascade at Capitain Petzel Berlin (2025), with The Reward at Camden Art Centre, London (2024) coming before. His works are part of prestigious collections, including the Pinault Collection (Paris), the Rubell Museum (Miami), and The Perimeter (London). Jack O'Brien lives and works in London.