Beate Christine Winkler’s Interweavings (Verflechtungen) is a striking and timely exploration of female struggles, societal fragility, and the precarious balance of gender equality. The show combines retrospective with current artworks. Through sculpture, installation, and paper art, Winkler weaves a narrative that underscores the enduring resilience of women while warning of the dangers of societal regression.

The presented artworks were created exclusively in black and white tones and impress with their extraordinary technique and craftsmanship.

At the core of the exhibition is a poignant installation Life Boat 2.0 first presented over two decades ago, featuring lyrics and poems by female artists. These texts, unified by recurring themes of pain and suffering, embody the shared struggles of women across generations. They echo lives shaped by external impositions—women who were denied capacity to act, forced into choices not their own.

Another pivotal piece, a monumental sculpture Remember composed of 100,000 carefully arranged nuts, deepens this reflection. The work, created through a meditative process, appears solid and unyielding but is delicately balanced. This precariousness becomes a metaphor for the societal structures that underpin gender equality; structures that, while appearing stable, can be dismantled with a mere tremor of change.

The meditative spirit inherent in Winkler’s earlier works finds new life in her latest creations. Her fresh series of wall installations and objects, crafted from hand-folded paper, embody a quiet yet striking transcendence. Each piece is a study in fragility and harmony, with delicate folds joined to form intricate, organic patterns. These compositions of unrestrained beauty embody the complexity of natural systems and structures.

Through Interweavings, Winkler crafts a poignant dialogue about the hard-won advancements in women’s rights and the dangers of complacency. Her work serves as both a tribute to women’s enduring strength and a stark warning: the balance between genders is not guaranteed but must be vigilantly protected.

Photos (c): Jürgen Bubeck