Simone Kesting is Artist-in-Residence 2026
How can something take shape that cannot be grasped? In her work, Simone Kesting explores the tensions between immaterial states and physical presence. In her drawings, fragile constructs emerge from lived situations, inner states, and processes of communication, ultimately expanding into space.
The works in the exhibition “Four Eyes, One Moon” originated in the first months after the birth of her daughter - during those late evening hours when the artist began to draw, overwhelmed by persistent sleep deprivation. From memories, observations, and inner images, fragmentary narratives take form, situated within an ambivalent, dreamlike in-between space that follows its own quiet logic. The figures move between presence and absence, proximity and distance. They slip from one state of aggregation into the next, materializing while simultaneously beginning to dissolve their bodies again. On ceramic surfaces, these fleeting states are preserved - cast into material, inscribed, and sealed. In this way, the works confront the viewer as materialized transitional moments: they reveal and withdraw at once, balancing between visibility and concealment, fragility and resistance.
Simone Kesting studied illustration, drawing, and photography at HAW Hamburg and at the AdBA in Bologna. She works as a freelance illustrator and sculptor, is also involved in theater projects as a costume designer, and regularly gives workshops. Her works have been shown in numerous group and solo exhibitions, including in Germany, Denmark, the USA, and Japan. After completing her studies, she received several scholarships and grants, including support from the Claussen-Simon-Stiftung, Deutsche Bank, and the Stiftung Kunstfonds.
Simone Kesting was MEMBER of our stART.up scholarship program in the 2022/23 cohort.
