Daniel Stubenvoll
Nachbarschaftsromantik

September 25 – October 25, 2025

SOOT is pleased to present a solo exhibition by the German and Frankfurt-based multidisciplinary artist Daniel Stubenvoll, titled Nachbarschaftsromantik. This marks Stubenvoll’s second exhibition with SOOT and his first solo show at the gallery. The exhibition features newly created sculptures, paintings, and installations.

Stubenvoll consistently develops his works in series, forming a network of interconnected pieces – each new work gains additional depth through its relationship with the preceding works.

A passage from Stubenvoll’s Anglo-German short story WORLF (2024) reads:

‘Back there, directly opposite the escalator leading to the underground, there used to be a large white wall with an advertisement for a fast car. Now, there was nothing. Also behind me – nothing, as though the escalator I had just taken to the surface had never existed.’

The painting series In ruins (2025), materialized from this narrative, was first shown at um Fragile Affären at WAF, Vienna.

While some works in this series evoke a traditional painterly impression, their supports consist of the unconventional material jute and plastic mesh stretched over wooden frames. The use of white paint and a reduced visual language – oscillating between abstraction and figurative moments produces a sense of elegance and lightness. Gates, columns, and windows are subtly suggested, referencing architecture both in motif and formal decisions with the usage of wall paint, a recurring theme in Stubenvoll’s oeuvre.

With the decisive brush strokes and haptic painting surface, these works reflect the concept of the ‘quick fix’– the tendency to seek seemingly efficient solutions using (often digital) tools. Originating in Silicon Valley, this approach has long influenced architecture and urban planning, operating under the idea that ‘there are no problems, only challenges to be solved through minor adjustments and optimizations.’ Such a mindset conceals errors and maintains the illusion of an intact system. Viewed through the lens of the short story WORLF, the In ruins-series overlays white paint reminiscent of these ‘quick fixes’, offering a disquieting diagnosis of contemporary society.

The three new works in the In ruins-series, created for this exhibition, are set on Los Angeles’ Sunset Boulevard. They evoke imagery of landscapes faded by prolonged exposure to strong sunlight and dry air: posters whose printed surfaces have disappeared, leaving only vinyl tape, and gates or arches whose contours eventually got erased. As with contemporary information and phenomena, once people become accustomed to them, they lose interest; when encountering the faded and disappearing contours, only a vague feeling for those possible images of the past arises.

In the Neighbors-series of sculptural works, carefully arranged brass plates reminiscent of blinds delineate the boundary between interior and exterior through a window-like apparatus. This boundary assumes a variable character depending on the angle and degree of opening of the plates, conveying a tranquil yet distinct personality. Through open brass plates, viewers can see the silver surfaces – architectural insulation material – installed inside shining directly toward them. Conversely, closed blinds obscure the interior from outside view, while from within, one might glimpse the viewer departing in a car parked outside. A playful balancing act between one’s personal awareness of everyday surroundings like one’s neighbors and the harmless, socially acceptable notion of voyeurism. Swifting between different modes of figuration, the spacing of the plates evokes a silent rhythm reminiscent of a glockenspiel or music box.

The exhibition’s title, the neologism Nachbarschaftsromantik (Neighbor-hood Romanticism), invites reflection on how individuals living next to each other in daily life might remain ‘romantic neighbors’ through the intimate boundary of the home, leaving space for an idealized vision of the relationship with the person next door. Emphasising the atmosphere of domestic rituals, Neighbors (Key Rack) as a sculptural work conceptually intends to include the house key of the respective owner, a crucial element of our daily routine.

In the installation My Left Hand’s Dream of Time for Us All, the work juxtaposes the principles of universal human rights and safety with the mechanisms of regulation and exclusion imposed by particular authorities. Using the concept of time, which flows equally for all, as a mediating framework, the work visualizes this tension, functioning as a silent yet powerful device that delivers ethical and political signals to the viewer.