Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart CHANEL Commission: Klára Hosnedlová. embrace 01.05-26.10.2025
Klára Hosnedlová
Klára Hosnedlová borns in Uherské Hradiště, Czechia in 1990 year and now live, works in Berlin. She has created a monumental installation that transforms the Historic Hall of Hamburger Bahnhof into a mythical landscape. Sculptures composed from glass, concrete, flax, hemp, thread, sand, metal, and sound create points of encounter. Extending the former train station’s architecture into a layered embrace. These elements expose dualities between organic and inorganic, permanence and decay, handmade and industrial.
Hosnedlová works with materials tied to the regions of Bohemia and Moravia, located today in Czechia. Combining handcraft traditions, regional folklore, and brutalist architecture, she interweaves historical, political, and cultural narratives. Her installation creates a space where childhood memories open up a universal language of imagination.
Glass
Nine pieces of colourful, opaque glass jut out sharply from sand-coated reliefs set on metal walls. The contrast between the delicate glass and the solid. Stone like sculptures creates a composition that suggests both fragility and strength. To produce the glass pieces, Hosnedlová collaborates with artisans whose craftsmanship is shaped by generations of tradition and knowledge. By working with hand-cast glass a material shaped by both nature and human intervention.
She highlights the long histories embedded in these techniques of making. Drawing on regional traditions, her installation explores the interplay between natural forces and human industry. Revealing how landscapes, materials, and cultural practices are continuously reshaped over time.
Sound
Four towering stacks of speakers positioned throughout the Historic Hall project a layered sound composition. The vocals of Lada, a women’s choir who sing in Moravian micro-dialects, weave through a soundscape of ringing church bells. Instrumental elements and lines in Czech spoken by rapper Yzomandias. The soundtrack was specifically developed by Berlin and Brussels-based composer and performance artist Billy Bultheel for this installation. The speakers themselves were sourced from techno clubs in Berlin, some of which no longer exist. Despite this, the speakers carry their own memories, shaped by past gatherings and collective experiences. They are dusty and scratched, and some no longer work. Highlighting the broader theme of obsolescence that runs through the installation.
Metal
Eight arches in the Historic Hall are filled with metal panels that frame and contain Hosnedlová’s installation at the centre of the space. Echoing the museum’s prominent metal beams, the panels extend the architecture itself, transforming elements of the historic building to become part of the installation. The cold, industrial surfaces of these panels stand in stark contrast to the warm, organic materials that fill the Hall. By enclosing part of this vast interior, the panels introduce a sense of intimacy and clarity, redefining how the space is experienced. The interplay of sculpture and structure reinforces the spatial coherence of the installation, drawing its various elements into a unified whole.
Flax and Hemp
Six sprawling, woven tapestries hang from ceiling to floor. Their muted colours, rough textures and branching appendages make them resemble animal skins or creatures from another world. These suspended elements are made of a combination of flax and hemp, which has been woven en- tirely by hand and dyed in earthy tones. To produce them, the artist collaborates with the last remaining flax and hemp processors in the region. From the outside, these tapestries disrupt sightlines and cast shifting shadows. From the inside, they create areas of refuge and safety, em- bracing viewers as they walk through the museum’s Historic Hall.
More here or live at the exhibition.
About the CHANEL Culture Fund
The CHANEL Culture Fund fosters a vibrant network of creators and in- novators to advance the ideas that shape culture worldwide. Core programmes include CHANEL’s Art Partners, institutions whose leaders are supported in the development of ground-breaking, long-term initiatives that bring transformation to the cultural landscape. The CHANEL Next Prize celebrates artists and accelerates their future successes through access to resources and mentorship. And the podcast CHANEL Connects amplifies the voices of thought-leaders across disciplines, generations, and geographies—tackling the defining issues of our time.
From emerging curators at the MCA Chicago to leading ecologists at the Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul, from game-changing artists at the Venice Biennale to the brightest directors at the British Film Institute, the CHA- NEL Culture Fund champions creative audacity for a better future and extends a century of commitment to the arts.
The CHANEL Commission at Hamburger Bahnhof is a partnership that supports artists in creating installations that engage with the museum’s Historic Hall. Furthermore, it is presented annually during Gallery Weekend Berlin.
About Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart
Hamburger Bahnhof founded in 1996 as the Contemporary Art Museum of Germany’s National Gallery in Berlin. Through exhibitions, performances, educational programming, publications and a rich schedule of symposia, Hamburger Bahnhof serves as a forum for local and global communities. Hamburger Bahnhof is the custodian to the Nationalgalerie’s collection of art from the 1960s onwards with a special focus on new media and time-based works. With 400,000 visitors in 2023 and 12,000 square meters of exhibition space, Hamburger Bahnhof hosts 8 temporary exhibitions and 4 evolving permanent collection displays each year. Ham- burger Bahnhof centers its profile around four core values: inclusivity, innovation, responsiveness, and diversity. Operating beyond the borders of culture and geography, the museum highlights the complex diversity of today’s societies.
Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart CHANEL Commission: Klára Hosnedlová. embrace 1 May – 26 October 2025, Invalidenstraße 50 10557 Berlin
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