Anti Heroes. Jakob Collection

March 8 - June 7, 2026

Villa Merkel, Esslingen City Gallery, Esslingen am Neckar

"Aneta Kajzer’s (*1989 in Katowice, Poland / lives and works in Berlin) abstract Venus remains elusive and defies clear categorization. From our modern perspective, ancient deities can be understood as anti-heroes. Despite their supernatural powers, they are guided by all-too-human weaknesses. In Venus’s actions, too, love, discord, and jealousy go hand in hand. Consider, for example, the Trojan War, which was ultimately triggered in part by the goddess."

The exhibition Anti Heroes explores the question of how art can be collected and presented beyond art-historical frameworks, classifications, and market logic. The aim is to provide a broader audience with a personal connection to contemporary art.

Through the figure of the anti-hero, the exhibition builds a bridge between artists, collectors, the public, and the questions of our time. The focus of the exhibition and the Jakob Collection is not on grand gestures or heroic narratives, but on figures and works that make doubt, vulnerability, and contradictions visible and are, in part, conceived as fragile. Inspired by sociologist Ulrich Bröckling on postheroic heroism, the exhibition explores what direction art can provide today in a world marked by crises, acceleration, uncertainty, and the rise of authoritarian political forces.

The conceptual starting point for the exhibition is Han Kang’s novel The Vegetarian. The main character and antiheroine does not resist her environment through strength or energy, but through withdrawal and refusal. She dreams of being a plant that lives quietly, passively, and free from violence and consumption. The exhibition explores the theme of the antihero in across five thematic chapters, an archive and education space featuring an antihero library, and an epilogue at the end.

Artists: Joschua Yesni Arnaut, Fabio Baroli, Miriam Cahn, Boris De Beijer, Neckar Doll, Natacha Donzé, Marina Faust, Evgenij Gottfried, Jasmine Gregory, Katharina Grosse, Constantin Hartenstein, Roni Horn, Rindon Johnson, Aneta Kajzer, Julian-Jakob Kneer, Schirin Kretschmann, Erica Lambertson, Thomas Liu Le Lann, Annette Merkenthaler, Lucas Muñoz Muñoz, Michael Sailstorfer, Tobias Spichtig, Gabriella Torres-Ferrer, Raphaela Vogel, Jaime Welsh, Karla Zipfel