Elke Dreier: Movement (of) In-Between Forms

With Movement (of) In-Between Forms, the Kunsthalle Kempten is showing a solo exhibition by Munich and Memmingen-based artist Elke Dreier from 11 October 2025, which transforms the space into a sensitive network of movement, interaction and material presence. Touching is not only allowed here, it is part of the concept: the exhibition explicitly invites physical, sensual and mental participation.
At the centre are expansive elements that subtly explore the interactions between body, architecture and attention. Fleeting movements, indirect gestures and the power of shared presence unfold in the classical arches of the Kunsthalle. Dreier, who was awarded the Art Prize of the City of Kempten (Allgäu) in 2023 with her work "Massages (Pattern I & II)", is not interested in the big spectacle, but rather in the spaces in between: those micro-performative actions that often remain below the threshold of perception in everyday life - the incidental brushstroke, the reflexive pause, the physical reaction to proximity and distance.
Elke Dreier's artistic approach moves between the poles of drawing, video, performance and sculpture. Her works arise from a precise observation of body language in the context of permanent human interaction in a digitalised world. Everyday communication and movement sequences are removed from their immediacy and transformed into notation systems and choreographies. Movements are broken down into fragments and reassembled in individual sequences. This results in forms that are both sensually perceptible and analytically permeated - a vocabulary of physicality between art, sport, dance and everyday life.
The exhibition sees itself as an open exercise system: it activates, challenges conscious perception and enables a dialogue with one's own body in space. Dreier does not offer answers, but situations - tactile suggestions for a different way of seeing, feeling and acting.
At a time when communication is increasingly shifting to digital interfaces, Dreier's practice reminds us of the intelligence of the body and the irreplaceable quality of physical presence. Movement (of) In-Between Forms is an invitation to radical attention - and to the pleasure of movement in the in-between space.

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Last edited on 09.10.2025