Daily Art Brief — 24 September 2026
Three forthcoming European exhibitions put artistic influence, chance and connectedness at the centre of their formats—from a filmmaker’s personal visual archive to a gallery-wide work lottery and Chiharu Shiota’s thread-bound universe.
Image: Vilhelm Hammershøi, Five Portraits, 1901, Thiel Gallery
'På andras axlar. Lars von Trier kuraterar' set for 2026–27
At Stockholm’s Thiel Gallery, Lars von Trier turns the exhibition format into a map of the sources behind his filmmaking. ‘På andras axlar. Lars von Trier kuraterar’ runs from 10 October 2026 to 24 January 2027, with Vilhelm Hammershøi’s monumental Fem porträtt at its centre. Trier first travelled to Stockholm at 19 specifically to see the 1901 painting. Works by Caspar David Friedrich, Paul Gauguin, Carl Fredrik Hill, Edvard Munch, Ejnar Nielsen, August Strindberg, Rudolph Tegner, Jens Ferdinand Willumsen, Per Kirkeby and Trier himself appear alongside documents, personal objects, films and his texts. The exhibition was developed with Willumsens Museum in Denmark.
Image: Thomas Hirschhorn, «POST», 2025/2026
Alfonso Artiaco Presents Thomas Hirschhorn’s ‘EX-VOTO-TOMBOLA’ in Naples
Thomas Hirschhorn’s EX-VOTO-TOMBOLA, at Alfonso Artiaco in Naples through 31 October, gathers approximately 300 works from his POST series, made in 2025 and 2026 with cardboard, printed matter, felt-tip pen, ballpoint pen, paper and tape. Installed like ex-votos in a church, the works resist hierarchy and classification. Visitors do not choose an individual piece: each €500 ticket, plus 5% Italian VAT, corresponds to a random draw from an urn. The numbered work assigned by the draw cannot be exchanged, making chance an essential part of the acquisition system.
Image: Kunsthalle Rostock
Kunsthalle Rostock Announces Opening of ‘Chiharu Shiota – Verbundenheit’
Kunsthalle Rostock will open Chiharu Shiota – Verbundenheit on 2 October at 18:00, with the exhibition running from 3 October 2026 to 10 January 2027. The presentation identifies Connected to the Universe (Detail), 2023, as a featured work, made with water-soluble pastel, ink and thread on paper. Art historian and curator Tereza de Aruda is associated with the exhibition. The opening will also introduce Who am I thanks to you? Experiencing Mourning in the 21st Century, scheduled at the Kunsthalle from 3 October to 29 November 2026.