Various Others is Munich’s unique approach to a city-wide art event. Running from May 14 to May 24 (2026), it acts as a moment of international collaboration and exchange. A city known for its macho security conference, car biennial and beer festival, Various Others demonstrates how contemporary art can enliven alternative understandings of a place, of our times; an opportunity, that is, to create new affinative ties. As the format draws near, here are just four exhibitions which I feel are a must-see.
Carrying at Museum Brandhorst, May 14th to November 8th 2026
Another hot lineup of artists, Hêlîn Alas, Cana Bilir-Meier, Louise Lawler, Kate Newby, Tiffany Sia, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith and Leyla Yenirce, sit core to this polyphonic show. Occupying sites inside and outside of the Museum Brandhorst, dislodging some of the ‘master works’ the museum is known for, the artworks selected for Carrying aim to challenge monological museal narratives; intervening to bring occluded histories to the surface of things.
Cunnigham Capsule at KNUST KUNZ GALLERY EDITIONS, May 16th to June 16th 2026
One of the most beautiful exhibitions I saw in 2025 was Five Friends: John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly – an exhibition which started in Museum Brandhorst (Munich) before travelling to Museum Ludwig (Cologne). In that show, seeing stills from Merce Cunningham’s dance routines alongside artworks by John Cage and Jasper Johns touched me, conveying how the spirit of friendship, intimacy and collaboration transcends plastic art forms. I have high hopes for Cunnigham Capsule. Featuring collegiate souls, Lena Grossmann, Saul Leitner and Nam June Paik, the exhibition sets itself to display how the spiritual exercise of dance, the innovative simplicity of Cunningham’s routines, endures across different physical forms; providing a recumbent energy for other artistic creations.
Laura Ní Fhlaibhín and Tyler Eash: breaking / briseadh / wa’aidom at BRITTA RETTBERG May 16th to June 27th
This exhibition emerges out of conversation. Discussions started while Laura Ní Fhlaibhín and Tyler Eash were studying at Goldsmiths University (London). But also, out of conversations long before, as each artist attuned to their ancestors, folks native to Ireland and Maidu/Modoc (what is known today as California). With distinctive practices, Ní Fhlaibhín and Eash find common ground in Indigenous worldviews and decolonial methodologies. Drawing upon these influences, breaking / briseadh / wa’aidom, surfaces the solidarity that lies between seemingly disparate peoples, using a position critical of anglo-coloniality to form productive alliances. That is, in this exhibition, mourning, remembering and exhuming become vital modes of kinship.
Karin Sander at EYES ONLY in collaboration with Esther Schipper, May 16th July 18th 2026
Karin Sander’s artwork Coordinates is a base gesture of conceptualism. The artwork manifests as a minimal installation where nothing but its exact location is shown; coordinates writ as wall or window-based signs. ‘Radically site-specific’, as the press blurb suggests, Sander’s artwork is at once finite, only existing for the length of its specific display, and eternal, with the ability to live in any place, any time. Coordinates occupies a somewhat typical place in the canonical history of high-conceptualism in this regard. This is not to assume the work is out of touch with the now, however. In an age where we, most of us, are continually ‘checking in’, whether we are cognisant of it or not – sharing our data with the digital powers that be – Sander’s work gains contemporary significance, highlighting how the criticality of even the most antiquated forms of conceptualism continually chime with the present.
Various Others Munich 2026, May 14th – 24th, 2026
Categories
Tags
- Andriu Deplazes
- Area Dean
- beacon
- Britta Rettberg
- Cana Bilir-Meier
- contemporary art
- Esther Schipper
- Gallery Weekend
- Hêlîn Alas
- Jaune Quick-to-See Smith
- Jessy Razafimandimby
- Karin Sander
- Kate Newby
- Laura Ní Fhlaibhín
- Lena Grossmann
- Leyla Yenirce
- Louise Lawler
- Merce Cunningham
- Munich
- Munich exhibitions
- Museum Brandhorst
- Nam June Paik
- Nour Jaouda
- Saul Leitner
- Shahryar Nashat
- Tiffany Sia
- Tyler Eash
- Various Others
- Zoë Paul
