Grit Richter | Soft Power | Installation View at Städtische Galerie Dresden | 2025

GRIT RICHTER – SOFT POWER

25 October 2025 – 01 March 2026

STÄDTISCHE GALERIE DRESDEN | DRESDEN, GERMANY

In the exhibition Soft Power at the Städtische Galerie Dresden, Grit Richter presents a comprehensive installation that brings together key works from recent years alongside new pieces developed specifically for the exhibition. Rather than a retrospective, the show unfolds as a concentrated reconfiguration of her practice, in which different phases, materials, and approaches converge within a single spatial setting.

Richter transforms the exhibition space into a large-scale, immersive installation. Color, material, and surface extend across walls, floor, and objects, dissolving the boundaries between individual works and the surrounding architecture. The space becomes physically present and perceptible, inviting visitors to move through it rather than observe it from a distance.

The title Soft Power functions as a metaphorical frame. It points to forms of influence and intensity that operate below the surface—subtle, affective, and embodied rather than overtly demonstrative. In the exhibition, Soft Power unfolds as a space of simultaneity, where psychological, emotional, and collective dimensions coexist without being resolved. Meaning emerges through atmosphere, rhythm, and spatial presence, allowing complexity to remain intact.

Rather than illustrating themes or offering fixed interpretations, the installation creates a situation of heightened sensory awareness. Visitors find themselves immersed in a dense visual and material environment that encourages lingering, attentiveness, and personal association. The exhibition foregrounds experience over explanation, allowing meaning to emerge through perception, movement, and resonance.

Photos by Phillip W. Günther and Grit Richter