Dan Flavin

In mid-August 2025, Dan Flavins’ late work Untitled (For Ksenija) (1994) goes on display at the Kunstbau. The exhibition space designed by the architect Uwe Kiessler was inaugurated that year, and Flavin created the imposing light installation specifically for the occasion. Four rails mounted on the ceiling hold industrially manufactured fluorescent tubes in the colors green, blue, yellow, and red—the only material Flavin used in his art from the early 1960s onward. The light installation enters into a symbiotic relationship with the architecture; the placement of the rails suggests a connection to the subway station beneath the gallery. The work of art transforms the room with its projection of nuanced hues, bathing not only the floor and walls, but also the visitors’ bodies in luminous compositions. In this way, Flavin’s installation allows for a sensual reinterpretation of architecture, the space, and self-perception. Heiner Friedrich and Philippa de Ménil gave the work to the Lenbachhaus in memory of their parents, Harald and Erika Friedrich and John and Dominique de Ménil. A central piece in the museum’s collection, it has been on view at regular intervals since 1994 in keeping with the donors’ wishes. 

Free admission! 

Curated by Johannes Michael Stanislaus

With generous support of Förderverein Lenbachhaus e.V.