Opening and Performances: Friday, February 6, 2026, 6–10 pm

With bravo, the Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen presents a project conceived by artist Solomon Garçon at the intersection of performance, music, and installation. bravo extends beyond the spatial conventions of an exhibition, opening up toward forms of staging more readily associated with entertainment television. It does so by probing what might emerge when familiar modes of display give way to rehearsal and delay, and when expectation and projection begin to take shape. This marks Garçon’s first institutional solo presentation outside the UK.

The project draws on US reality television as a cultural and formal reservoir. Garçon is attentive to the particular logics of these formats: the constant slippage between stage and “real” space, and the episodic organization through which time, attention, and drama are choreographed. Questions of visibility, narration, and exposure (of information) recur throughout Garçon’s practice; in bravo, they appear through a spatial choreography that treats the exhibition space as a set, which will be additionally activated on the opening night. The evening will take on the atmosphere of a watch party of sorts, gathering visitors into a shared state of waiting, listening, looking, and being looked at.

Alongside a performance by Garçon, the opening will feature audio and visual contributions by artist Paride Maria Calvia and experimental pianist Precious Renee Tucker. Calvia’s pre-composed mix will score the situation. Tucker’s contribution will appear via a specially made musical composition and video recording, mobilizing the short-form performance idiom that propelled her into viral circulation on social media. Across the five-week run of the installation-cum-exhibition, a performative interlude will take place twice a week. Garçon has cast a member of the Kunstverein’s staff for this, subtly bringing the institution’s internal workings onto the stage. For these moments, stylist Taylor Thoroski has conceived a costume drawing on the looks of the women who take center stage across reality television franchises.

Concluding bravo, Solomon Garçon and Gloria Hasnay, director of the Kunstverein, will give a dialogical tour of the installation on Saturday, March 14, 2026, at 4 pm.

Curated by Gloria Hasnay

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bravo is supported by the Kunststiftung NRW.