SPOTLIGHT ON
Come Closer. Antje Zeiher at Françoise Heitsch
Everyone should try this sometime: Stand in the corner of a room and observe it.
Who or what is the space without me? Who or what is it to me? How free am I in that space? My memories—can you see them?
When I observe the space from a distance, I begin to understand its essence without my own presence. In this way, I perceive the space—the three-dimensional interplay of depth, light, and shadow—separate from my own physical experience.
From March 20 to May 9, Antje Zeiher’s new works will be on view at Galerie Françoise Heitsch. Her works move away from abstraction and into spaces.
The opening is on March 19 at 7 p.m.; the artist will be present.
In her new large-scale canvas works, Antje Zeiher consistently explores the concept of space. The compositions are clearly structured, meticulously conceived, and executed in acrylic.
Whereas in earlier works she played with perspectives, focused on details, and allowed the bigger picture to be only hinted at, she now takes a clear stance: the view into the space. Most often, our gaze sweeps across the space the room toward the window; in a few works, we find ourselves outside the house, looking through the window into the lit room, surrounded by branches and twigs. The rooms we view with Zeiher are mostly empty; sometimes we see a table, sometimes a picture hangs on the wall—nothing more. Patterns that evoke memories, colors that reflect emotions, surfaces and textures that tell a story. Motifs from small-format works reappear in the large formats and coalesce into a multi-layered structure. Her painting is as much a psychological experiment as it is a creative one: it aims to deconstruct her own subjective perception and capture the room in its objective or atmospheric essence. What remains when I leave?
Antje Zeiher reveals the soul of spaces. The artist has moved away from abstraction and away from details—yet she continues to tell stories. These small narratives have grown into larger ones spanning entire phases of life, which we associate with specific places we’ve lived. Spaces we remember, spaces we connect with experiences and emotions.
Spaces shape us—and we shape them. A relationship develops between them and us that goes beyond mere observation. It is a moment of “I-You,” in which space and people truly encounter one another.
A little girl is about to move into a bigger apartment with her parents. Let’s call her Charlotte. The family is looking at one—the mother warns Charlotte not to be scared, because it probably won’t look very nice, it’s run-down and old, but we’ll make it nice there.
Actually, the apartment is strange. An adult son lives there with his elderly mother—in one part of the large apartment, he runs a private movie theater; it’s a darkened room with lots of different chairs. In the kitchen, dried tea bags are lined up on the windowsill.
But Charlotte isn’t fazed. It will be a good apartment for her. A “safe space,” as they say today. She’ll live there for many years. The darkened movie theater becomes a bright living room. Through the frosted glass of the door, she can always see new figures; every light brings her new stories. The bathroom gets red walls and red carpet.
When the family moves out—Charlotte is in her early 20s—she treats herself to one last day in the empty apartment. She sits in the corners and looks around the empty rooms, taking in what was there and what remains. She takes photos of herself in the empty rooms.
Spaces shape us—and we shape them.
What remains of past lives in these rooms when new ones have long since taken their place? Who or what is the room without us?
In her new exhibition, we have the opportunity to accompany Antje Zeiher as she explores her inner worlds and gives shape to her past. The paintings tell us stories and invite us to discover our own.
There is an underlying philosophical question that echoes Martin Buber’s “I and Thou”: What happens when we encounter space not merely as observers, but as counterparts? When we perceive it not as an object, but as a “Thou” that responds to us—through traces, memories, and atmospheres? Space becomes a partner in Zeihers’ inner exploration, a mirror of her own existence. Her artistic quest—the connection between inner and outer space, between personal memory and architectural structure—is thus also an existential encounter: an “I-Thou” relationship between human and space, subject and world.
In her work, Martin Buber’s “I and Thou” finds a visual counterpart. She shows that spaces are not merely inhabited or observed, but that they speak to us—if we are willing to see them as a “Thou.”
Antje Zeiher, born in 1979, studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich under Bustamante, lives near Munich
Bildcredits:
Antje Zeiher, “Come Closer” series, 2026, 170 x 130 cm