On Dream Baby Dream

Exhaustion as an expression of resistance, depression as a silent but fundamental indictment of a sick system: in Dream Baby Dream, Rebekka Benzenberg draws attention to questions that only on a surface level appear personal and intimate. With a pointed compilation of sculptures, sound, and painting, the artist circles around the motif of the bed – a tempting retreat and hated sickbed at the same time – which she locates politically and illuminates critically. In doing so, the image of women in late capitalism as well as the overwhelming flood of therapy offers are being scrutinized.

Erschöpfung als Ausdruck von Widerstand, Depression als stumme aber fundamentale Anklage eines kranken Systems: Rebekka Benzenberg lenkt in Dream Baby Dream den Blick auf Fragen, die nur oberflächlich betrachtet persönlich und intim sind. Mit einer pointierten Zusammenstellung von Skulpturen, Sound und Malerei umkreist die Künstlerin das Motiv des Betts – verlockender Rückzugsort und verhasstes Krankenlager zugleich – das sie politisch verortet und kritisch beleuchtet. Das Frauenbild des Spätkapitalismus wird dabei ebenso hinterfragt wie die überfordernde Flut von Therapieangeboten.

Rebekka Benzenberg, Peace will come and with it sleep 2025, Worbla, UV resin, epoxy resin, glass fibre fabric, woven fabric, satin fabric, king-size duvet, sheet, feather down pillow, spring mattress, aluminium, frame, 200 x 100 x 160 cm

Rebekka Benzenberg, Dream Baby Dream, 2025, exhibition views, photos by Julian Blum

Rebekka Benzenberg (*1990 in Duisburg) lives and works in Berlin and Düsseldorf. From 2013 to 2020, she studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. Her work has been exhibited at institutions such as the Kunstmuseum Mülheim an der Ruhr, Kunstpalast Düsseldorf, Sammlung Philara, Bundeskunsthalle Bonn, as well as with Kadel Willborn, Martinetz, and Salon der Gegenwart. She has been awarded grants from the Stiftung Kunstfonds, the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and the Kunststiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen in support of her artistic practice.

Exhibition text

Check list

Rebekka Benzenberg, Peace will come and with it sleep 2025, Worbla, UV resin, epoxy resin, glass fibre fabric, woven fabric, satin fabric, king-size duvet, sheet, feather down pillow, spring mattress, aluminium, frame, 200 x 100 x 160 cm

Rebekka Benzenberg, Dream Baby Dream, 2025, wooden board, plexiglass, spacer, down cushion, fitted sheet, staple pins, 80 x 80 x 10 cm