I spent a lot of time working in bars, frequently walking through restaurants and often feeling disappointed by the artwork displayed on the walls. I'd work 10h shifts staring at "decorative wall art" or simply plain walls. It was honestly quite frustrating. With my background in art and a strong desire for aesthetics, I initiated the Stanley Art Series in collaboration with the IMA Clique and James and David Ardinast. Our goal is to bring art into public spaces—places that are heavily frequented, where people gather and spend time together. 
Ruth M. Neubert curated the series, scout artists, and coordinate the projects on-site.

The first round of our Art Series launched alongside the Mifgash Pop-Up this summer. Mifgash focused on the theme of bringing together different cultures in public spaces, and I curated the exhibition around this concept. The three artists explored various aspects of public space.

Jule Wertheimer focused on horse racing, where diverse groups – from athletes and spectators to workers and cleaners – coexist in the same space. Kerstin Weiser followed the work of architect Otto Herbert Hayek, who created artistic architecture in public spaces that is lived and experienced by society. Pierre Verago's paintings depict everyday scenes that often go unnoticed, giving them new attention.

All these works create spaces where people of all backgrounds, regardless of origin, class, or status, come together and interact. This aligns quite well with the Mifgash concept.

For the second round, I put together a similar format: Two photographers, Marie Grosz and Peter Oliver Wolff and one Painter: Dorian Winkler.
The concept of this round was multilayered.
Visualy, We opted for similar colourways or compositions. Since we're not working in a white cube, the theme is already very defined. But I wanted to bring some ease into the room. Stanley Diamond is very glamorous, high end and chique. A lot of the costumers get ready for their evening there, they come to celebrate something, to have important business dinners. So the people are trying to show themselves in their best way. 
This I wanted to takle. Peter Oliver Wolff's work was the centerpiece. "End of Solitude" is a collection of pieces, put together over the years by the photographer, documenting moments of inner piece, of silence, of solitude. While quoting William Deresiewiczs Essays from 2009, his work makes you linger and reflect for a moment. End Of Solitude by Deresiewicz speaks about societal values and development in a digital world; our inability to be alone, to not present ourselves to others online. 

Around that I arranged different paintings by Dorian Winkler, a painter from the University of Arts and Design, who creates a new perspective on Graffiti, a painting technique derived from streetart and urban culture. His pieces aligned particularly well compositionwise with Wolffs work. 

Marie Grosz I placed at the head of the exhibition. Her work "Eine Stadt die es nicht gibt" (A City which doesnt exist) shows different scenes from continents and countries all over the world. Construction sites meet installations of everyday objects, all printed on a reflective material, causing the whole picture to invert when submitted to a flashlight. 
The Artist is creating a new world out of scraps of ours, while questioning the current one through this invertence.

To enhance our inital thought of connecting people, I brought up the idea of feeding the vernissage with a paneltalk.  I fell in love with William  Deresiewicz' book to be honest and wanted to discuss social isolation in a world saturated with social content with others who might have similar maybe even not so similar takes on it. 

So we had a talk about it. Marie, Dorian, Peter, James and I were positioned at the bar, the guests seated at the restaurants tables. I was serving my co-speakers drinks, working as the bartender and moderator at the same time. We talked about the works, our thoughts on digital spaces and social crippeling due to overstimulation and emotional satisfaction through our phones. It was inspiring. I didnt want it to flow like a regular panel talk. I find them quite stiff and forced at times. So we had a structured chat between wine glasses and dimmed lights.