Bernhard Fuchs

Heustock

Sun, Apr 19, 2026–Sun, Sep 6, 2026

Haus Esters

OPENING: April 19, 2026, 11.30 a.m.

Bernhard Fuchs (born in 1971 in Haslach a.d. Mühl, Austria) belongs to the established generation of the Düsseldorf School of Photography. His work is unique in the tradition of both German and American documentary photography. Fuchs repeatedly focuses his gaze on one subject: the Mühlenviertel region in Upper Austria, where he grew up. Since the early 1990s, he has been creating series that show the landscape and people of this region in a special way, both directly and distantly. With Heustock, the artist has completed a new series of works, which was also created in the Upper Austria region between 2018 and 2024. Heustock refers to the supply of hay that is usually dried and stored in the hayloft of the barn and forms the basis for livestock farming. Due to a lack of profitability, these once indispensable storage spaces are now gradually disappearing. The photographs show architecture that appears archaic in parts and convey an intense impression of materiality. Photographed in daylight, each motif takes on a special colorfulness and a sometimes mystical atmosphere. In his series Heustock, Fuchs addresses traditional agricultural storage and production processes as well as the medium of photography itself. At Haus Esters, the Kunstmuseen Krefeld debut the new photo series Heustock, bringing together around 30 motifs.

The exhibition is a collaboration with the Lentos Art Museum in Linz, Austria, where the new series of works, Heustock, will be presented from May 27 to August 15, 2027.

Curator: Sylvia Martin

HLHE Dialog - What Comes After Art: Acaye Kerunen and Bernhard Fuchs come from very different cultural backgrounds and artistic traditions, yet both share a deep connection to their places of origin — sources of inspiration that continue to shape their artistic visions. In both artists’ work, notions of preservation, appreciation, continuity, and the longing for repair form a shared conceptual framework.
Since 2017, the HL HE Dialog series has fostered encounters between historical and contemporary positions in art, design, and architecture within the neighboring Mies van der Rohe villas. Each edition reflects anew on the legacy of modernism, bringing past and present into dynamic conversation.