At this art fair, ThisThat Gallery presents “After the Image” as its central theme, focusing on a new generation of creators from the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. These artists are not only explorers of artistic expression in the “post-image era” but also inheritors of the academy’s century-old spirit. Their works embody both a response to the questions of our time and a continuous inquiry into the very essence of art.

Having grown up amid the full evolution of the image age, these young artists have witnessed the transformation of images—from the dissolution of their authoritative power to the boundless expansion of their circulation—and have even experienced the artistic shift from the post-image era to the rise of AI technology. Confronted with the era’s proposition that “all creation must face images directly,” they have not merely followed tradition. Instead, they have developed entirely new, and at times opposing, image strategies, using their distinctive practices to respond to the artistic challenges of the post-image era continually.

The source of this spirit of innovation and inquiry lies within the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, an institution with nearly 300 years of history. Since its founding in the 18th century, the academy has upheld the belief in “ideas before technique” as its guiding principle, becoming a vital cradle for the renewal of artistic cognition worldwide. Joseph Beuys shattered conventional notions of art through his concept of “social sculpture”; Nam June Paik opened new dimensions for art via video; the Fluxus movement questioned the dialectical relationship between everyday life and art; and figures such as Gerhard Richter, Anselm Kiefer, Georg Baselitz, Markus Lüpertz, and Jörg Immendorff redefined visual expression through Neo-Expressionism. Meanwhile, Bernd and Hilla Becher, along with their students Thomas Ruff and Andreas Gursky, deconstructed the “essence of viewing” through their typological approach to photography.

This rich legacy of artistic exploration has provided a solid foundation for the creations of today’s emerging generation. With “After the Image” as its curatorial anchor, ThisThat Gallery bridges the academy’s historical spirit with the contemporary practices of these young artists — systematically presenting their explorations and reflections to the public, and building a bridge that invites audiences into dialogue with the frontiers of art in the post-image era.