Rediscovering a cultural institution
Since autumn 2024, the renowned Overbeck Society at Königstraße 11 in Lübeck has a new director, Paula Kommoss . With her arrival, the cultural life of our city has regained a true treasure. I was drawn to the Lübeck ZWISCHENZEILEN I arranged to meet with Paula Kommoss to learn more about her, to research background information on the current exhibition “ Half Frame ”, and to take a look together at her plans for the further development of the Overbeck Society, which, according to its statutes, is dedicated to the “promotion of the visual arts, in particular through the organization of art exhibitions”.
The Overbeck Pavilion
The elegant white building, which has been a testament to the work of the Overbeck Society since 1930, is situated somewhat apart in the garden of the Behnhaus/Drägerhaus Museum. For me, this location is part of the charm of this cultural institution. The pavilion surprises with its radiant white and clear design.
The "New Objectivity" style was a movement within modernism. The Overbeck Pavilion, designed by the Lübeck architect Wilhelm Bräck, is one of the few examples of this avant-garde architectural style in Schleswig-Holstein. Its effect changes with each season, yet it always draws the eye. I appreciate the simplicity of the architecture within the geometrically designed garden, which recedes into the background and gives each exhibition the space it deserves. These are approaches that the new museum director is embracing. For her, it's important to consider what a given location offers—and what can be developed from it.
Paula Kommoss – A new perspective
Paula brings not only international experience, but above all a palpable desire for change. With stints in Kassel, Venice, Frankfurt, and most recently the Freiburg Biennale, her CV reads like a map of artistic innovation. Now, Lübeck.
In conversation, I encounter a woman with a clear stance, brimming with ideas. Listening to her is a true pleasure.
She wants to further open the doors of the Overbeck Society – to new voices, younger visitors, and different perspectives. She doesn't see art as a closed narrative, but as an open conversation. Her previous exhibitions revolve around social issues, allowing music and language, sound and silence to enter into dialogue with one another.
What emerges under her leadership is not a "program," but a process. She embeds local, interdisciplinary themes within an international context. With her vibrant spirit, Paula Kommoss is a true gift to Lübeck's cultural scene.
Daphne – a figure of change
The sculpture of Daphne plays a central role in the first exhibition under Paula Kommoss's direction. Daphne stands in the courtyard in front of the entrance to the Overbeck Pavilion. Her gaze is slightly downward, her eyes closed, as if she has withdrawn from the world. Her body rests serenely within itself. The depiction is reserved, almost shy. And yet Daphne is there. Completely present. A figure in the moment of transformation – captured in bronze.
I have always been fascinated by this elegant sculpture. On every visit, I photographed it and felt Daphne's impressive presence. It is a work by the Berlin artist Reneé Sintenis . The then director of the Lübeck Museum, Carl Georg Heise , a central figure in the Lübeck art scene of the post-war period, brought it into the collection. Heise, a quiet enabler of modern art, was convinced:
Art is allowed to challenge. It is allowed to ask questions without providing answers.
In Sintenis he found an artist who did exactly that. Her Daphne shows no dramatic gesture, but rather a silent resistance. No sacrifice, no pathos – but a pause.
Daphne – the nymph from Greek mythology who eluded Apollo by transforming herself into a laurel tree – represents not drama, but stillness. It represents the moment when withdrawal becomes a form of resistance. And perhaps also what art is capable of: making the invisible tangible.
Half Frame – see in the transition
The current exhibition powerfully sets these ideas in motion. It was designed by the Cypriot artist Maria Toumazou camera obscura stands in the Overbeck Pavilion . Through a tiny opening, outside light enters the interior – the image of Daphne outside the building is slowly drawn inside over the course of eight hours. And then the image appears: Everything is upside down. Everything is there. And yet, simultaneously, intangible.
The exhibition title "Half Frame" refers to a photographic process from the 1950s and 60s: a film format that allowed twice as many subjects to be depicted on a single strip – condensed time, fragmented perception. Paula Kommoss is interested precisely in this contradiction: the desire to capture the moment even though it has already passed. And in the question of how we even encounter images today. What the increasing speed of visual stimuli, to which we are consciously or unconsciously exposed daily, triggers within us.
Perhaps it is this subtle harmony between the sculpture in the courtyard and the exhibition inside that makes the artistic approach so special: Here, there is no exhibiting, there is a search. And sometimes a single moment is enough – to see everything differently.
This is how it continues
The Overbeck Pavilion is open Thursdays to Sundays from 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm. Half Frame runs there until April 27, 2025. A second exhibition will follow on May 17, 2025: Paula Kommoss has invited the Danish artist Asta Lynge , who, as a representative of Ultra Contemporary Art, will stage the pavilion and make the spaces sensually perceptible from her own personal perspective.
A third exhibition opens on July 26th, about which Paula Kommoss only revealed that the theme of " hearing " will play a central role. Whenever you decide to visit again, or for the first time, the shimmering gold Daphne sculpture will be there in front of the entrance. With her quiet presence, she reminds us that change doesn't have to be loud.
By the way: our podcast team from Lübeck ZWISCHENTÖNE also met Paula Kommoss. Listen to the episode here.
