In Munich’s sharp and bone-chilling January air, as the murmur of the Isar River collides with the majestic columns of Prinzregentenstraße, an entirely different river flows inside Haus der Kunst. French artist Cyprien Gaillard’s “Wassermusik” (Water Music) exhibition, running until 22 March 2026, invites the viewer beneath the visible surface of the city, into the depths of time and memory. Acting less like a traditional artist and more like an urban archaeologist, Gaillard revives Munich’s layered strata, abandoned architectures, and monuments that have lost their meaning, bringing them back to life with a stereoscopic (3D) enchantment.
Retinal Rivalry: The Hidden War of the Eyes
At the heart of the exhibition lies “Retinal Rivalry,” the latest milestone in the stereoscopic film language Gaillard has been developing since his iconic 2015 work Nightlife. The film takes its name from the uncanny “rivalry” sensation that occurs in the brain when each eye attempts to perceive different images simultaneously. This technique offers more than mere visual depth; it imprisons the viewer in a psychedelic and sculptural space. Starting from Munich’s hidden corners, the film takes us on a time journey into the souls of buildings and the invisible voids of history.
Gaillard’s work examines how physical objects and architectural structures, once they lose their original purpose, transform into ghosts. By locating these “lost” artifacts, the artist grants them a new voice and a space for renewed existence.
From a Troubled Past to a Living Monument: Haus der Kunst
“Wassermusik” establishes a profound dialogue not only through the works on display but also with the very space that hosts them. Haus der Kunst rises as a colossal monument in its own right, burdened by its difficult and controversial historical legacy. Gaillard’s interventions shake this static structure. The artist questions how the building’s Nazi past has evolved into today’s living center of art, and how it continues to be reshaped by the works of living artists. The new photographic series and site-specific interventions presented as part of the exhibition position the building not merely as an exhibition venue, but as a constantly breathing and transforming organism.
A Sensory Panorama
Cyprien Gaillard’s world searches for the noise within silence and the aesthetics within destruction. The images encountered throughout the exhibition gradually bring to light the melancholic and unsettling layers that lie beneath Munich’s modern skyline. This is not simply a film-viewing experience; it is a symphony as natural and flowing as water, yet just as complex, where light, sound, and history intermingle.
Visitor Information:
Venue: Haus der Kunst, Munich
Dates: Until 22 March 2026
Curators: Andrea Lissoni, Xue Tan, and Laila Wu.
