“Jasmund | Der Sonne Mond”: An Inner Journey in Arno Schidlowski’s Analog Landscapes

In the first months of 2026, Berlin’s art circuit welcomes a very special stop that invites us into the silence of nature and the poetic texture of light: the Alfred Ehrhardt Stiftung. With his exhibition titled “Jasmund | Der Sonne Mond,” photographer Arno Schidlowski offers not merely landscape photographs, but meditation spaces where time stands still and the gaze turns inward.

Opened on 10 January, this exhibition brings together two distinct yet complementary series produced entirely analog and by hand in the darkroom.

Jasmund: In Search of Cultural Memory

Schidlowski’s Jasmund series, worked on between 2005 and 2011, takes us to the world-famous chalk cliffs and beech forests of Rügen Island—a place etched into the memory of world art history through the paintings of Caspar David Friedrich.

Rather than succumbing to these romantic clichés, the artist explores the contradiction between the outward appearance of the landscape and the viewer’s inner gaze. His photographs are quiet, spare, and possessed of an intense colour world. The surface of the sea, the treetops, and horizon lines shrouded in mist create a modern echo that questions Friedrich’s legacy.

Der Sonne Mond: A Placeless and Timeless Nature

The Der Sonne Mond series, produced between 2011 and 2013, stands in direct counterpoint to the previous one. Here Schidlowski leaves behind the familiar northern landscapes and turns instead to placeless, Mediterranean-inflected southern scenes that resist precise geographical definition.

Dominating this series are black-and-white prints in which the artist records the world as though seeing it for the first time through the eyes of a stranger. Cypress trees, dried shrubs, and thorns abstract themselves under bright light, hovering somewhere between dream and memory. Evoking the paper of historical albums or solarisation techniques, these works hold the viewer in the fascinating tension between the familiar and the alien.

Exhibition Notes and Practical Information

Continuing the tradition of Alfred Ehrhardt, Schidlowski’s work presents nature not as dramatic spectacle but as a contemplative experience. The exhibition features around 50 works as well as special silkscreen portfolios straight from the artist’s darkroom.

Venue: Alfred Ehrhardt Stiftung, Auguststraße 75, 10117 Berlin.

Dates: 10 January – 12 April 2026.

“Schidlowski’s photographs detach the gaze from objects and leave the viewer suspended in a meditative void.”