What Can I Know – What Ought I to Do – What May I Hope – What Is the Human Being?
Approx. 1200 × 300 × 350 cm
Painting: oil on canvas and wood, various materials
1989–2021
Since 1993, numerous exhibitions of Helge Friedrich Kronenberg Hommes (Helge Hommes) have taken place within the national and international art scene: in galleries, at art fairs, as well as in art associations and museums.
Saxana Nicole Schötschel studied art at the Werkkunsthochschule Cologne from 1986 to 1993. Before the two artists met in Leipzig in 2014, she worked largely independently from the commercial art market.
The mutual exchange and the shared conceptual development of their artistic practices became increasingly intensive, leading them to make the decision in 2017 to work together as the artist duo HELGE & SAXANA.
In the same year, they founded the Atelier für Gegenwartskunst Helge & Saxana in Leipzig. In 2023, they established the Kunstverein 1,5° e.V.
(Press coverage: feature in Kunstforum International.)
ATELIER FÜR GEGENWARTSKUNST
HELGE & SAXANA
Lützner Straße 34
04177 Leipzig
Germany
www.helge-saxana.com
www.kunstverein 1,5° e.V.
… and opened a new shared dimension of our artistic practice:
ART INTERVENTIONS – PAINTING IN RESISTANCE
(… see the section Art Interventions on the homepage of this website.)
Our solidarity-based engagement through art and artistic intervention, beginning in 2018 with the resistance movement at the Hambach Forest and the project
RAUMSCHIFF HAMBACHER WALD – AUFBRUCH IN NEUE WELTEN
(SPACESHIP HAMBACH FOREST – DEPARTURE INTO NEW WORLDS),
became the new foundation of our collaborative practice.
This foundation is a body of work that we are continuing to develop today. It examines the history of the forest—from its origins after the Ice Age more than 12,000 years ago, through the struggle for its preservation against RWE and the policies of the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2012 to the present, while also observing its possible future transformation into an “original forest” with the character of a primeval woodland, as recently announced in public statements by political representatives.
Over the years, this has developed into a unique artistic tribute to the Hambach Forest—a comprehensive painted and drawn testimony to our time.
Museum Acquisitions
Haus der Geschichte Bonn, 2020
Museum Het Valkhof, Nijmegen (Netherlands), 2022
Historisches Museum Frankfurt, 2021
Museum Het Valkhof, Nijmegen(Nl)2022
Museum Het Valkhof, Nijmegen(Nl)2022
Historisches Museum Frankfurt / 2021
Museum Haus der Geschichte Bonn / 2020
Exhibitions + Projects + Discourses
(Selected projects since 2018)
Legend:
(S.) Solo Exhibition
(C*) Catalogue
2026
Kunsthalle Lüneburg / WALD WOLF WILDNIS
2025
- 2025
- Art Market Budapest
Galerie Koppelmann, Cologne
Presentation of works by HELGE & SAXANA - Galerie für nachhaltige Kunst, Berlin / GG3 – Group Global 3000
The Art of Climate Communication - Documentation of the court proceedings at the Higher Administrative Court (OVG) Hamm
Lawsuit brought by Peruvian farmer Saúl Luciano Lliuya against RWE
Live drawings created in the courtroom on 17 and 19 March 2025
Verdict announced on 28 May 2025 - Culture without borders e.V., Düsseldorf–Kaarst
WE ARE SEEDS … EINSKOMMAFÜNFGRAD < > DAS GROSSE GELINGEN
Solo exhibition (S.) by HELGE & SAXANA - Kunststation Kleinsassen
?! unsere Welt ist schön !?
Catalogue (C*) - Symposium: EXTRACTIVISM + DATA MINING
Muthesius Kunsthochschule, Kiel
Lecture on the Hambach Forest and presentation of the long-term performance
ZUKUNFTSSPAZIERGANG – DAS GROSSE GELINGEN - Greifswald – Klosterruine Eldena
ZUKUNFTSSPAZIERGANG – DAS GROSSE GELINGEN
Long-term performance - Städtische Galerie Offenburg
O(H) – WALD - AIXART Kunstgalerie, Aachen
JUST NATURE
Solo exhibition (S.) by Saxana
Catalogue (C*)
2024
- Stiftung Museum Silkeborg Bad, Denmark
Feel the Space of the Forest
(C* Catalogue)
Presentation of works by HELGE & SAXANA - ARTIC, Freiburg
@Luetzer_art - Galerie Netuschil, Darmstadt
STILLE RIESEN – Der Baum im Fokus der Gegenwart
(Silent Giants – The Tree in Contemporary Focus)
Following in the footsteps of Caspar David Friedrich
Solo exhibition (S.) by HELGE & SAXANA - Galerie Cyprian Brenner, Schwäbisch Hall
ROMANTILLE - Galerie Michael Schmalfuss, Marburg
Landschaft 2 (Landscape 2) - Galerie Michael Schmalfuss, Berlin
Landschaft 1 (Landscape 1) - AIXART Kunstgalerie, Aachen
THE NEED OF GREEN
Solo exhibition (S.) by Helge Hommes
Catalogue (C*)
2023
- Kunstverein 1,5°, Leipzig
- STILLE RIESEN – Der Baum im Fokus der Gegenwart
- (Silent Giants – The Tree in Contemporary Focus)
- Following in the footsteps of Caspar David Friedrich
- Solo exhibition (S.) by HELGE & SAXANAArt Market Budapest
- Galerie Koppelmann, Cologne
- Presentation of works by HELGE & SAXANASassnitz, Rügen
- ENDE GELÄNDE – Action against LNG Terminals
- Art intervention as Social Sculpture (Soziale Plastik) Opening exhibition of the Kunstverein 1,5°, Leipzig
- @Luetzer_artGabriele-Space, Munich
- @Luetzer_art
- Lützerath
- 10-day solidarity-based art intervention for the preservation of the village of Lützerath – 1.5°
- Title:
- „Was kümmert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern“
- (“What do I care about what I said yesterday”)
- Quote attributed to Konrad Adenauer
- A reworking of 23 portraits of politicians, overpainted with fragments and reflections of the contemporary events surrounding Lützerath.
- Numerous live drawings were created during the intervention.
- Mülheim, Kulturbunker
- 21 January 2023
- Screening of the film
- DER WALNUSSBAUM VON LÜTZERATH
- (THE WALNUT TREE OF LÜTZERATH)
- A film about HELGE & SAXANA by Silke Engler and David Klammer
2022
- Documenta 15 / Performance : Saxana – the future ghost appears / kuratiert von Cai Quing (Singapure)
- Ostrava ( CZ ) / Performance Art Festival: Saxana – the future ghost appears / kuratiert von Cai Qing (Singapore)
- Documenta 15 / ZUKUNFTSSPAZIERGANG / Etappe 6 … wir tragen mit diversen Menschen von den 2 Beuys’schen Eichen vor dem Fridericianum aus,
das Gemälde DAS GRO?E GELINGEN durchs Sauerland über 260 km zu Fuss nach Lützerath um für das Erreichen des 1,5° Ziel von Paris 2015 zu werben.
Bericht dazu vom Start in Kassel:Kunstforum international - MUSEUM ZKM, Karlsruhe > Art Karlsruhe … Präsentation des Gemeinschaftskunstwerkes DAS GRO?E GELINGEN ( HELGE & SAXANA )
- Fechenheimer Wald / Frankfurt AUFBRUCH IN NEUE WELTEN … eine Kunstintervention im Fechenheimer Wald gegen den Ausbau der A66 / Baumplastik aus Totholz
- ZUKUNFTSSPAZIERGANG 2021 – 2023 / Etappe 5 > Bericht: Internationales Kunstforum
- ZUKUNFTSSPAZIERGANG 2021 – 2023 / Etappe 3 > Münster OVG und Erpho-Kirche ( HELGE & SAXANA )
- Lützerath / Performance: Saxana – the future ghost appears + gemeinsame Weihung des Hofgut Heukamp mit Thomas Baumgärtel
2021
- Zukunftsspaziergang 2021 – 2023 / Etappe 1 und 2 Lützerath / mit FFF – Deutschland in Köln zur Art-Cologne ( HELGE & SAXANA )
Berichte in: Süddeutsche / Die Zeit / Internationales Kunstforum u.a. … - Museum Het Valkhof, Nijmegen NL / international Ausstellung: Rettet den Wald (HELGE & SAXANA) … ua. Mit Werken von Beuys, Giuseppe Penone, Eva Maria Jospin, und uns … kuratiert von ANNE J.BERG (NL) wird 2024 in einem Museum in Dänemark gezeigt.
- Galerie Cyprian Brenner, Niederalfingen / STILLE RIESEN ( HELGE & SAXANA)
- Galerie Michael Schmalfuss, Berlin / „we are unstoppable another world is possible“ ( HELGE & SAXANA )
- Danneröder Wald / Kunstintervention > plein air Malerei DER WALD BLEIBT STEHEN solidarische Aktion zum Erhalt des Danneröder Waldes
- STOP THE BEAST / gemeinsames Statement mit Bazon Brock in Lützerath an der Kante zum Braunkohletagebau Garzweiler II ( HELGE & SAXANA + BAZON BROCK )
- Erarbeitung des Gemäldes DAS GRO?E GELINGEN in 30 Tagen in der Scheune von Eckardt Heukamp / Lützerath ( HELGE & SAXANA )
- Kunstintervention in Lützerath zu Pfingsten: Wiederauferstehung des Walnussbaumes von Lützerath,
3 Tage -plein air Malaktion ( HELGE & SAXANA ) … dazu Dokumentarfilm von Silke Engler und David Klammer - Historisches Museum Frankfurt > Grüne Lunge … Ankauf des Gemäldes: Grüne Lunge bleibt ( HELGE & SAXANA
GALERIE INCONTRO presents the exhibition: Wald (Forest), 2021
Excerpt from the Gallery’s accompanying text:
What does the forest mean to us today?
We all associate the forest with very different memories, experiences, and emotions. We know it as a place for sport, hiking, and leisure; as a space of silence and retreat; and as a habitat for countless animal species.
At the same time, we are witnessing its worldwide destruction through climate extremes and economic exploitation.
The artists presented in this exhibition explore the forest in its many different facets—flourishing, dying, mythical, familiar, and romantic. Many of the works were created en plein air, directly on site within the forest itself.
The exhibition features works by Nicole Meyer, Thomas Baumgärtel, Ronald Franke, Jiří Hampl, Helge Hommes, Sigrid Nienstedt, Saxana, Axel Schenk, and Barbara Wieneke.
On 3 October at 2 pm, Professor Dr. Irene Daum, editor of the online journal w/k – Between Science and Art, will guide visitors through the exhibition.
Galerie Cyprian Brenner presents a solo exhibition by the artist duo HELGE & SAXANA
Opening: Sunday, 3 October 2021 / 12 noon – 6 pm
(Please observe current COVID-19 regulations.)
At one of its three exhibition venues, located in 73460 Hüttlingen–Niederalfingen, Auweg 6, in the beautiful landscape at the heart of the triangle formed by the cities of Stuttgart – Nuremberg – Augsburg, Galerie Cyprian Brenner presents a solo exhibition by the artist duo HELGE & SAXANA.
The exhibition features a selection of their distinctive tree portraits, created outdoors en plein air—under the open sky, in forests, in sunshine, rain, storms, frost, snowfall, and the intense heat of summer, often under extraordinary and demanding conditions.
Painted at eye level, standing directly before these remarkable beings, the works reflect encounters with trees as living entities. In some cases, the artists witnessed firsthand the threats these magnificent forms of life are forced to endure: destruction through human exploitation and deforestation, as well as the consequences of drought and climate change.
Come and experience these encounters for yourself.
+++
A remarkable, timely, and highly relevant exhibition in Nijmegen, the Netherlands:
MUSEUM HET VALKHOF**
The exhibition is titled:
SAVE THE FOREST
During this weekend, we had the pleasure of discovering Nijmegen and becoming part of this exhibition ourselves.
This internationally acclaimed exhibition was curated by the renowned Dutch curator Anne Berk. In 2020, she curated the exhibition LIEBES DING at Museum Schloss Morsbroich in Germany, which received international attention.
For SAVE THE FOREST, she has brought together works by artists including Joseph Beuys, Giuseppe Penone, Eva Jospin, and others.
As the only position representing painting in this exhibition, our works are presented within this distinguished artistic context—a great honour for us.
We invite you to take a look into the exhibition with us and experience this extraordinary presentation.
Make your way to Nijmegen: this remarkable exhibition will be on view in the Netherlands until 5 December.
https://www.museumhetvalkhof.nl/…/tent…/rettet-den-wald
+++ KUNSTINTERVENTION zu Pfingsten 2021 +++
In North Rhine-Westphalia, situated beside the vast and almost unimaginable open-cast lignite mine operated by RWE, lies the small village of Lützerath.
RWE has already destroyed more than half of this village, although the lignite deposits beneath it are no longer considered necessary. Supported by the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia and personally by Armin Laschet, RWE continued its efforts to create irreversible facts and to proceed with the destruction of six additional villages located within the affected area.
The last resident of Lützerath, farmer Eckardt Heukamp, is fighting a desperate legal battle against what he considers an unacceptable and irrational decision.
As a solidarity-based art action dedicated to the villages and to Eckardt Heukamp, we planned to recreate the walnut tree of Lützerath—a tree that RWE had felled with the approval of the state government and Armin Laschet—in a large-scale en plein air painting created on site.
The work was carried out on 23 and 24 May 2021.
Helge and Saxana // Resurrection**
by Silke Engler and David Klammer
(With our sincere thanks to both filmmakers for this work.)
This film documents our painting action at the Garzweiler open-cast mine, created in front of the farmstead of Eckardt Heukamp, the last resident of Lützerath, who fought courageously until the very end against what we perceive as the irrational destruction pursued by RWE.
The old walnut tree, like the houses and farm buildings, was ruthlessly destroyed by RWE in an unimaginable act of total devastation—reduced to the ground while human beings, animals, and plants were disregarded in an attitude of self-centred dominance and arrogance.
During Whitsun 2021, we allowed this walnut tree to rise again on a large canvas as a painting: a symbolic resurrection in which the tree asserts its existence against destruction, its essence preserved and transformed through the act of painting.
P.S.: According to eyewitnesses (Michael Zobel and Eva Töller), a barn owl also lived in this tree. When the excavator arrived to demolish it, the bird fled in panic.
HISTOTISCHES MUSEUM FRANKFURT a.M.
GRÜNE LUNGE / FRANKFURT – The Green Lung
In 2019, the people involved in the GRÜNE LUNGE / FRANKFURT initiative invited us to develop an artistic statement addressing this highly controversial and urgent issue in Frankfurt.
They later recommended our work further, which led to one of our paintings—created by Saxana on site—being included in the exhibition complex THE CITY AND THE GREEN at the Historical Museum Frankfurt am Main, on view from March to October 2021.
Excerpt from the museum’s exhibition brochure:
To mark the 150th anniversary of the opening of the Palmengarten and the 30th anniversary of Frankfurt’s Green Belt, the Historical Museum Frankfurt presents the exhibition project “The City and the Green” from March to October 2021, consisting of three exhibitions exploring the relationship between urban green spaces and the city in times of climate change and housing shortages.
The exhibitions focus on the history and present-day role of public green spaces and parks, urban gardening in Frankfurt, as well as the ecological and socio-political dimensions of urban greenery.
The museum square itself has already become greener: ten raised beds containing perennials, herbs, and vegetables are framed by sculptures inspired by gardens in Frankfurt from the 17th and 18th centuries.
2020
- Galerie KUB, Leipzig–Connewitz
HABITAT – Wem gehört der Raum?
Group exhibition, curated by Hartmut Kiewert
(Report: MDR Kultur) - Satellite exhibition of the Aachen Art Route
Galerie am Elisengarten, Keyenberg / Hofgut Winzen
ALLE DÖRFER BLEIBEN (ALL VILLAGES REMAIN)
40 paintings presented across 20 houses - Painting intervention in the villages affected by the Garzweiler open-cast mine
ALLE DÖRFER BLEIBEN (ALL VILLAGES REMAIN) - Art intervention: Dannenröder Forest
KEINE A49 (NO A49 MOTORWAY) - Project film: DER BÜRGERWALD by Bodo Wartke
Presented at Galerie Michael Schmalfuß, Berlin within the exhibition
WE ARE UNSTOPPABLE – ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE - Galerie Michael Schmalfuß, Berlin
WE ARE UNSTOPPABLE – ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE - Galerie Michael Schmalfuß, Berlin
LANDSCAPE TODAY
Exhibition featuring 13 artists; first presentation of works by Saxana at Galerie Schmalfuß - Glashaus Aachen
MITWALD
with Todde Kemmerich
(Exhibition closed due to COVID-19 restrictions) - Atelierhaus Aachen
Wie man in den Wald hineinruft (What You Call into the Forest…)
Participation in group exhibition
(Exhibition closed due to COVID-19 restrictions) - Kunstverein Wetzlar
Nach draussen II (Outdoors II)
(Exhibition closed due to COVID-19 restrictions) - Kunstverein Nettersheim (KUBA)
Nach draussen I (Outdoors I)
2019
- Art intervention: MANHEIM – Hambach Forest
ALLE DÖRFER BLEIBEN (ALL VILLAGES REMAIN) - Art intervention: Frankfurt – Grüne Lunge
ALLE GÄRTEN UND BÄUME BLEIBEN (ALL GARDENS AND TREES REMAIN) - Art intervention: Osterholz Forest, Wuppertal
DER WALD BLEIBT STEHEN (THE FOREST REMAINS) - Art intervention: Alte Eiche, Castrop-Rauxel
DIE ALTE EICHE BLEIBT (THE OLD OAK REMAINS) - 21–22 September 2019 – Reinhardswald
Exhibition in the middle of the forest
DER WALD BLEIBT STEHEN (THE FOREST REMAINS)
A documentation was published on this project. - Art intervention: Autobahn Bridge, Hannover–Schmünden
DER WALD BLEIBT STEHEN (THE FOREST REMAINS) - Kunstverein Mittelrhein, Koblenz
YGGDRASIL - First presentation of Saxana’s painting at Galerie Cyprian Brenner as guest artist in the exhibition
YGGDRASIL by Helge Hommes and Klaus Hack - ART KARLSRUHE
Galerie Cyprian Brenner
One Artist Show: HELGE HOMMES - Galerie Arnoux, Paris
Helge Hommes + Yves Guirand
Black and White
2019 / 2018
Hambach Forest – New Year’s Eve / New Year 2018–2019
Art intervention: DER WALD BLEIBT STEHEN
(THE FOREST REMAINS)
Live drawings created during the night in the Hambach Forest.
At midnight, the activists and artists were surrounded and enclosed by police forces.
2018
Art Intervention – August–October 2018
Hambach Forest – HAMBI BLEIBT (HAMBI STAYS)
Under extraordinary circumstances, twelve large-scale paintings were created directly in the forest during the resistance movement to protect the Hambach Forest.
One of these works was painted by Saxana at a height of 25 metres, inside a tree house.
During this period, we declared the entire Hambach Forest complex a Gesamtkunstwerk (Total Artwork): a living, evolving work of art in which nature, social engagement, collective action, and artistic expression become inseparably connected.
Two documentary films about the resistance movement were subsequently created, in which we appear as main protagonists:
HAMBI by Lukas Reiter
IN UNSER ALLER NAMEN (In the Name of Us All) by Tobias Meffert and Daniel Diebels
Der Film HAMBI von Lukas Reiter ( Mediathek / ZDF )