Dirimart is pleased to announce Duale Systeme aus der Mauerstadt (Dual Systems from the Walled City), Gregor Hildebrandt’s first solo exhibition with the gallery and in Turkey.
Gregor Hildebrandt is known for his practice of repurposing, renaming, and reinterpreting everyday objects and pop-cultural myths. He brings together heterogeneous references drawn from music, cinema, literature, and art history in his multi-faceted practice. His ‘paintings’ fabricated from magnetic tape, the sculptures created from specially formed vinyl, the terrazzo-like mosaics made of broken records, and the displays full of chess pieces inspired by supermarkets evoke new and sensual experiences: tactile experiences of music, painterly representations of sound, and hidden echoes of minimalistic aesthetics.
Although physical and sensory experience occupies a central place in Hildebrandt’s practice, his use of recorded audio or video tapes mounted onto blank canvases reveals structures intersecting personal and cultural memory. Organised by Swiss curator Christoph Doswald, the exhibition brings together twenty works from different series, some dating back to 2018, offering an associative spatial experience. At the core of this presentation are new works produced specifically for the exhibition.
Hildebrandt’s latest works from his Prismen (Prisms) series, derived from his record paintings begun in 2015, combine the mosaic of the record paintings with three-dimensional geometrical structures. Designed to expand sound into space, these works stand on a thin line between painting and sculpture. The intrinsic reflection and diffraction of light, typically associated with prisms, are translated into subtle shimmers that arise on the surface of the records’ grooves.
Two small-scale paintings in the exhibition draw on the woven patterns of dish towels that the artist found in his father’s house. Their titles, borrowed from the song lines by bands such as Element of Crime and Konstantin Wecker, evoke the past. The tension between personal memory and abstract reflection gives the works an invisible yet potent charge. Hildebrandt’s Köfteci draws inspiration from Berlin’s ubiquitous street-food restaurants and the figure of the ‘köfteci’, a cultural icon in Türkiye since Ergin Orbey’s 1976 film Meraklı Köfteci (The Curious Köfte Seller). Taking inspiration from typical köfteci tavern sign on Potsdamer Strasse, the artist’s ‘cassette box’ installation alludes to the ‘dual systems’ implied in the exhibition title. Consisting of 76 stacks of 9 audio cassettes, the structure brings together a diverse range of music, including Tina Turner, Richard Clayderman, Richard Strauss, Gitti & Erica, Peggy March, Ravel and Tanita Tikaram. These visual and auditory layers of globalised popular culture create a striking metaphor for our lived simultaneity.
Gregor Hildebrandt’s inaugural exhibition in Turkey, Duale Systeme aus der Mauerstadt, will be on view at Dirimart Dolapdere from 10 March until 5 April 2026.
Gregor Hildebrandt (b. 1974, Bad Homburg) studied at the University of Mainz (1995–1999) and later graduated from the Hochschule der Künste, Berlin, in 2002, where he was mentored by renowned artists such as Friedmann Hahn and Dieter Hacker. In 2015, he became a professor at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Munich. The artist founded Grzegorzki Records with artist Alicja Kwade in 2018, an independent label focusing on German indie music and reflecting Hildebrandt’s deep connection to sound as an artistic medium. Throughout his career, he curated numerous group exhibitions. He has been running the project space Grzegorzki Shows in Berlin since 2017. His solo exhibitions include Duale Systeme aus der Mauerstadt, Dirimart Dolapdere, Istanbul (2026); A Blink of an Eye and the Years are Behind Us, Kunsthalle Praha, Prague (2022); Im Sturz durch Raum und Zeit, Mies van der Rohe Haus, Berlin (2021); Luft in allen Zimmern, G2 Kunsthalle, Leipzig (2020); Urlaub im Urban, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin (2016); Sterne streifen die Fluten, Saarlandmuseum, Saarbrücken (2015); Ein Koffer aus Berlin, Saarländisches Künstlerhaus, Saarbrücken (2012); Daß dieser Mai nie ende, Wentrup, Berlin (2009); Der Himmel im Raum, Berlinische Galerie, Berlin (2009). His group exhibitions include Tuning in – Acoustique de l’émotion, International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum, Geneva (2024); Reinventing Piet Mondrian and the Consequences, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg (2023); Blanc de Blancs, Villa Schöningen, Potsdam (2022) and Eine Geschichte: Zeitgenössische Kunst aus dem Centre Pompidou, Haus der Kunst, Munich (2016). Hildebrandt’s works are in renowned collections, including Centre Pompidou, Paris; Contemporary Art Collection of the Federal Republic of Germany, Bonn; Martin Z. Margulies Collection, Miami and Burger Collection, Hong Kong. Gregor Hildebrandt lives and works in Berlin.
