Valérie Belin, one of the leading voices in contemporary photography, focuses her work on the relationship between reality, representation, and artifice. Through frontal, serial images influenced by minimalism, she introduces the human figure to explore questions of identity and simulacrum.
From 2006 onwards, she has incorporated colour and developed a visual language she defines as “magical realism”. With an international career that includes institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art and the Centre Pompidou, her work invites us to look beyond the surface and engage with the power of contemporary imagery.

Participating artists:
Laura Aberham, Rimma Arslanov, Andrea Bender, Carlota Carbonell Valero, Andrei Dureika, Udo Dziersk, Veit Ferrer, Harald Feyen, Kati Heck, Katie Irmen, Gabi Kaiser-Schanz, Tamara K.E., Dvir Cohen-Kedar, Markus Kottmann, Bernhard Kucken, Stefan Kürten, Andrea Küster, Franz Küsters, Kirsten Lampert, Jiny Lan, Vera Leutloff, Silke Leverkühne, Annette Leyener, Roy Mordechay, Stefan Noss, Edith Oellers, Dirk Skreber, Rene Spitzer, Veit Johannes Stratmann, Astrid Styma, Christoph Thormann, Gabriele Weide

BETONBOX : Muensterstr. 500, 40472 Duesseldorf, Germany • ​Visit hours: Saturdays 14-18 & Sundays 12-18

Talk: Sunday, 10 May from 3 pm
(Dr. Helga Meister / Clara Gerlach / Jiny Lan / Prof. Udo Dziersk / Bernhard Kucken)

We are delighted to announce our new collaboration with French artist Valerie Belin.
Her first solo exhibition at the VAN DER GRINTEN GALERIE is scheduled for fall 2026!

Driven by a desire to renew the historic collaboration between their collections, the Musée d’arts de Nantes and the Frac Pays de la Loire are jointly organizing an exhibition that will take shape in both institutions.
Entitled “Plants and People,” the exhibition juxtaposes historical and contemporary works—photographs, drawings, sculptures, paintings—that explore the place of living things in our relationship with the world. Two complementary approaches are pursued: plants at the Musée d’arts de Nantes and animals at the Frac in Carquefou.