From News Desk

JS Gallery, the international contemporary art platform founded by the Institute of Mediterranean Culture (IMC), Greece, will participate in Discovery Art Fair Cologne (April 24th–26th, 2026) with “States of Presence”, a rigorously curated exhibition exploring awareness as both aesthetic and structural condition.

Curated by art critic and IMC VP Julia Sysalova (AICA) and German-based visual artist Natalya Raduenz, the exhibition brings together eleven contemporary women artists from Germany, Austria, Armenia, New Zealand, Slovenia, Latvia, Israel and the United States – Olga Arshinov, Elena Gozunova, Galina Hartinger, Olga Horne, Alana Joy, Galina Knauth, Irina Metz, Momalyu (Liubov Kriuchkova), Eka Orba, Jamala Rahmanli and Krystsina Sysoyeva.

“States of Presence” unfolds as an international dialogue grounded in perceptual discipline. In a cultural moment defined by accelerated image circulation and visual saturation, the exhibition is seen as turning toward attention, not as sentiment, but as structure. The participating artists approach presence as something constructed through compositional rigor, chromatic balance, spatial awareness and material sensitivity.

Although shaped by diverse artistic traditions and cultural histories, each artist sustains a distinct visual language. Together, their works form a constellation rather than a category, independent practices entering into resonance through shared inquiries into perception, equilibrium and grounding.

Across painting, collage and mixed media the exhibition privileges duration over immediacy. Colour carries structural weight. Abstraction functions as orientation. Form becomes a site where memory and perception intersect. Rather than directing interpretation, the exhibition creates conditions for sustained encounter where meaning emerges through proximity and time.

“”States of Presence” reflects on how art can restore focus in a distracted environment,” notes curator Julia Sysalova. “Across different countries and visual traditions these artists treat presence as something tangible, built through rhythm, clarity and disciplined form.”