Annette Sauermann + Protey Temen

With the exhibition of Protey Temen and Annette Sauermann, Galerie Watson brings together two artistic positions that could hardly be more different - yet resonate in a striking and complementary way. Both artists engage with geometric structures and notions of immateriality, unfolding a field of tension between system and perception, construction and physical experience. Within this space, seeing itself emerges not as a fixed act, but as an open, shifting process.

Annette Sauermann (*1957, Essen) works concretely with light as her primary material. In her sculptures and reliefs, she captures, directs, and transforms light through the use of бетон, glass, and Plexiglas. Heavy, physically demanding constructions meet a fleeting, almost intangible medium. Her works exist in a constant state of transformation: depending on the time of day, the viewer’s position, and the changing conditions of light, they continuously shift in appearance. Rather than presenting stable images, Sauermann creates perceptual situations—states suspended between visibility and dissolution. Light becomes both subject and agent, shaping space while remaining elusive, never fully graspable.

Protey Temen (*1984, Moscow) operates at the intersection of analog and digital image production. His diagrammatic visual systems initially appear rational and familiar, echoing scientific models and structures of knowledge, yet they resist any clear or stable interpretation. Temen is less concerned with explaining systems than with exposing their fragility and ambiguity. In this exhibition, he presents new works on mirrors, where drawing, reflection, and surrounding space converge. These reflective surfaces destabilize the image further, incorporating the viewer into the composition. What appears structured begins to dissolve—the image becomes ephemeral, continuously reconstituted in the act of perception.

Together, Sauermann and Temen open up a dialogue between material and immaterial, between the physical presence of light and the conceptual frameworks through which we attempt to understand the world. Their works do not offer resolution; instead, they invite a heightened awareness of perception itself- its limits, its shifts, and its potential.