From 5 December 2026 to 30 January 2027, Galerie Van Alom presents “Still Life. Almost.”, an exhibition of photographs by Sebastian Schmidt and Joachim Rissmann. Two series, one age-old genre and two very different ways of looking at it.

The Exhibition

Fruit, vegetables, a single flower: few subjects seem as familiar as the still life. For centuries, artists have arranged fruit on tables and against dark backgrounds to speak of abundance, beauty and transience. The two photographers in this exhibition take up the old genre and question it in very different ways.

Sebastian Schmidt’s series “Komplott” (Conspiracy) is loud. Rusty nails pierce raspberries, clamps squeeze overripe pomegranates, screws drill into soft flesh. What begins as a pleasing arrangement turns into an assault: the tools have conspired against the fruit. The images almost hurt, recalling the Baroque vanitas still life, in which rotting fruit served as a reminder of mortality.

Joachim Rissmann’s series “Was sich entzieht” (What Eludes) is quiet by contrast. A lemon floats like a planet in the dark, contours blur, and one wonders: A pear? A leek? A hyacinth? Here, light and darkness are the real tools. What the light reaches takes shape; what it does not remains a mere suggestion. The images recall the Spanish bodegón, in which fruit seems to hover against a deep black ground.

Two attitudes meet here. Schmidt’s fruit is under attack; Rissmann’s is allowed simply to be. One shows decay as a threat, the other lets time blur in the half-light until fresh and withered stand side by side as equals. And yet both circle the same question: What is beauty when it is fragile and fades?

Walking back and forth between the two series, visitors experience how differently a seemingly harmless subject can affect us, disturbing in one, meditative in the other. Both reward a close look.

The Photographers

Sebastian Schmidt, born in Berlin, lives and works in Brandenburg. He is a member of Ludwig Rauch’s master class. After working in advertising and management consulting, he co-founded the Institute for Inclusive Organisational Development. He has devoted himself to photography since 2015, studying with Klaus W. Eisenlohr at the photocentrum, in Thomas Michalak’s independent photography class and at the Ostkreuzschule. His work has been shown in numerous group exhibitions, including at Kunstquartier Bethanien in 2023, where the exhibition received the jury prize of Monat der Fotografie-OFF. In 2024 he presented his solo exhibition “Mutterliebe” (Mother’s Love) at Kleinmachnow Town Hall, and in 2025 he exhibited with Ludwig Rauch’s master class at Stammelbachspeicher in Hildesheim.

Joachim Rissmann, lives and works in Berlin. Since 2006 he has shown more than 70 exhibitions by various photographers under the name Photoplatz, for many years at his former Hotel Bogota, later at changing venues. These included his own solo shows “Dazwischen” (In Between) and “Vanitas Vegana”. Since 2025, Photoplatz has been based at Galerie Van Alom, Südwestkorso 65, in Berlin-Friedenau, where Rissmann shows his own work alongside changing photography exhibitions.

Text: Anne Zeppmeisel

About the Gallery

Van Alom – Dutch for “from everywhere”

For forty years, gallerist Günter Hepe showed African and Oceanic art at Südwestkorso 65. In 2025, Anne Zeppmeisel and Joachim Rissmann took over the space, and with it the name. Van Alom is first and foremost a photography gallery. Alongside the exhibitions, it offers a selection of finds from everywhere.

Thursday, Dec 3, 2026, 7 pm
Opening Reception

Wednesday, Jan 13, 2027, 7 pm
Artist Talk (de)
Sebastian Schmidt and Joachim Rissmann will discuss their work with Ludwig Rauch. The talk will be held in German.