FRANKFURT.- The DZ BANK Art Foundation invites visitors to lose their balance—intellectually and emotionally—with its new exhibition “Stumble, Please!”. This bold and thought-provoking show gathers works by more than twenty international artists who embrace error, failure, and imperfection as creative forces. From photography and video to sound and installation, each piece challenges what it means to “get things right” in art and in life.

A Celebration of the Unexpected

When was the last time we truly stumbled—physically, mentally, or morally? The curators use this question as a starting point, encouraging audiences to see missteps not as flaws, but as catalysts for change. “Stumble, Please!” turns the notion of failure into something fertile: a space for reflection, humor, and discovery.

Working closely with Dr. Franziska Kunze from Munich’s Pinakothek der Moderne, the foundation draws inspiration from her earlier exhibition “Glitch: The Art of Disturbance.” Here, too, the focus lies on disruption—how a glitch, a slip, or a burned edge can reveal something new about ourselves and the world around us.

Artists Who Dare to Slip

Among the highlights is Johannes Franzen, who uses artificial intelligence to generate images that feel familiar yet eerily off, reminding us how digital “mistakes” can distort memory and perception. Philipp Goldbach transforms analog slides into QR-like patterns, prompting visitors to question their dependence on technology for meaning.

Ulrike Königshofer’s slow, meditative work captures sunlight over an entire year using a homemade pinhole camera. Her piece, almost scientific in spirit, contrasts sharply with Sandra Kranich’s explosive video installation, which resurrects lost drawings by Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica through fireworks—then reverses the footage so the flames bring the images back to life.

Equally unsettling is Tatiana Lecomte’s installation of handwritten Nazi-era texts, riddled with visible errors and crossed-out words, forcing viewers to confront how ideology hides within language. Across the ocean, Zoe Leonard photographs the Rio Grande—known as the Río Bravo in Mexico—revealing the absurdity of political borders imposed on something as fluid as a river.

Stumbling into Self-Reflection

Anna Malagrida’s photographs of painted shop windows mirror both the cityscape and the viewers themselves, turning the act of looking into a moment of self-confrontation. Meanwhile, Jana Müller’s haunting floor installations—clothing trapped under glass alongside vintage courtroom photos—echo how history continues to imprison us within patterns of judgment and shame.

Other artists take the theme inward. Gabriele Stötzer’s mummified figure wrapped in gauze becomes a chilling symbol of women silenced by violence and social norms. Frida Orupabo, through layered digital collages, dissects colonial imagery to expose the enduring objectification of Black women. And Annegret Soltau literally scratches her own image from a photographic negative, transforming destruction into catharsis.

When Falling Becomes Flying

Together, these works redefine what it means to fall short. The show suggests that art’s true vitality lies in its imperfections—in those trembling moments when certainty gives way to curiosity. By inviting us to “stumble,” the DZ BANK Art Foundation asks us not to fear mistakes, but to see them as portals to awareness, empathy, and reinvention.