ACUD Galerie is thrilled to announce:
Tenants of Tender Armour
April – December 2026

“The notion of the body is tied to the idea of the individual and conceived of as bounded and complete, a productive and ableist entity to be fixed and saved.
But where is the place for, and the recognition of bodies that do not correspond to this framework; of bodies that do not have the possibility to access the protective resources deposited there?”*

Tenants of Tender Armour is a ten-month program (April–December 2026) that unfolds in three exhibition acts and accompanying events. It explores shielding as a material practice and a micropolitical gesture. Shielding manifests itself in the context of war and conflict, where bodies function as literal shields, but also in everyday life: in small movements and gestures that people use to protect themselves from visibility or to cope with structural violence. These embodied tactics translate large socio-political forces into intimate physical codes and movements. Our program takes this ambivalence as its starting point. Shielding is understood as a sonic and relational practice that creates permeable membranes of delicate protective spaces.

Participating artists:
Josefin Arnell, Jordan Deal, Manuel Goetz, Samuel Guerrero, Kasra Jallipour, Julia Selin, TABLOID Press, Zhiyuan Yang
… more to be announced

Save the date:
Act I: Echo Alliances
Opening: Thu 30.04.2026

Cocurated with Carmen Hld

The project is curated by:
Colette Patterson & Gabriela Matuszewska

Visual identification: Charlotte Rohde

In collaboration with Goethe-Institut im Exil

Curated by ACUD Galerie

ACUD Galerie is funded by the Basisförderung der Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Gesellschaftlichen Zusammenhalt.

*Noeth, S., Umathum, S., and Jansa, J. (2024). Shielding. transcript Verlag.