Johannes Hepp + Lars Theuerkauff | Mommy, why does everybody have a Bomb? | Galerie Tammen | 05.06.–26.07.2026

until 26.07. | #5077ARTatBerlin | Galerie Tammen shows from Friday, 5. June 2026 the exhibition “Mommy, why does everybody have a Bomb?” the artists Johannes Hepp – Sculpture and Lars Theuerkauff – Painting.

The title of the exhibition quotes the final lines from Prince’s hit ‘1999’: ‘Mommy, why does everybody have a bomb?’ How relevant this question is once again today – in these times fraught with tensions, contradictions and crises – and certainly not just from a child’s perspective.

The artist as a seismograph of his time and environment – it is in this shared aspiration that the sculptor Johannes Hepp and the painter Lars Theuerkauff find common ground.

JOHANNES HEPP

Johannes Hepp is a flâneur who reflects on people and the human condition. On his wanderings, he finds inspiration in objects he comes across, which lead him to create poetic constellations of figures. He saws and carves sculptures from blocks of wood – playful in tone, with a gentle humour, yet never far from the abyss. Hepp’s figures – at once familiar and alien – are like mythical creatures from his children’s dreams, or like the neighbours we have been greeting for years yet do not really know.

Johannes Hepp, „o. N.“, 2026, Lindenholz bemalt, Glühbirne, Keramikfassung, 10 × 10 × 14 cm

LARS THEUERKAUFF

Lars Theuerkauff draws his weighty motifs from the visual deluge of our times – the selfie of a fallen soldier, a lost teddy bear in the rubble, burning palm trees in the Amazon. He transforms fragments of a wounded world into extensive series of paintings. From traces of destruction, Theuerkauff creates counter-images – tender memories of our childhood, fleeting moments of immediate beauty in the sunlight: visions of a life as it might be, hopes.

Lars Theuerkauff, „Loved, Lost and Found 18“, 2026, Acryl auf Leinwand, 55 × 40 cm

CONCERTS & READINGS

Please note the supporting programme: Every Thursday at 7 pm — 11 June to 23 July 2026 — in the gallery. ENTRANCE on a donation basis. Please book in advance.

11 June — Evi Filippou (vibraphone) & Robert Lucaciu (double bass)

“Love at Last Sight” is the title of their newly released album. Together, the pair move between different musical worlds, ranging from 20th-century classical music to folk and jazz, and even free improvisation, presenting a diverse repertoire of compositions.

18 June — Wiebke Puls reads works by Óscar Perdomo

The actress Wiebke Puls has been a permanent member of the Munich Kammerspiele ensemble since 2005. In addition to her appearances in film and television, she is well known as a narrator of audiobooks. She will be reading from the works of the Colombian writer Óscar Perdomo.

25 June — Fabian Kalker (Ambient Live Set)

Fabian Kalker is a musician and producer working in the fields of ambient, electronic music and experimental soundscapes. His compositions blend electronic textures with improvisational and atmospheric elements.

2 July — Rike Scheffler (Reading)

Drawing on her poetry collection “Lava. Rituale”, the poet, musician and performer Rike Scheffler explores future life in a cross-species community. Through voice, body and poetry, she draws us into tender, speculative worlds where the boundaries between nature and culture, human, machine and animal have long since blurred. Together we discover rituals; together we practise revolution.

9 July — Elke Brüsch (vocals), Dirk Trageser (guitar) & Daniel Cordes (double bass)

Daniel ‘Danda’ Cordes and Dirk Trageser are members of the cult band ‘17 Hippies’. When the two perform together with singer Elke Brüsch, it’s not just a matter of harmonies; their musical spectrum then ranges from folk and chanson to the old songs of love and peace.

16 July — Logan February (Performance)

Born in Nigeria in 1999, Logan February is known for his poetry and multidisciplinary language art. Logan combines the perspective of the queer African diaspora with psycho-spiritual motifs and references to Yorùbá mythology.

23 July — Nico Pavlovic (Piano) & Isaac Newman (Cello)

The concert draws inspiration from Bach, Beethoven, Debussy and Grieg. It takes significant musical works as its starting point and includes various improvised sections, such as the main theme from Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, played in a style reminiscent of the texture of the first prelude from Bach’s ‘Well-Tempered Clavier’. The idea behind this concert is to pay tribute to the art of improvisation. In his day, Bach was known more as an improviser than as a composer.

26 July — Closing event — from 3 pm

Vernissage: Friday, 05. June 2026, 7–10 pm 

Exhibition dates: Friday, 05. June – Sunday, 26. July 2026

To the Gallery