DEPOT exhibition

Art from the collection of the Jakob Bengel Foundation

With the DEPOT exhibition, the Jakob Bengel Foundation, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, is showing a selection of artworks from its various collections at Villa Bengel. It thus spans an arc between fine and applied art. With the acquisition of 15 works by the internationally renowned gemstone artist Bernd Munsteiner, the foundation confirmed the expansion of its collection activities beyond jewelry in 2025. This focus has already been demonstrated in recent years in the exhibition series "Idar-Oberstein Schmückt sich", e.g. with the exhibition "Reibungswärme" with paintings and drawings by Eva-Maria Kollischan, Professor of Fine Arts at the Gemstone and Jewellery Campus of Trier University of Applied Sciences in 2021. In various collaborations with the Idar-Oberstein art venues Galerie Chrom IV and the Pfälzer Hof, jewelry and fine arts entered into a dialogue with each other, especially as part of the interdisciplinary jewelry symposium SchmuckDenken, hosted by Trier University of Applied Sciences. The artist-in-residence program, another cooperation project between the Jakob Bengel Foundation, Trier University of Applied Sciences and the city of Idar-Oberstein, is to be expanded to include the visual arts in the future. A selection of works from the artist-in-residence collection can also be seen in DEPOT. These include a video installation by Japanese sound artist Kyoco Taniyama, who recorded the sounds of the historical machines in the Jakob Bengel industrial monument during her residency and allows them to be experienced in a completely new way as rhythmic sounds. Some of the pieces of jewelry created with the help of these machines can also be seen in DEPOT. The Art Deco works from the Händel Collection, which were donated to the Jakob Bengel Foundation to mark the 125th anniversary of the founding of the Jakob Bengel company in 2023, can be rediscovered in this exhibition context.

Many of the exhibiting artists are closely associated with the Jakob Bengel Foundation and Jürgen Cullmann (Lichtblick Fotodesign) has supported the Jakob Bengel Foundation for many years, in particular by photographically documenting the historical gems. At Villa Bengel, he is showing artistic photographs of historic grinder houses from the region. Dramatically illuminated, they raise questions - about the people who worked there and the things they produced.

All the works on display in the villa tell stories. There is a lot behind the works, personal stories, the connection to the region, to the material stone, to the industrial monument Jakob-Bengel. The works refer beyond their design and manage to touch the viewer.

Exhibition duration:

DEPOT - Art from the collection of the Jakob Bengel Foundation

May 22 - June 14, 2026

Villa Bengel, Wilhelmstraße 44, 55743 Idar-Oberstein

Link to the event