What’s left and what’s lost

What’s left and what’s lost unfolds in the space between absence and continued closeness: a space where objects become vessels of memory and the past quietly persists in silent dialogue. In their dual exhibition, Hannah van Ginkel and Kim Dotty Hachmann explore the fragility of human existence and the traces life leaves behind. In her installation _Rita – für ein Puddingteilchen_, Hannah van Ginkel assembles found objects from the estate of her aunt and grandmother, both affected by Alzheimer’s disease. From remnants of everyday life, memory spaces emerge that speak of childhood, safety, and the desire for protection. Left-behind objects, long detached from their original purpose, sketch an intimate and tragicomic portrait of a dysfunctional family. The past is not merely remembered but made tangible once more as a fragile and tactile presence. Using two film projections set in dialogue across the room, Kim Dotty Hachmann conveys the enduring emotional closeness she shared with her deceased father. Objective, mostly unpopulated images encounter intimate and sensitive narratives. The father’s passion for model railways transforms, through artistic engagement, from a source of separation into a familial bond. As part of the performance _walking in your steps_, the artist collects further metaphysical stories together with visitors. Within the tension between memory and loss, the exhibition also raises questions of omission and missed connection. Often, the significance of a person only becomes fully perceptible through their absence. Unspoken words, misunderstandings, and lost time together remain as enduring voids. The exhibition understands itself as a gesture of intimate approach — a careful reaching toward another person to become closer to them again, and to understand them more deeply. Through reconstructing stories, tracing familial ties, and sharing memories, new meanings emerge while what has been lost is preserved. _What’s left and what’s lost_ reveals how our own identities are shaped through our relationships with others. Storytelling itself becomes an act of care.