Menno Aden — Conceptual Photography, Berlin
Menno Aden is a Berlin-based conceptual photographer known for his series Room Portraits, in which interiors of living and working spaces are photographed from a bird's-eye perspective and assembled into symmetrical, map-like images. His work has been exhibited internationally and is held in public and private collections.
Series
Room Portraits
Topography of human spaces
In Room Portraits, Menno Aden shows living and working spaces from a bird's eye view. The unusual top view is reminiscent of doll's houses, but also evokes associations of surveillance. The series thematizes control and voyeurism, phenomena that are increasingly becoming part of everyday life.
Devices
Product shots of fictional machines
"The best way to predict the future is to design it", says Buckminster Fuller. In his series Devices, Menno Aden shows AI-generated visions of technical machines, created with text-to-image algorithms. Designed to optimize everyday life, the speculative devices appear convincing at first glance. On closer inspection, however, they reveal distortions and contradictions. The series explores the aesthetics of machine imagination and reflects on our projections of a technologized future.
Assembly Lines
Portraits of machines, seen by machines
In Assembly Lines, Menno Aden shows motion sequences of industrial robots, recorded with a line scan camera from industrial production. Originally used for quality control and designed for machine readability, the image material is made visible here. The series shows portraits of machines, seen through the eyes of another machine.
Composition
Sports Hall Floors as Silent Witnesses to Overlapping Worlds
In Composition, Menno Aden shows gymnasium floors from Berlin sports halls where refugees were housed from 2015 onwards. From a distance, the images look like constructivist paintings. Lines of different playing systems overlap, but do not touch each other. The offset markings or a crooked lid become silent metaphors for the juxtaposition of human living environments.
Over Head
Traces of a vanished function
In Over Head, Menno Aden shows ceiling views from the former U.S. headquarters in Berlin-Dahlem, relics of a past marked by the Cold War, vacancy, and structural change. Captured from a consistent perspective, the surfaces reveal traces of a lost function. The series appears calm and documentary and brings historical significance to seemingly incidental details.
Tracks & Fields
Landscape as an ordered system
In Tracks and Fields, Menno Aden shows compositions of steep vertical formats, landscape emerges as a well-ordered aesthetic system. Paths, hedges, grass strips and walls become continuous bands of colour and structure. The extreme cropping of the photographs works against the usual vastness of landscape and expects the viewer to continue the initially limited picture on his own. As if arranged according to a flat plan, everything fits into a system of order and spatiality is smoothed out in two dimensions.
Tubes
The hidden architecture of infrastructure
In Tubes, Menno Aden presents a photographic series that explores the hidden architecture of everyday urban infrastructure. Each image captures a ceiling view of an underground car park, photographed precisely from the same perspective. The uniform composition lends the series a rhythmic consistency, while the subject matter—pipes, tubes, ventilation shafts, and electric cables—is illuminated by stark neon lights. By focusing on these often overlooked spaces, Aden elevates the mundane into something poetic. The series reflects on the aesthetics of modern infrastructure and questions the boundary between functionality and art, turning a typically hidden world into a subject of contemplation and visual study.
Panel Flats
Individuality within a uniform system
In Panel Flats, Menno Aden shows sections of the façade of a prefabricated building in Berlin, always from the same perspective and with an identical image section. As if taken by a scanner, the raster images reveal minimal differences in a seemingly uniform system. The series appears calm and structured, and at the same time reveals the individual expression behind the anonymity.
Curriculum Vitae
Biographical
- 1972 born in Weener, Germany
- 1993 - 2000 Art and Visual Communication, University Bremen and University of the Arts Bremen
- Lives and works in Berlin, Germany
Awards
- 2019 Portraits Hellerau Photography Award (finalist)
- 2016 Cern Collide International Award (shortlist)
- 2013 Deutscher Preis für Wissenschaftsfotografie (German Prize for Science Photography), Bremen (1st Prize)
- 2013 International Photography Awards, Architecture, Los Angeles (1st Prize)
- 2013 Accademia Apulia UK Photography Award, London (1st Prize)
- 2012 Art - Science - Industry - Kunstpreis, Potsdam (1st Prize)
- 2009 European Award of Architectural Photography, Frankfurt am Main (Selection)
Solo Exhibitions (Selection)
- 2024 Späti Talks, w/ Vasylysa Shchogoleva. 48Stunden Neukölln, Berlin
- 2023 Devices, In The Rackroom, Berlin
- 2021 Between the Lines, Rahmen & Kunst, Berlin
- 2021 Home/Guest, Die Ganze Freiheit, Berlin
- 2020 Assembly Lines, Lage Egal, Berlin
- 2020 mittendrin - immer weiter, Galerie im Kunstzentrum Tegel, Berlin
- 2019 Room Portraits, Biennale dell immagine, Chiasso and Lugano, Switzerland
- 2019 Room Portraits, Museanum, Dresden, Germany
- 2017 Open Source - Installation by Menno Aden. Curated by Stefanie Seidl. Berlin-Weekly, Berlin
- 2017 Menno Aden: Komposition. Curated by Mike Gessner. Kunstraum Potsdam (w/ Harf Zimmermann)
- 2016 Menno Aden: Room Portraits. European Month of Photography. Galerie Schuster, Berlin
- 2015 Menno Aden: AØ From Above. Antje Oeklesund Audiovisual Laboratory, Berlin
- 2015 Menno Aden: Over Head II. Former US-Headquarter, Berlin-Dahlem
- 2014 Menno Aden: Room Portraits. Kunstverein Segeberg
- 2013 Wirklich - nicht wirklich II. Kunstverein Barsinghausen (w/ Hermann Reimer)
- 2012 Menno Aden - New Works. Galerie Schuster Potsdam
- 2012 Menno Aden: Room Portraits. Galerie Abrahams, Hamburg
- 2012 Still Light. Galeria Deak Erika, Budapest (w/ Marcin Cienski)
- 2011 Menno Aden - Photography. Schuster Gallery, Miami
- 2011 Menno Aden: Spurensuche. Galerie Lesmeister, Regensburg
- 2010 Menno Aden - Photography. Galerie Schuster Photo, Berlin
- 2010 The Universe is not your Friend, Babe. Deak Erika Galeria, Budapest (w/ Jessica Buhlmann)
- 2008 Menno Aden: Ambient Portraits. Galerie Zu Den Ferd, Berlin
- 2007 Menno Aden - Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes. Your Mother Gallery, Singapore
Group Exhibitions (Selection)
- 2025 Ostfriesland Biennale 2025. Landesmuseum Oldenburg
- 2025 Archiv der Augenblicke. Fotoforum Dresden
- 2025 Mein Raum. Mehr als 4 Wände. Junge Kunsthalle Karlsruhe
- 2024 Crossing the Dateline, RCAC Bangkok, Thailand
- 2024 WHAAM! — Pop Art aus sieben Jahrzehnten, CSR Art Contemporary Show Room, Berlin
- 2023 FABRIK - 50 Years of Berlin Based Pop-Art, Roam Gallery, Berlin
- 2023 Positions Art Fair Berlin, w/ Galerie Martin Mertens, Berlin
- 2023 Wall of Sound, Lage Egal, Berlin
- 2022 Free Space, Lage Egal, Berlin
- 2022 Focus on Abstraction 2022, Pavillion Milchhöfe, Berlin
- 2021 Crossing the Dateline, Ratchadamnoen Contemporary Art Center, Bangkok
- 2021 Betwixt, Tacheles, Berlin
- 2021 Phosphenes, Flies and other Dots, Pirol Studios, Berlin
- 2021 Yak Shaving (online exhibition)
- 2020 C(h)ampaigners, BSA - Berlin Selected Artists, Berlin
- 2020 SLLS - Stop, Look, Listen, and Smell, Colonia Nova, Berlin
- 2020 Something True, curated by Marina Wilde, Schau Fenster, Berlin
- 2020 Lecturers' Exhibition, Sommerakademie Dresden, riesa efau, Dresden
- 2019 Permanent Welcome, Lage Egal, Berlin
- 2019 Domizil, Berlin-Weekly, Berlin
- 2018 Berlin Calling. Galerie Parnasse, Aarhus, Denmark
- 2018 Khao Ta Looh. KMITL Fine Art, Bangkok
- 2018 Ene Mene Muh. Bar Babette, Berlin
- 2018 Species of Spaces. w/ Martin Pfahler and Ute Lindner. Lage Egal, Berlin
- 2017 IV Open Studios. Curated by Sarah Strassmann. AR_29, Berlin
- 2017 Früher oder Später. Curated by Alekos Hofstätter. Zwitschermaschine, Berlin
- 2017 Keep Your Eyes Peeled. Curated by Sarah Strassmann. aff-Galerie, Berlin
- 2016 Perspektive.Land.Stadt, Kunsthaus Potsdam, Potsdam
- 2016 Berlin Raum Radar - New Architecture Photography. Curated by Nadine Barth, Neue West, Berlin
- 2016 A Better World. Curated by David J. Brown. The Bascom Museum, NC, USA
- 2015 EVA - European Video Art. Ladkrabang, Bangkok, Chiang Mai University, Thailand
- 2014 ARTchitecture. Curated by Guy Schraenen, Museu Serralves, Porto
- 2013 Home - My Place in the World. Wandsworth Museum, London
- 2013 Discover Me. Landesmuseum Emden
- 2013 Architekturbild 2009/2011, Wissenschaftspark Gelsenkirchen
- 2012 International Multimedia Art Festival. New Zero Art Space, Yangon, Myanmar
- 2012 In Private. La Tour De Villers Gallery, Palais Bellevue, Cannes
- 2012 Art - Science - Industry. Kunsthaus Potsdam
- 2012 Distance - Magnet - Closeness. CMU Museum, Chiang Mai, Thailand
- 2011 Ich bin ein Berliner. Dezer Schauhalle, Miami
- 2011 US-HQ 1. US-HQ, Berlin
- 2011 Pommes und Nivea, Temporäre Kunsthalle, Berlin
- 2011 Blooom Art Fair, Cologne, w/ Galerie Lesmeister
- 2011 Experimental VDO Art 8. Curated by Komson Nookiew. Thailand
- 2011 Nachbarn. Abgrenzung und Gemeinsamkeit. HUB:Kunst-Diskurs, Hanover
- 2011 Stand der Dinge. Galerie Schuster Photo, Berlin
- 2011 AAF Art Fair, Milan, w/ Galerie Lesmeister
- 2010 ArtFair 21, Cologne, w/ Galerie Schuster
- 2010 Volta6 Basel, w/ Deak Erika Galeria
- 2010 Contemporary Art Ruhr, Essen, w/ Galerie ArtAffair
- 2010 Raum Formen. Galerie ArtAffair, Regensburg
- 2010 New Homeland. Kasseler Architekturzentrum, Kassel
- 2010 New Homeland. VHS-Photogalerie, Stuttgart
- 2009 Experimental VDO Art 6. Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Thailand
- 2009 New Homeland. Architektur Galerie Werkraum, Berlin
- 2009 The Dark Side Of The Moon. Galerie im Park, Bremen
- 2009 New Homeland, Deutsches Architektur Museum, Frankfurt am Main
- 2008 Experimental VDO-Art 5. Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Lectureships (selection)
- 2020 Sommerakademie Kultur Forum, Dresden
- 2017 Universität der Künste, Berlin
- 2017 KMITL Fine Art Department, Bangkok
- 2005 — 2007 Head of Arts Department, German European School, Singapore
Curatorial Work (selection)
- 2020 Erste Direkte Auktion, Berlin (w/ Pierre Granoux)
- 2021 Zweite Direkte Auktion, Berlin (w/ Eva Scharrer)
Collections (selection)
- Novartis Collection, Basel, CH
- KMITL, Bangkok, TH
- KPMG, DK
- Hückstedt Collection, Berlin, D
- Sanovis Collection, Munich, D
- Sammlung von Förster, Berlin, D
- VandenBroek-Foundation / Lisser Art Museum (LAM), Lisse, NL
- among other national and international private collections.
Contact
Menno Aden, Danziger Straße 55, 10435 Berlin, Germany. Email: mail@mennoaden.com
See also: Menno Aden on Wikipedia