Annika Thiems _ On wings (or almost)_ —
Bartha_contemporary is delighted to present the first solo exhibition by Annika Thiems (b. 1991), entitled On wings (or almost), on view from March 5 to April 5 2026. Conceived in response to Méret Oppenheim’s print series Parapapillonneries (1976), the exhibition unfolds as an inquiry into absurdity, surrealism, and psychoanalytic thought. The new sculptures perform futile attempts at emotional containment—unruly butterflies rising with their cases.
Working across textile sculpture and installation, Thiems creates soft structures that hover between utility and excess, tenderness and restraint. Drawing on her background in psychology, the artist employs free association and a surrealist language to engage with found materials and their sensual properties. Discarded fabrics, wooden containers, and domestic objects are treated as carriers of memory, shame, and longing. Upholstery techniques—learned while growing up in her family’s furniture workshop—serve as an inherited vocabulary for the pre-verbal and unconscious. Thiems resists fixed interpretation, allowing sensuality, dream logic, and the grotesque to unfold without explanation.
Fifty years after the publication of Parapapillonneries, this response echoes the butterflies’ refusal of prettiness and coherence, their insistence on individuality and contradiction. Oppenheim’s radical legacy—her rejection of expectation, discipline, and obedience—forms a critical lineage for Thiems’s practice. The new sculptures expose the absurdity of their own coping mechanisms, such as obsessive order or protective layers. The butterfly – or psyche in ancient Greek – becomes a force to be encountered rather than controlled: unpredictable, fascinating, and perpetually transforming.
German artist Annika Thiems lives and works in London. Her work has been presented internationally across visual art and performance contexts, including the Victoria & Albert Museum, Tate Britain, and has recently been featured in The World of Interiors.

Annika Thiems
Water-Repellent Double Case with 16 Cushions, 2026
Oilskin, foam, polyester wadding, wood, metal and thread
26.4 × 23.5 × 9.2 cm
10 ⅜ × 9 ¼ × 3 ⅝ in
Sold

Annika Thiems
Parachute Table Legs with Maple Seeds, 2026
Parachute nylon, maple seeds, polyester, wood, steel and thread
72.2 × 98.8 × 10 cm
28 ⅜ × 38 ⅞ × 3 ⅞ in

Annika Thiems
Water-Repellent Double Case with Hangers, 2026
Oilskin, parachute nylon, leather, cotton, polyester, lavender, wood, metal and thread
89.5 × 115.2 × 5.4 cm
35 ¼ × 45 ⅜ × 2 ⅛ in

Annika Thiems
Upholstered Pallet Offcut, 2025
Furniture fabric remnant, pallet offcut, wadding, nails, staples and thread
42 × 14 × 11 cm
16 ½ × 5 ½ × 4 ⅜ in

Annika Thiems
Parachute Double Case with Hangers, 2026
Parachute nylon, lavender, polyester, plastic buckle, metal, wood and thread
40 × 60 × 4.6 cm
15 ¾ × 23 ⅝ × 1 ¾ in

Annika Thiems
Water-Repellent Case with Secured Cabinet Hinges, 2026
Oilskin, polyester, wood, metal and thread
24.4 × 32 × 8.6 cm
9 ⅝ × 12 ⅝ × 3 ⅜ in

Annika Thiems
Pinstripe Upholstered Case with Four Cushions, 2026
Wool suiting fabric, wooden container, foam offcuts, wadding, staples, thread
23 × 28.5 × 6 cm
9 × 11 ¼ × 2 ⅜ in
Sold

Annika Thiems
Water-Repellent Case with Secured Table Hinges, 2026
Oilskin, polyester, wood, metal and thread
24 × 31 × 6.4 cm
9 ½ × 12 ¼ × 2 ½ in
Film
Downloads
Press release PDF
Press-release (PDF 60kb)


