One of the nicest events of the year in Düsseldorf is the weekend when the students of the art academy show their work in the main building of the Academy alongside the Rhine during the so-called Rundgang.

The number of visitors has been growly steadily over the years, together with the number of guided tours of the event. Düsseldorf prides itself of a grand history in painting and of an even grander recent past in photography. Some of the most famous and most expensive German photographers have studied in these walls, as students of the so-called Becher-Klasse of Bernd and Hilla Becher. To this date, some of the most notable contemporary painters, sculptors and photographers teach the students at the academy.

This year, like in 2013, the academy’s Rundgang provided moments of serendipity, surprises, déjà-vu and sheer enjoyment.

Placing a compass on an old turntable and letting it turn endlessly felt as good as the mythical fur cup & saucer “Frühstück im Pelz” by Meret Oppenheim, giving surrealism a contemporary twist. Do we not live in a time where all directions appear to be open at all times, where any path can be taken and abandonned at will, where coordinates are mixed and shuffled in an endless overlapping of movements? This sculpture so simple in its form language invites us to a circular contemplation.

Part of the show at the Rundgang takes place not on the walls but between them. Visitors display all sorts of styles and outfits. This lady with the red hair was apparently fascinated by the framed video of a woman’s face. The video goes on to show how the eyes are being extracted from their orbit, delivering another strong historical reference to surrealism. It found a strong interpretation for a phenomena which some of us may have today. Faced with the impossibility of escaping observation, we may wish to remove the instrument that turns us into observers.

Other, more formal sculptural works, have not failed to attract the visitors’ eyes and minds. Reading art is one of the most entertaining activities there are given that the possibilities for interpretation are almost endless.

In the painting classes however, the thrill was less obvious. Are we exposed to too much screen activity to value 2D visualisations as artistic? This has to be an individual appreciation. For my part, I find art stronger and more attractive when it occupies the space and grows into an environment, allowing immersion and simulating physical interaction. Until the next turn of meaning and expression take us into yet another dimension of artistic enjoyment.