In 2026 the 14th edition of the Asphalt Festival will once again transform special locations in Düsseldorf’s cityscape into temporary venues for a program of theater, music, dance, literature, and performance art. The extraordinary tunnel architecture of KIT – Kunst im Tunnel will become a temporary soundstage for experimental concerts. Composer Bojan Vuletic brings established and upcoming artists to the underground exhibition space, underscoring the festival’s original idea: “Out of the theater, into the city.” In addition, KIT is hosting an exhibition by the photographic artist Laurenz Berges.

Verschwinden (ARCHIV)
Photographs by Laurenz Berges
11 July – 2 August 2026

Opening: Friday, 10 July 2026, 6 pm, free admission

The Düsseldorfer Fotoschule is still one of the most influential artistic movements in photography today. Its representative Laurenz Berges was one of the last master students taught by Bernd Becher at the Kunstakademie. The asphalt Festival 2026 will be a guest at KIT – Kunst im Tunnel for the first time, presenting the internationally renowned photo artist‘s first solo exhibition in Düsseldorf, with works from the past 35 years and a selection of completely new, previously unseen works. Laurenz Berges documents places that have been abandoned. He only uses natural light and resolutely avoids staging. His pictures are silent testimonies to social and political upheaval, in particular the structural change in North Rhine-Westphalia. Formerly vivid towns and communities are losing part of their population, private homes are often abandoned, without a new generation moving in. People are almost never seen in Laurenz Berges’ photographs, but he uncovers the traces they left behind over the years before their disappearance. Amid the unique architecture of the KIT, a visual archive unfolds that makes the quiet echo of lived life visible.

Laurenz Berges (*1966 in Cloppenburg) studied at the Folkwang University in Essen and at the Düsseldorfer Kunstakademie and in 1988–89 served as an assistant to Evelyn Hofer, one of the most important photographers of the postwar era, in New York. His works are exhibited in museums around the world and are part of major collections. Laurenz Berges lives and works in Düsseldorf.

During the exhibition, the asphalt Festival will host concerts at KIT on four evenings. On these exhibition days, opening hours will be shortened from 11 am to 2 pm:

Friday, 17 July 2026
shy and wild is love
Arditti Quartet, Christina Daletska & Consuelo Giulianelli, 7.30 pm
Friday, 24 July 2026
Perseverantia
Vadim Neselovskyi & Ysaÿe String Trio, 7.30 pm
Saturday, 25 July 2026
Juliette Magnevasoa, 7.30 pm
Friday, 31 July 2026
PULSE & Tilo Weber, 7.30 pm

Project management: Dirk Handte (KIT), Bojan Vuletic (Asphalt Festival)