Das Erste Mal presents the very first video works by contemporary artists. With their experimental and at times eccentric character, these short films offer a glimpse into the creative beginnings that already hint at the artists’ later
practices.

What makes these early videos compelling is their directness and lack of pretense—a raw will to express, when intuition precedes style and curiosity overrides calculation. Each work carries a sense of urgency and discovery, revealing how the immediacy of the moving image allows for spontaneous experimentation, accidents, and unfiltered emotion – moments when the camera becomes a tool for thinking, trying, and failing in real time.

The program was conceived and is curated by artist and curator Florian Meisenberg.

Participating artists include Korakrit Arunanondchai, Joey Frank, Cayetano Ferrer, Henry Gunderson, John Henderson, Georg Herold, Riley Hooker, Gregory Kalliche, Anna K.E., Prem Krishnamurthy, Nathaniel de Large, Vijay Masharani, Florian Meisenberg, Monica Mirabile, Agnieszka Polska, Ben Rivers, Rachel Rossin, Jacolby Satterwhite, Jeremy Shaw, Marianna Simnett, John Smith, Viktor Timofeev, Narcissister, Tolia Astakhishvili, and Lawrence Weiner.

Das Erste Mal has been screened at the Shoreditch Arts Club in London, Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover, Kunstmuseum Bonn and the Hotel Warszawa Art Fair.