Nan Goldin and the work series at Kampnagel’s Sommerfestival
Published on 08/29/2026 at 13:26 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael MĂĽller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWS
Nan Goldin’s slideshow practice returns in concentrated form at Hamburg’s Kampnagel, where the work series around The Ballad of Sexual Dependency frames the 2026 Internationales Sommerfestival. As Kampnagel details, the festival presentations cluster across several August dates in a dedicated cinema space.
The Hamburg slideshow cycle
At Kampnagel’s Internationales Sommerfestival 2026 in Hamburg, Nan Goldin’s slideshow The Ballad of Sexual Dependency is scheduled in multiple screening blocks between August 5 and 23, 2026, with daily time slots laid out in the festival programme.
The work appears there as a 42-minute projection composed of 694 slides with soundtrack, installed in a purpose-built cinema environment that foregrounds the durational nature of the series.
The work series and retrospective lens
The Ballad of Sexual Dependency has long anchored Nan Goldin’s practice, but in recent years it enters a broader retrospective framework through the touring exhibition This Will Not End Well, organized by Moderna Museet and partners including the Grand Palais and Neue Nationalgalerie.
The tour focuses on her slideshow films as a coherent work group, presenting immersive installations of multiple sequences and new sound work from Stockholm in 2023 through Amsterdam, Berlin, Milan and finally Paris in 2026.
Further news and background on Nan Goldin
For broader coverage of Nan Goldin’s exhibitions, work series and institutional retrospectives, the internal archive offers additional reports on museum shows and festival presentations.
The core of the practice
Nan Goldin works primarily with photography and projected slideshows, turning diaristic images of friends, lovers and subcultural communities into structured, time-based sequences with music and voiceover.
Alongside The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, key groups such as Eden and After and the films in This Will Not End Well build a sustained narrative of intimacy, trauma and resilience, often using re-edited and re-scored material over decades.
Position of the work series today
By all accounts, Nan Goldin’s slideshow work series now sits between classic status and active reworking, with the touring This Will Not End Well cycle and institutional screenings such as Kampnagel’s Sommerfestival bringing the material into renewed public focus.
Nan Goldin at a glance
- Artist: Nan Goldin
- Medium / Genre: Photography and slideshow films (documentary and diaristic)
- Born: 1953, Washington D.C., United States
- Place(s) of practice: Works primarily between New York and Europe, with long-term ties to communities in the United States and European cities documented across her slideshows.
- Active since: Late 1970s, with early slide presentations of friends and the subsequent development of The Ballad of Sexual Dependency in the early 1980s.
- Key work groups: The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, Eden and After, the slideshow films compiled in This Will Not End Well, and various portrait series of New York and European communities.
- Current/last exhibition: This Will Not End Well, a touring retrospective of Goldin’s slideshow films presented from Stockholm in 2023 through Amsterdam, Berlin and Milan to Paris in 2026.
- Major collections: Works by Nan Goldin are held in public collections including Moderna Museet (Stockholm), Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), Neue Nationalgalerie (Berlin) and other European and North American institutions.
- Awards: Recognized internationally for her photographic practice and activism, with distinctions and festival invitations documented across institutions, though specific prize titles fall outside this narrow work-series focus.
- Next date: The touring schedule of This Will Not End Well extends through its Paris presentation in 2026, marking the latest institutional framing of her slideshow work series.
Frequently asked questions about Nan Goldin
Which Nan Goldin work series is currently central in Hamburg?
The slideshow The Ballad of Sexual Dependency anchors Nan Goldin’s presence at Kampnagel’s Internationales Sommerfestival 2026 in Hamburg, where the 42-minute sequence with 694 slides is screened on multiple August dates.
How does the touring exhibition This Will Not End Well frame her work?
The exhibition This Will Not End Well presents Nan Goldin’s slideshow films as immersive installations, traveling from Moderna Museet in Stockholm to venues including the Stedelijk Museum, Neue Nationalgalerie, Pirelli HangarBicocca and the Grand Palais between 2023 and 2026.
What role does the work group Eden and After play in her practice?
The series Eden and After, which includes the photograph Ava twirling, NYC (2007), extends Nan Goldin’s focus on children and family constellations, and has been used in fundraising contexts such as the 2026 Colours That Survived exhibition supporting young Palestinian artists.
This article was produced with a.i. support and editorially reviewed. All statements without guarantee; auction results, exhibition dates and awards may change at short notice.
