We are delighted to present Ayumi Paul’s first solo exhibition The First Two Letters of the Alphabet Are Unconditional Love for the World at Galerie Tanja Wagner.

Ayumi Paul’s works draw attention to the interplay of forces, relationships, and timescales that exceed the awareness of individual actors, yet underlie every breath, every gust of wind, and every encounter. They are anchored in the understanding that life does not consist of separate entities, but of processes that continuously give rise to and transform one another. Perception is understood not as observation from the outside, but as participation.

The title of the exhibition refers to the first two characters of the Japanese hiragana syllabary, “A” and “I”. Combined, they form the Japanese word for love. Hiragana is a sound-based writing system. Beginning with the two vowels A and I, Ayumi Paul reduces language to one of its simplest sonic origins. In her sound installation, the two vowels are repeatedly sung, extended through humming, ornamented, and transformed into ever-new melodic forms. Like seeds or imaginal cells, they contain the potential for innumerable forms. At the same time, they remain in their original sonic state – prior to any fixed assignment of meaning as a possible beginning of ancient and future languages.

At the centre of the exhibition is the ongoing series Constellations. Each work traces the planetary configuration of a specific moment in time. Personal, historical, and imagined events are translated into geometric forms based on the precise positions of celestial bodies.

The works brought together in the exhibition, span moments separated by centuries and continents: the death of the mystic Christina the Astonishing in 1224 (24.7.1224 Christina Mirabilis); the evening following the murder of Hans and Sophie Scholl (Lang lebe die Freiheit); the death of the Iranian philosopher Nasrin Ghaderi in Tehran in 2022 (5.11.2022, Tehran); Nineveh, the largest city in the world at the time, in 612 BCE (13.8.612 BCE, Niniveh); and a future spring day at Aydingköl, the Moon Lake of the Uyghurs, today visible only as a ring of salt (21.3.2321, Aydingköl / Moon Lake).

Through the act of stitching, thread becomes a form of inscription and witnessing. Paul understands material as a carrier of energy and works in Constellations primarily with antique gold thread and handmade papers.


In the greater movement of time, there are no interruptions – Ayumi Paul

For the exhibition, the new body of work I Made a Perfect World was created for the first time. In this series, elemental forms of energy – wave, light, and circle – are inscribed into paper. Here, too, a devotion to material as living matter lies at the core of the practice. “White light” is embroidered onto oil pastel using white silk. The circles are composed of different materials: pink-dyed cotton pigmented with resin from the dragon’s blood tree, as well as plant-dyed wool yarns in yellow and turquoise sourced from the region of Lake Titicaca in Peru.

As in the Constellations, Paul is interested not in controlling form, but in the conditions that allow it to emerge. Sounds, materials, and processes are given the space to unfold in their own way. Beauty arises where different forces can coexist side by side without being blended into one another.

A large-scale canvas work titled Energie möchte nicht gedrückt werden, revisits the vowels A and I. Delicate, folded Japanese Washi paper flows into hemp fabric while simultaneously being supported by it. The fabric was dyed sixteen times with Indigo by the artist in Kyoto. In Japan, Indigo is also known as Ai and has traditionally been respected as a living being.

In our present time, marked by uncertainty, constant distraction, and a diffuse sense of exhaustion, Ayumi Paul creates spaces that allow for a grounding in the very present moment while simultaneously making the profound interconnectedness of all life tangible. Across times, places, and individual experiences, her works remind us that we are part of a larger web of interwoven relationships: between past, present, and future; between human beings, nature, and cosmic movements.

Coinciding with the exhibition and extending beyond it, Ayumi Paul’s performances, projects, and rituals will be presented at institutions and venues including Haus am Waldsee, Berlin (opening June 13, 2026, at 5 pm); Gropius Bau, Berlin (The Singing Project, June 14, 2026, at 4 pm); Hydra School Projects (opening June 21, 2026); Reethaus, Berlin (September 2026); the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (September 2026) and Sinop International Biennial (September 2026).

Ayumi Paul lives and works between Athens and Kyoto. Her multidisciplinary practice spans sound, performance, objects, and social engagement. Recent presentations of her work include the Sharjah Biennial (2025), Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz (2025), Georg Kolbe Museum, Berlin (2024), Gropius Bau, Berlin (2023), Auditorium Parco della Musica, Rome (2022), National Gallery Singapore (2018 and 2021), SFMOMA, San Francisco (2021), and Kunsthalle Osnabrück (2020).

Ayumi Paul lives and works between Athens and Kyoto. Her multidisciplinary practice spans sound, performance, objects, and social engagement. Recent presentations of her work include the Sharjah Biennial (2025), Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz (2025), Georg Kolbe Museum, Berlin (2024), Gropius Bau, Berlin (2023), Auditorium Parco della Musica, Rome (2022), National Gallery Singapore (2018 and 2021), SFMOMA, San Francisco (2021), and Kunsthalle Osnabrück (2020).