What it is. "Inner Beauty is for Ugly People" is a new solo show by Ivana Vladislava. It stages cosmetic obsession as performance, satire and commodity. The works make the labour of looking visible and a little grotesque.
Who’s behind it. Ivana Vladislava builds objects that feel equal parts craft kit and ritual tool. Tiny versions of the artist recur across the pieces. They sit on lipstick tubes, float in jars and form a many-headed hammer titled "Lookmaxxing," which points directly at the absurdity of self-engineering.
Where and when. The exhibition opens at Robert Grunenberg Gallery, Linienstraße, on 31 August 2026.
What to expect. Expect assemblages that read like a beauty counter made by someone who kept the receipts and the receipts are receipts of the soul. There are clinical objects turned performative: an Ozempic pen holder and a tray for Botox syringes sit beside kitschy, pickled self-portraits. The centerpiece arranges cosmetic tools into a pseudo-shopfront of the artist’s face.
Why it matters for Berlin. The show channels the city’s appetite for work that mixes drag economy, club culture and social critique. Vladislava’s audience acts like a fandom: buying a piece feels less like collecting and more like joining a social gesture. That blurring of art object and community is a current pulse in Berlin’s scene.
On tone. The work is funny and sharp. It uses self-deprecation as a strategy to talk about how bodies become products. That combination — amused, ruthless and communal — is what gives the exhibition its momentum.
