Lonelyfingers was an artist-run project created in 2013 by Diango Hernández and Anne Pöhlmann, active until 2018. Conceived in Düsseldorf, it focused on the objects, documents, and fragments that accompany artists in their creative processes — materials that usually remain invisible in the studio but are fundamental as sources of memory and inspiration.
Rather than presenting only finished artworks, Lonelyfingers highlighted these Finds — personal artifacts, references, and tools that consciously or unconsciously nurture artistic practice. Finds act as memory triggers, guiding artists through the uncertainty of creation: they exist to help us remember, just as artworks are made to be remembered.
The project gained particular recognition with Konversationsstücke (2013), its first physical exhibition at Museum Abteiberg in Mönchengladbach, which was awarded the AICA Germany Prize for Best Special Exhibition of the year. The museum was transformed into a contemporary “artist’s salon,” filled with books, sketches, photographs, records, and everyday objects. None were labeled by authorship, inviting visitors to wander, speculate, and invent their own stories. This format encouraged dialogue not only between artists but also between artists and audiences.
Between 2013 and 2018, Lonelyfingers developed both online and physical projects: digital collections, curatorial interventions, and collaborative exhibitions in various institutions. It consistently positioned itself as a counterpoint to the commodification of art, shifting attention away from the marketable artwork toward the overlooked genealogies of creation — the traces, inspirations, and peripheral items that are as meaningful as the works they helped bring into being.
Ultimately, Lonelyfingers was a space of generosity and exchange: a shared platform where the hidden world of the studio became public, and where artistic thinking was unfolded not as a definitive statement, but as an open invitation to connect, remember, and imagine.