ANTI HEROES
AKOB COLLECTION X VILLA MERKEL
OTTOLINGER / DENERV AUD / LIGIA DIAS
CONST ANTIN HARTENSTEIN / HANNAH KINDLER / DAMIEN JUILLARD
MIA KOROT AEV / ODAJE / THOMAS LIU LE LANN
This editorial is a homage to post-heroic masculinity, passivity, failure, and vulnerability. On the occasion of the exhibition “Anti Heroes” (March–June 2026) by the Jakob Collection at Villa Merkel in Esslingen am Neckar, art collector Lukas Jakob stages himself as an anti-hero. Jakob, who was included in the BMW Art Guide as the world’s youngest art collector in its history, marks with this exhibition the first museum presentation of the private collection.
The works on view reflect not only the collection itself but a contemporary state of mind: they tell of a time in which the heroic is deconstructed, masked, or renegotiated through performance. The anti-hero becomes the central figure of a society that no longer hopes for redemption but recognizes failure as an integral part of being human, in all its fragile beauty.
Living between Freiburg and Geneva, Jakob invited various art and fashion practitioners to collaborate on this editorial. The suit comes from an exclusive capsule collection by OTTOLINGER for Kunsthalle Basel, drawing on the iconic Autumn/Winter 2017 collection, and marked the beginning of a new phase for Kunsthalle Basel. The brooch and necklaces are by multidisciplinary artist Ligia Dias, who creates functional and non-functional utilitarian objects. The shoes are made from recycled materials by the Paris-based label Odaje. The earrings were crafted by goldsmith Mia Korotaev using a traditional technique in the Black Forest.
One outfit was designed by Tim Dénervaud. His Altitude collection, inspired by his childhood in the Swiss mountains, imagines a fictional community that embodies values such as identity, cultural heritage, and environmental protection. Silhouettes made in Switzerland from natural materials combine structure and emotion in a balance of strength and poetry.
A blue ring by Berlin-based artist Constantin Hartenstein, infused with substances such as poppers, lubricant, and pills, addresses the supposed optimization of attractiveness within the queer scene while also pointing to the transformation of the body through modern, often questionable, industrial processes. Masks, such as those by artist Hannah Kindler, are firmly embedded in the repertoire of the anti-hero. Her series (Un)masking combines protective function with artistic expression and becomes a projection surface for identity. As in Hesse’s Steppenwolf, Kindler’s fur mask reminds us that cultural identity becomes irrelevant when it comes to instinct.
Finally, an exploration of permanence within fleeting digital image culture unfolds through a scan edit of portraits and a withered rose, alongside chains by Ligia Dias and an edition by Thomas Liu Le Lann, which combines references to Supreme box cutters and the eponymous song by Cat Stevens with a palm-sized cutting tool bearing the inscription “TRUST ME,” establishing a personal and intimate relationship with an everyday object.
This editorial negotiates the anti-hero as a contemporary figure caught between visibility and refusal, strength and fragility, identity and masquerade, and makes clear that it is precisely in imperfection, doubt, and failure that a new, radically human form of beauty resides.
Credits
Produced by Jakob Collection
On the occasion of “Anti Heroes” at Villa Merkel
Photographer Vitali Beidel
Illustration Redley Exantus
Starring Lukas Jakob
Hair Danny Kali
Outfit 1 Ottolinger x Kunsthalle Basel
Outfit 2 necklace & brooch Ligia Dias / earrings Mia Korotaev
Ring Constantin Hartenstein
Outfit 3 + 4 Denervaud
Mask Hannah Kindler
Cutter Thomas Liu Le Lann for Documents d’Artistes Genève
Shoes Odaje
Special thanks Damien Juillard