Julius von Bismarck / Janusch Ertler / Zoë Field / Thimo Franke /
Mia Goyette / Tiril Hasselknippe / Mathias Kessler / Rachel Pimm /
Elsa Salonen / Anna-Lisa Theisen / Andreas Wißkirchen
What happens when the mimesis of natural elements becomes an artistic subject? What statement do contemporary „natural images“ make on the relationship nature and culture?
Starting from the wide spectrum of meaning of nature as culturally relative, socially produced construct, up to the idea of nature as a symbiotic environment, the facets of the current term nature are highlighted. Different paths open up views of visionary glades of contemporary positions and lead in to the dense undergrowth of the complex relationship of man and nature. Natural raw materials are reinterpreted by computer animation, digital prints and photo editing, as well as other technical processes, imitated or symbolized in industrially produced objects, analogously cited by painting or sculptural techniques or finally completely replaced. The boundaries between natural and artificial are explored and the effects of man on natural phenomena questioned. In this discourse the artworks are located in a contemporary perspective, dealing, for example, with the rising global geological influence of man or the decline of natural resources. Some human intervention in the natural processes are so severe that science speaks of a new man-made geological era. This is summarized under the not uncontroversial concept of the Anthropocene, drawing attention not only to the responsibility of the intervention of man, but also illustrates the political and social economic importance of the question of the relationship between culture and nature. The problem of humanity as a force forming Earth‘s history is thus interdisciplinary in focus. There are no longer solely scientists dealing with this, there is especially also an increasing obligation of culture to consider the Anthropocene.
On the one hand, in the group exhibition the partly poetic transcriptions reveal a forward-looking unity of man and nature, in which nature is artistically translated into a new materiality. Concrete, fiberglass or epoxy resin allow associations with materials such as water or the leaves of underwater plants and transfer these elements in their aesthetics in new states of matter. The symbiotic link and dependency of technical achievements to natural resources seems to be indicated. On the other hand, the illusory idea of overcoming all bonds of mankind to natural laws resonates within some of the works. In the practice of imitating and obvious moments of deception a dissonance in the relationship of man and nature can be heard. In posed sceneries or in the metamorphosis of the materials a field of tension arises between image and reality, which indicates a troubled relationship – the conflict between „natural“ and „human“ order. Because if man’s culture influences almost all areas of nature, the separation is abolished and culture and nature are united. It seems all the more paradoxical that the inseparable relationship has not yet been recognized and it can be assumed that the relationship is far away from a harmonious unison.
