(un)mediated nature

Group exhibition with Mehraneh Atashi, Paula Doepfner, Conor Gilligan, Kapwani Kiwanga, Tim Reinecke and Kathrin Sonntag

curated by Yvonne Bialek

Opening: January 24, 6-9 pm

The group exhibition (un)mediated nature brings together art works in which plants and flowers function as objects, material and motifs. The exhibition follows the assumption: When organisms, such as flowers and plants, enter the art space, a transformation takes place which is typical for the exhibition context. Like readymades, they externally remain unchanged, but take on a further layer of meaning – politically, culturally or socially. They become mediators of associations or bearers of narratives. Plants turn into a medium in which their supposed naturalness becomes the projection surface for artistic attributions. The title of the exhibition describes this process by referring to the constant oscillation of the im-mediacy of nature in the context of the exhibition, which also goes in line with a traditional cultural act: For centuries, plants have been declared representatives of symbolic meanings, which vary depending on time, context and culture. The art works shown in the exhibition connect to this practice of attribution in a certain way, in which the representation and use of the plants opens up further, different meanings beyond the pure presentation and aesthetics, referring to concrete political events, social circumstances or psychological states.