- Exhibition
Kunstreichgewächse
Dates
Open Call:
Closed
With increasing speed, real and virtual spaces interpenetrate each other. The topography of natural habitats has often become alien to us. Reality as experience disappears. And with its loss the longing for its rediscovery grows.
In a time of dystopias, in which multiple crises upset our world and the future seems grey, we would like to set out with this open call in search of the paradisiacal Garden of Eden. The enchanted garden was, is and remains a motif of longing as a place of retreat and idyll. After the representative parks of the Renaissance and Baroque eras, the first private gardens were created in civil age of the 19th century. They had a very personal charm, were intimate and paid homage to contemplation. The garden quickly became a favourite artistic motif. And a new flowering of the representation of nature began to sprout. Transfigured as an ideal, today more than ever the garden stands for the lost unity of human and nature. Its beauty conveys an idea of the supernatural and the glory of paradise, for which people have been longing for centuries.
Comparable to a botanical garden, the Museum Ulm collects, maintains and displays rarities from 40,000 years of art and cultural history in its heritage building ensemble from the 15th to 20th centuries. The sought-after artistic positions on the theme of the Garden of Paradise are to be brought together in an exhibition project in the spring of 2021, transforming the museum into an alternative place of wonder, experience and rediscovery.
We invite artists, curators and all interested parties to actively participate in the exhibition, to propose and submit artworks of various kinds and media for this exhibition, to comment on works and to discuss them in a group chat with the curator and the community.
Participate
With increasing speed, real and virtual spaces interpenetrate each other. The topography of natural habitats has often become alien to us. Reality as experience disappears. And with its loss the longing for its rediscovery grows.
In a time of dystopias, in which multiple crises upset our world and the future seems grey, we would like to set out with this open call in search of the paradisiacal Garden of Eden. The enchanted garden was, is and remains a motif of longing as a place of retreat and idyll. After the representative parks of the Renaissance and Baroque eras, the first private gardens were created in civil age of the 19th century. They had a very personal charm, were intimate and paid homage to contemplation. The garden quickly became a favourite artistic motif. And a new flowering of the representation of nature began to sprout. Transfigured as an ideal, today more than ever the garden stands for the lost unity of human and nature. Its beauty conveys an idea of the supernatural and the glory of paradise, for which people have been longing for centuries.
Comparable to a botanical garden, the Museum Ulm collects, maintains and displays rarities from 40,000 years of art and cultural history in its heritage building ensemble from the 15th to 20th centuries. The sought-after artistic positions on the theme of the Garden of Paradise are to be brought together in an exhibition project in the spring of 2021, transforming the museum into an alternative place of wonder, experience and rediscovery.
We invite artists, curators and all interested parties to actively participate in the exhibition, to propose and submit artworks of various kinds and media for this exhibition, to comment on works and to discuss them in a group chat with the curator and the community.
Curatorial statement
The open call has triggered an intensive discourse on the divergent content-related aspects of the theme, both within the online community and within the curatorial team of the Museum Ulm.
The artistic positions selected for the exhibition shed light on this discourse and show that the concept of the paradisiacal Garden of Eden is not only associated with an idyllic place of longing in the real and virtual world, but also with a moment of dystopia and loss. Furthermore, the selected artworks represent a varied diversity of approaches, forms of expression and media. They offer starting points for visitors to experience, think further and discuss.
According to current planning, "Kunstreichgewächse" will be on view at the Museum Ulm from July 24 - October 17, 2021.
