‘menacing nature’
And the Human-Nature Relationship
A selection of works from recent years on nature, people, and how they get along with each other. A selection of questions and thoughts about my current and future project, “Menacing Nature”.
“Nr. 105” (2017) Environment (Detail)
“Trees” (2023) Objects / Installation
How do environmental crises …
… influence our self-image and our relationship to the world around us? How do they shape our individual and collective identity? The combination of ‘environment’ and ‘fear’ raises a number of interesting questions. On a very basic level, they touch on the relationship between nature and humans and question the power relations inscribed in it.
“Nr. 105” (2017) Environment (Detail)
one of my early works …
… is an abandoned allotment plot which becomes a playing field and projection surface for the cipher of nature: survival and adventure versus decoration, the search for meaning and magic versus exoticism and luxury. Between the garden fence and the edge of the lawn, NR.105 questions existing boundary lines, dissects the components of the garden and refers to the immediate surroundings of the allotment garden site — as in the colour concept anthracite/pink/gold (cf. black/red/gold). A walk-in experimental arrangement on demarcation, categorisation and attribution.
“Nr. 105” (2017) Environment (Detail)
“Nr. 105” (2017) Environment / Course (Detail)
“A Nocturnal Patient” (2024) Spatial Installation (detail)
In my works …
… I pursue an improvised and fragile aesthetic that consciously stages tragicomic elements of the imperfect. With this way of working, I refer to children’s play and its own logic, according to which every object is fundamentally interesting and can be transformed into something new in the next moment.
“A Nocturnal Patient” (2024) Spatial Installation (detail)
“A Nocturnal Patient” (2024) Spatial Installation (5 x 4 x 3 m)
“Copyshop” (2019) Spatial Installation (detail)
… is currently not included in the official diagnostic nomenclature and is not a recognised medical diagnosis. Nevertheless, it is an expression of the increasing emotional stress that many people feel in the face of the ecological crisis.
The term draws attention to the psychological effects of climate change, which often disappear behind the economic consequences or are regarded as secondary. It raises questions about environmental policy, activism and intergenerational conflict, as well as the significance of psychological diagnostics and the history of contemporary illnesses.
“I HEART NATURE” Book (2022) drawings + text
“The Virus” (2020) Video
“The Virus” (2020) Video
“Take Care of your hands” (2020) Video
“Take Care of your hands” (2020) Video
… I started to implement simple puppets and figures in my work. I see them as an aesthetic expression of my early socialisation in West Germany in the 1980s. Puppets taught me to read and write, and puppets explained the world to me. As a medium in my artistic work, they are orientated towards the childlike inner part that every person carries within them. They are connected to the world of emotions and the uncontrollable aspects of the psyche.
“weary Chromosomes” (2024) Soft sculptures (7‑piece, body-size)
(See two selected works in detail in the following links)
… is a broad field that I want to explore over the next few years and pursue several (intermedial) artistic goals. One of them can be imagined as a kind of Dadaist ‘Sesame Street’ for adults, with short episodes that deal with the themes of ‘Menacing Nature’ and ‘Eco Anxiety’ in an experimental and playful way.
