Nature is often seen as the counterpart to culture, as original and untouched. But this separation has long been too narrow: nature is today observed, measured, used, protected, threatened. And staged. It no longer appears as an immediate given, but rather exists in a state of constant mediation.
This is where the exhibition Constructed Nature begins. The animal depictions by Dana Meyer, Nelly Schmücking and Matthias Garff show the animal not as a mere motif, but as a counterpart. It becomes a mirror of our perception and of our responsibility towards the living.
The exhibition location Bad Ischl reinforces this question. The scenic, idyllic Salzkammergut is at once a natural and cultural space, historically shaped by use, aestheticisation and appropriation, visible for example in the Kaiservilla with its hunting trophies. Nature appears here always also as a designed and interpreted reality.
The three artistic positions make this construction visible in different ways: Meyer's steel sculptures combine hardness with living tension, Schmücking's works condense anatomical precision into an aesthetic "equivalent" of the animal, and Garff creates from found objects fragile, haunting creatures of an environment shaped by humans.
In this way a space emerges in which the relationship between human and animal is renegotiated. Constructed Nature shows: nature is not a counter-world outside of us, but always part of a cultural fabric, and thus also an expression of our responsibility for the world we help shape.
Curated by Sara Tröster Klemm
Exhibition free of charge Entrance to the Kaiserpark is payable
- Exhibition booklet DE
- Exhibition booklet EN
Further Exhibition
In the Marmorschlössl in the Kaiserpark, the exhibition Sommerfrische by Jakob Lena Knebl can also be seen until 31.10.26. The artist transforms the rooms into a surreal parallel universe between fashion, history and mythology. About the exhibition
Constructed Nature
By Sara Tröster Klemm
Ends in 12 days
