Landscapes of Loss

Opening  

Landscapes of Loss

Landscapes of Loss at Berlin’s Ministry of Environment is the exhibition for the UN Conference on Climate Change, COP23, bringing together ten international artists with strong links to Berlin, who, each in their own way, address mankind’s role in relation to the environment. Through video, photography, and sculpture, this exhibition is designed as an antidote to the hyper-immediacy of the lives we live.
We highly recommend this one for obvious reasons!

Janet-Laurence-DEEP-BREATHING-Resuscitation-for-the-Reef-Part-1

Janet Laurence DEEP BREATHING Resuscitation for the Reef

In this age of instant gratification, we need to re-learn how to think in the long-term in order to implement the changes now which will heal our planet in the future. Landscapes of Loss asks us to stop and take the time to immerse ourselves in our planet at its most fragile, to abandon the urgency of the now and reconnect with the rhythms and needs of the natural world, from the Arctic tundra of Siberia, to the deserts of the Middle East, and the jungles and seas of the Antipodes.

Andreas Blank - Landscape Metaphor

Andreas Blank – Landscape Metaphor

Erwin Wurm - Leopoldstadt, 2004 (07)_small

Erwin Wurm – Leopoldstadt, 2004

From endangered species to the deterioration of the Great Barrier Reef, Australian artist Janet Laurence confronts us with the beauty and loneliness of creatures that could soon be the last of their kind. With the works of German sculptors Andreas Blank and Stefan Rinck, we turn from the ephemeral landscape and its vanishing creatures to the solid permanence of stone; a material reflecting the very substance of time, in its strata are recorded the ages of the planet.

Berlin-based Israeli artist Reifenberg addresses the detritus polluting our environment by working with plastic bags recycled into art. Italian artist Stefano Cagol and Japanese artist Shingo Yoshida each ventured on long journeys into the Arctic to record mankind’s impact upon nature at its most extreme, and at its most threatened from the impacts of climate change. From the frozen north to the burning sands of Israel’s Negev Desert, Turkish/German artist Nezaket Ekici together with Israeli artist Shahar Marcus create human sand-clocks measuring how quickly time is running out to find solutions for political and environmental stability.

Stefan-Rinck-Gibbons-dont-Have-Good-Press_1-768x576

Stefan Rinck Gibbons dont Have Good Press

While in Jordan’s Wadi Rum Desert, Korean/American artist Miru Kim positions the fragility of her own body within the drama of the natural landscape. And Austrian artist Erwin Wurm brings us back into the urban landscape; an environment changing as rapidly as our natural one. In confronting our place in the landscape, these works together cast a hope that humanity will find a way to fit into all the world’s landscapes, however fragile the balance.

Stefano-Cagol-Evoke-Provoke_2

Stefano Cagol Evoke Provoke

Landscapes of Loss

The Exhibition for the UN Conference on Climate Change Conference, COP23
3 – 5 November 2017 16.00 – 20.00

@The Ministry of Environment | Stresemannstraße 128-130, 10117 Berlin

Artists
Andreas Blank, Stefano Cagol, Miru Kim, Nezaket Ekici & Shahar Marcus, Janet Laurence, Reifenberg, Stefan Rinck, Erwin Wurm, Shingo Yoshida

Curated by Constanze Kleiner & Rachel Rits-Volloch

Authors: Constanze Kleiner and Rachel Rits-Volloch