To See a World in a Grain of Sand at Kunstverein Assenheim

Artists: Felix (X) Breidenbach, Özlem Günyol & Mustafa Kunt, Anne Imhof, Tina Kohlmann, Maria Loboda, Inge Rambow, Raul Walch

Exhibition title: To See a World in a Grain of Sand

Curated by: Sylvia Metz and Christin Müller

Venue: Kunstverein Assenheim, Niddatal, Germany

Date: May 7 – June 4, 2023

Photography: all works courtesy the artists, Images by Jens Gerber, © Hessische Kulturstiftung

To See a World in a Grain of Sand is the second exhibition with which the Hessische Hessische Kulturstiftung is celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of its grant programme for visual artists. The exhibition at the Kunstverein zu Assenheim focuses on humanity’s approach to nature and its resources, climate change, and various forms of sustainability. On display are works by Felix (X) Breidenbach, Özlem Günyol & Mustafa Kunt, Anne Imhof, Tina Kohlmann, Maria Loboda, Inge Rambow, and Raul Walch.

The topic has grown directly out of the scholarship programme: an increasing number of artists are wishing for a more sustainable type of travel and have become aware of their own ecological footprint. Some of them are pondering whether travel can still be justified at all— and if so, how. In their artist practices, they are questioning the sustainability of their own art production and the art market system, while at the same time addressing a mindful use of natural resources.

Others of the former fellows of the studio and travel fellowship programme from different years presented here reflect in their works on topics ranging from philosophical questions about the concept of nature, to working with found materials from nature, to climate change and the destruction of nature.

They relate to a more climate-friendly extraction of resources, the extinction of endangered plants, and man’s perpetual attempt to gain power and control over an invincible nature. In times of an impending climate crisis, the topic seems more critical and relevant than ever. Yet people in previous centuries have most certainly already reflected on their interaction with nature, and not just in terms of landscape painting.

In the poem Auguries of Innocence (written around 1803 and published in 1863), the English poet, painter, and nature mystic William Blake (1757–1825) emphasises how important it is to recognise the beauty of even the most insignificant aspects surrounding us and not to interfere with the balance of life and the cycle of nature. At the same time, the poem is a lively socio-political critique of the society of that age. With the poem and the line To See a World in a Grain of Sand, which comes from it, Blake advocates seeing the big in the small and a[emp-ng to consider metaphysical concepts which man cannot grasp. It is therefore only through viewing the world from a micro perspective that one can understand it, if at all. This exhibition follows such an approach.

Located in the centre of the rural We[erau region, the historical rooms of the late Baroque Assenheim castle contain their own collection of arts and crafts, pain-ngs, and an-que interiors. Exhibiting the works of the ar-sts in such a multi-faceted context creates exciting juxtapositions and interactions.

Raul Walch, Perpetuum Mobile (Rabbit), 2023, Screen-printed fabric, aluminum, brass, wire, acrylic paint, pyrite, silicon, chalcopyrite, 400 x 400 x 200 cm, installation view Kunstverein zu Assenheim, 2023, Courtesy the artist and Galerie EIGEN + ART, Leipzig/Berlin, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

Raul Walch, Die Feinen Unterschiede, 2021, textile, thread, cord, metal, paper, carbon, concrete, 400 x 400 x 200 cm, installation view Kunstverein zu Assenheim, 2023, Courtesy the artist and Galerie EIGEN + ART, Leipzig/Berlin, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

Anne Imhof, Untitled (Wave), 2021, video, colour, sound, 30 min 19 s, featuring Eliza Douglas, directed by Jean-René Étienne and Lola Raban-Oliva, music by Eliza Douglas, installation view Kunstverein zu Assenheim, 2023, Courtesy of the artist, Galerie Buchholz and Sprüth Magers, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

Anne Imhof, Untitled (Wave), 2021, video, colour, sound, 30 min 19 s, featuring Eliza Douglas, directed by Jean-René Étienne and Lola Raban-Oliva, music by Eliza Douglas, installation view Kunstverein zu Assenheim, 2023, Courtesy of the artist, Galerie Buchholz and Sprüth Magers, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

Özlem Günyol & Mustafa Kunt, Not Yet a Still Life (Europe), 2021-2023, oil on canvas, 100 x 125 cm, installation view Kunstverein zu Assenheim, 2023, Courtesy of the artists and Dirimart Gallery, Istanbul, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

Özlem Günyol & Mustafa Kunt, Not Yet a Still Life (Europe), 2021-2023, oil on canvas, 100 x 125 cm, installation view Kunstverein zu Assenheim, 2023, Courtesy of the artists and Dirimart Gallery, Istanbul, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

Maria Loboda, to be looked at with the sound of ofege it´s not easy (left), to be looked at with the sound of ray lynch the oh of pleasure (right), 2021, installation view Kunstverein zu Assenheim, 2023, Courtesy Maria Loboda and Galerie Thomas Schulte, Berlin, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

Maria Loboda, to be looked at with the sound of ofege it´s not easy, 2021, pigment print, 18 x 24 cm, gerahmt: 40 x 46 x 3,5 cm, installation view Kunstverein zu Assenheim, 2023, Courtesy Maria Loboda and Galerie Thomas Schulte, Berlin, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

Maria Loboda, to be looked at with the sound of ray lynch the oh of pleasure, 2021, pigment print, 18 x 24 cm, framed: 40 x 46 x 3,5 cm, installation view Kunstverein zu Assenheim, 2023, Courtesy Maria Loboda and Galerie Thomas Schulte, Berlin, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

Maria Loboda, The Arboriculturalists, 2021, mixed media, styrofoam, sand, resin, dimensions variable, installation view Kunstverein zu Assenheim, 2023, Courtesy Maria Loboda and Galerie Thomas Schulte, Berlin, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

Felix Breidenbach, Meditations on entropy (entropic painting no. 11) (left), Untitled (Lab) (right), 2021 and 2018, installation view Kunstverein zu Assenheim, 2023, Courtesy the artist, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

Felix Breidenbach, Untitled (Lab), 2018, flower, plastic foil, book page, 21 x 29,5 cm, installation view Kunstverein zu Assenheim, 2023, Courtesy the artist, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

Felix Breidenbach, Meditations on Entropy (entropic painting no. 22), 2023, various materials on handmade recycling paper, 200 x 340 cm, installation view Kunstverein zu Assenheim, 2023, Courtesy the artist, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

Installation view, Tina Kohlmann, Kunstverein zu Assenheim, 2023, Courtesy the artist and PPC Philipp Pflug Contemporary, Frankfurt am Main, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

Tina Kohlmann, Tupilaq Obcy, 2014, reindeer Antlers, silk embroidery, 15-25 cm, installation view Kunstverein zu Assenheim, 2023, Courtesy the artist and PPC Philipp Pflug Contemporary, Frankfurt am Main, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

Tina Kohlmann, There’s a new gang in town, 2017, Stone, Slag, metal, rock crystal, hot-melt adhesive, 13 x 8 cm, installation view Kunstverein zu Assenheim, 2023, Courtesy the artist and PPC Philipp Pflug Contemporary, Frankfurt am Main, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

Tina Kohlmann, Oomancy, 2017, Scrimshaw on ostrich egg, ink, phosphorescent paint, clay, hot melt adhesive, 20 x 15,5 x 15 cm, installation view Kunstverein zu Assenheim, 2023, Courtesy the artist and PPC Philipp Pflug Contemporary, Frankfurt am Main, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

Tina Kohlmann, Eternia, 2017, scrimshaw on nautilus case, ink, 11 x 15 x 8 cm, installation view Kunstverein zu Assenheim, 2023, Courtesy the artist and PPC Philipp Pflug Contemporary, Frankfurt am Main, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

Tina Kohlmann, Cooper, 2015, volcanic rock, copper sulphate, plastic, hot-melt glue, 14,5 x 20 x 12,5 cm, installation view Kunstverein zu Assenheim, 2023, Courtesy the artist and PPC Philipp Pflug Contemporary, Frankfurt am Main, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

Tina Kohlmann, Aeaea, 2022, agate, malachite, synthetic hair, epoxy resin, 55 x 20 x 7 cm, installation view Kunstverein zu Assenheim, 2023, Courtesy the artist and PPC Philipp Pflug Contemporary, Frankfurt am Main, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber