This exhibition took place as part of the DESERTIFICATION project in cooperation with KUNSTVEREIN NEUHAUSEN and was part of a further collaboration with Offspace kunst [ ] klima and the Art, Science and Business Programme of Akademie Schloss Solitude.
A touch, unexpected, unplanned, a shock, a beating heart. In the exhibition of her work Sprawl Here, Stephanie Bothe is interested in the question of whether humans are part of nature (monism, e.g. Guattari: humans are “in” and “of” nature) or outside of nature (dualism, e.g. Marx’s metabolic theory – humans change nature through work, nature changes humans). Is art part of nature or not?
She is concerned with the increasing alienation from nature, the fear of losing control over nature (e.g. when swimming in a lake or reading reports on climate change). Is alienation just a phenomenon of industrialization or also self-protection? In view of the human vulner-
ability in comparison with non-human actors (bacteria, viruses, poisonous spiders, sharp teeth of wild animals, etc.), humans are longing for their agency: Houses, cities, safety precautions that protect us from contact with the other. Have we gone too far in avoiding these touches?
The video performance shows a human body touching a water plant. The audio is based, among other things, on formulations taken from around 30 articles in the German daily press on the occurrence of hornworts in lakes. Who shapes our aesthetic perception (Is a water plant beautiful or not?) and our reaction (Should I protect myself from touching a water plant?)?
@stephanie.bothe
With the kind support of Projektraum kunst [ ] klima, Akademie Schloss Solitude, KUNSTVEREIN NEUHAUSEN, Rosspartner Werbetechnik, Ritter Sport, GEISTUNDGELD e.V., SV SparkassenVersicherung, Wüstenrot Stiftung and Kulturamt Stuttgart