Theatrum Naturae – The Stage of Life

Theatrum Naturae focuses on nature's quiet yet grand spectacles, paying attention to the movements that often go unnoticed and the processes that unfold at a pace beyond our own. Since time immemorial, nature’s forms, colours and rhythms have shaped art, not merely as motifs, but as a living source of inspiration for perception, materials and ideas.

The beauty of art and nature has the power to turn us into awestruck observers. We stand spellbound before the delicate grace of a landscape, an organic form or the fascinating manifestations of flora and fauna. Beauty is not only revealed in the natural world, but also in art's creative power to make universal human experiences visible and sensually tangible, and to offer us a glimpse of something timeless and unifying.

The exhibition presents art and nature not as opposites, but as interacting forces. This broadens our perspective, giving rise to new insights. In today's world, nature and culture are increasingly found in hybrid configurations, forming part of a complex web of interdependent relationships and influences. The conceptual foundations of many contemporary art forms are closely interwoven with questions of ecology, materiality and ways of life. Consequently, nature, civilisation, and culture can be understood less as distinct entities and more as interconnected systems. Their boundaries have become porous. The philosopher Bruno Latour has therefore proposed replacing the concept of 'nature' with the term 'nature/culture'.

While nature often appears spontaneous, primal and perfect, art is an expression of reflection, technique and creative intent. In contemporary art, however, nature is increasingly portrayed not merely as an object to be depicted, but as a co-creator, evident in changing structures, processes of growth and decay, and the interplay of light, movement, and time. The works on display explore these qualities, translating them into various artistic languages.

Human beings are part of nature themselves. Since ancient times, nature has been regarded as a teacher whose laws have been studied and interpreted. Theatrum Naturae explores how contemporary art gives rise to new ways of perceiving nature, all the while engaging with ecological, scientific and social issues. It is only when we recognise that the Earth is a fundamental condition of human life, yet at the same time a system that owes nothing to humanity, that we can grasp the profound relationship between nature and culture in its full scope.

Exhibiting artists: Karoline Gacke, Hanna Battisti, Hans Finezza, Julia Bornefeld, Kristina Weiss and Egon Digon

Karoline Gacke
Karoline Gacke’s works are not representations of an external reality, but expressions of what can be perceived and felt through the passage of time. Her painting does not follow a predetermined or meticulously planned design. Instead, each work begins with an impulse, a vague inner vision. During the creative process, the images gradually emerge before her eyes — gesture by gesture — guided by something difficult to define: the unconscious, an inner voice, or instinct.

Hanna Battisti
Through her artistic photography, Hanna Battisti expands the exhibition with a reflection on both the beauty and fragility of nature. At the center of her work is the diversity of animal and plant life within their respective habitats. For the artist, portraying nature means capturing the emotions that arise through encounters with the non-human world. Her works create meditative moments and pay tribute to the complexity and autonomy of the natural environment.

Hans Finezza
Hans Finezza’s works open up new perspectives on landscape and perception by presenting the same subject from different viewpoints. This creates a sense of estrangement that challenges traditional conventions of classical landscape representation. His works invite viewers not only to observe these vibrant and complex ecosystems, but also to immerse themselves within them. The resulting disorientation becomes a metaphorical invitation to sharpen one’s gaze toward the unknown and to adopt a conscious position.

Kristina Weiss
Kristina Weiss tells unspoken stories and creates imaginary places. Within her compositions, the visible and the invisible, presence and absence, density and emptiness encounter one another. Her delicate brushstrokes develop into organic, almost cavernous structures with their own rhythm and vitality. Seen from a distance, the narrow layers and pathways of her works appear paradoxical and ambiguous. Her visual worlds do not follow a singular narrative; their allegories remain fragmentary and open-ended. They seem to complement one another — never complete, always searching for a counterpart.

Julia Bornefeld

Bornefeld approaches the theme of the “natural” through intense visual impressions and multilayered imagery. With a tone that is both ironic and subtly bitter, she connects these elements to contemporary social issues, drawing attention to a tension that is highly relevant today. At the center of her work lies the relationship to “natural nature” — the attempt to grasp it through imagination and to impose an order upon the diverse forms of biological life. At the same time, the artist consciously and provocatively undermines this approach: by constructing entirely artificial scenarios and working with new technological materials, she points to the para-natural environments that increasingly shape our everyday lives. Her works thus exist within a field of tension between nature, artificiality, and social reality.

Egon Digon

Egon’s assemblages exist within the tension between organic growth and constructed order. By combining finely crafted wooden sculptures with architectural fragments and industrial remnants, he creates works in which the relationship between nature and culture is renegotiated. Nature appears not as a romantic counterpoint to civilization, but as an autonomous force that permeates and transforms existing structures.

Flowers, tendrils, and vegetal forms unfold within technical frameworks and architectural remains. Through this interplay of decay and renewal, the works explore both the persistence of natural growth processes and the fragility of human constructions. In doing so, they reveal the coexistence of impermanence and endurance, resistance and transformation.