Observing beast, Time, Evolution – Art and Science

OBSERVING BEAST, TIME, EVOLUTION
September 7 to November 2, 2008

Opening September 7, 11 am

Kunstverein Hildesheim
http://www.kunstverein-hildesheim.de

Roemer-und Pelizaeus- Museum
http://www.rpmuseum.de

A joint project of the Kunstverein Hildesheim and the Roemer- und Pelizaeus- Museum Hildesheim

Mark Dion, Frank Hesse, Katie Holten, Sanna Kannisto, Ursula Hansbauer & Wolfgang Konrad, Künstlerkollektiv finger, Jochen Lempert, Ariane Michel, Helen Mirra, Jürgen Stollhans & Federico Geller, Susan Turcot, Lois & Franziska Weinberger

What is life? How long will our fossil resources last? What is time? Who is responsible for climate change? Are we permitted to intervene in evolution?

Questions concerning genetic research, natural catastrophes, and species extinction were fields long reserved for the natural sciences. They are now also dealt with on a political and economic level. After the most recent UN Climate Report their brisance can be brought to a head in the question: Can the Earth be saved?

Against this very current backdrop, the Kunstverein in cooperation with the Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum Hildesheim has invited over a dozen contemporary artists to position their works. The show taking place simultaneously in both houses and integrates the museum’s paleontological collection.

The participating artists have worked for many years in the context of the natural sciences, research, and ecology. For the Hildesheim exhibition they have taken up topics from the museum’s geological collection and employed scientific methodology for their own fictional documentations. They slip into the role of amateur scientists setting up beehives, baiting birds of paradise, or collecting gene data. They undertake expeditions to the edges of the earth with the verve of an explorer or archive weeds, inspects, and trees in the urban space.

As the exhibition title suggests, they observe animals, reflect on the passage of time, and devote themselves to subtle changes in our environment.

Curated by Elke Falat and Sabine Mila Kunz

The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalog, 128 pages, color, German/English

Ariane Michel, « Sur la Terre », video still, 2005.

Exhibition venues:

Kunstverein Hildesheim
Kehrwieder 2
31134 Hildesheim
Wednesday to Saturday 3–6 p.m.
Sunday 11– 6 p.m.
http://www.kunstverein-hildesheim.de

Roemer-und Pelizaeus- Museum
Am Steine 1-2
31134 Hildesheim
Tuesday to Sunday 10– 6 p.m.
http://www.rpmuseum.de

The exhibition is supported by funds from the State of Lower Saxony, the Niedersächsische Sparkassenstiftung, the Sparkasse Hildesheim and the Friedrich Weinhagen Stiftung.

Contact:
Elke Falat
Kunstverein Hildesheim
kontakt@kunstverein-hildesheim.de