Press release
ROOTED AND BRANCHED
MAIN SPACE | May, 4 to August 8, 2025

How deeply rooted are we humans—in our circle of family and friends, in our society, our respective culture, our environment? And how do these networks influence the way we think, act and live together? The ROOTED AND BRANCHED exhibition brings together selected artistic positions that deal with the multi-layered interconnections of life. It shows how social, ecological and cultural structures are interwoven and makes these complex processes visually tangible.

Nature as a metaphor for human networks
Roots anchor a tree firmly in the ground, give it stability and supply it with vital nutrients, tree crowns spread out in diverse structures of branches and twigs that illustrate dynamic growth, spreading and networking processes. Plant root systems store and share information and can therefore serve as a metaphor for the widely ramified networks of our existence. Our life paths, thought systems, social processes and cultural meanings are also closely interwoven—a multi-layered network that the participating artists take up and interpret in their works. In doing so, they combine organic structures with social processes in a variety of ways.

Mechanisms of growth, networking and rootedness
The exhibition shows contemporary artistic positions that deal with the mechanisms of growth, networking and rootedness. The artists use a wide variety of media and processes: Installations, sculptures, photography or painting. Some make direct use of natural materials, others are inspired by plant structures. Both the fragility of humans and their environment and their strong dependence on and rootedness in nature become clearly visible. The exhibition also invites visitors to become aware of the now immense influence of humans on ecological processes and their consequences.

Artists
Olga Grotova, Karoline Hjorth & Riitta Ikonen, Krištof Kintera, Jenny Michel, Diana Scherer, Doug & Mike Starn

Mediation as an integral part
A central component of the exhibition is the education and mediation area. Interactive offers for school classes, young people and adults are created in close connection with the scenography of the show. These enable an autonomous or accompanied examination of the artistic positions and invite a dialog about one's own experiences with networking and rootedness.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalog in German, English and Dutch with additional essays and documented works.