Between the Trees
Urban Green – Art – Design
Museum für Angewandte Kunst Köln (MAKK)
3 February – 16 April 2023
The exhibition “Between the Trees. Urban Green – Art – Design” at the Museum für Angewandte Kunst Köln (MAKK) focuses on the tree. The tree has a fundamental significance for urban space and greenery in the city. In the same way, however, the tree also serves as a source of inspiration and material for design and art. “Between the Trees” brings these aspects together and conveys an awareness of the essential significance of trees as a form of life and for life on earth, using a total of 19 positions by international designers and artists as examples. The tree is representative of the richness of nature. The selected projects and works present the tree as a material, functional and aesthetic inspiration. Considered are positions from the fields of conceptual design, industrial design, arts and crafts and free art. Thematically, the projects address issues of climate change, material use, bionics, domestication of nature and urban planning.
The installation “FOR FOREST – The Unending Attraction of Nature” by Klaus Littmann documents the temporary art intervention using film, model, and large-format photo light box, which was realized in 2019 on the playing field of the Wörthersee football stadium in Klagenfurt.
Artists/Works: Andreas Greiner: Exit Strategy, 2022 / Anna Koppmann: Frischholz, 2021 / Atelier NL: Wildhout – Village, 2019 / Dan Hoopert: Audio Synthesis: What Does a Tree Sound Like?, 2022 / ecoLogicStudio: HORTUS ZKM SuperTree, 2018 / Ellen Bornkessel: Embassy of Trees, 2018/2023 / FormaFantasma: BEKVÄM, 2020 und Quercus, 2020 / Lanius: Sneaker, 2023 / Giuseppe Licari, Politics of Care, 2022 / Jasper Morrison: Cork Family, 2004 und Corks, 2019 / Johanna Seelemann: Oase, 2023 / Klára Šumová: k.A., 2023 / Klaus Littmann: For Forest – The Undending Attraction of Nature, 2019 / Konstantin Grcic: Medici, 2013 / Melissa Acker: LEAFovers, 2022 / Pierre Ramaekers: E411 Serie, 2021 / Raumlabor Berlin: House of Time – Baumhaus, 2018 / Robert Voit: New Trees, seit 2003 / Solar Visuals: Solarpaneele Maple Leafs, 2018/2023
The exhibition will be opened on Thursday, February 2, 2023, at 7 p.m. by Mayor Dr. Ralph Elster and with an expert talk by Stefan Charles, alderman for arts and culture.
