Elemental forces that enable or destroy life? Undeveloped land, cornfields, a seemingly endless reservoir of raw materials? Areas left to themselves in cities or at the edge of airports? A warbling lark above colorful meadows or genetically modified organisms? The attempt to find an answer tends to raise new questions. Only one thing seems certain: when we talk about nature, we are always talking about man's relationship to the world. So the question: "What is nature?" requires above all a confrontation with ourselves - with our ideas of beauty, vitality and utility, with our values and the conditions that make a good life possible for human and non-human beings.
Ecological crises as a result of climate change or the greatly accelerated extinction of plant and animal species clearly show that humans are part of structures, significantly shape them, but also depend on them. How do we understand our role, which connections are we still unaware of and which do we ignore?
With works of art and objects from the natural sciences and cultural history, the exhibition invites us to question our assumptions about nature. It explores the connections between plants, animals, culture, technology, humans and microbes - and attempts to open up new perspectives on the world around us.
With works by Andrea Bowers, Bruce Conner, Andy Goldsworthy, Sarah Illenberger, Bertram Kober, François-Joseph Lapointe, Klaus Modick, objects & greens, Roman Schramm, Katharina Sieverding, Superflux, Sissel Tolaas and objects, images and films from the sciences and cultural history.
Curated by Kathrin Meyer and Ina Fuchs
Exhibition design: Funkelbach. Office for architecture and graphic design
The Museum Sinclair-Haus is part of the Art and Nature Foundation, which offers spaces for the interdisciplinary exploration of art and nature in Bad Homburg and Nantesbuch (Upper Bavaria). The foundation's annual theme for 2020 is "Determination". Through linguistic and spatial definitions, humans organize the infinite variety of phenomena for themselves - including as "nature". The exhibition "What is nature?" examines what these definitions express about man's relationship to the world.
Saturday, 9/13/20 -
Starts at 00:00 Uhr
to Saturday, 8/22/21 -
Ends at 00:00 Uhr
The Sinclair House is a museum of contemporary art featuring a lively, constantly changing series of art exhibitions. The focus of every exhibition is on nature. The art shows are usually accompanied by a comprehensive programme of music, literature, science and art. Additional focus is placed on the conveyance of art in general. The museum's own art studio has a diversified offer range for adults and educators, including holiday courses, workshops and evening classes. The Sinclair-House Museum is sponsored by the Nantesbuch Foundation. The museum building was originally erected in 1708 as a private residence for Elias Neuhof (1724–1799), the senior civil servant of the Hessen-Homburg family. In 1978, the building was very close to being demolished. On the initiative of the famous German entrepreneur, Herbert Quandt, it was acquired byAltana AG, restored and named after Isaac von Sinclair (1775–1815), the Bad Homburg diplomat and writer.
