1. Ecology

What does “ecology” mean today—and what can it do in the context of art? This exhibition focuses on an expanded understanding of ecology: not just as the study of nature and human-nature relations, but as the practice of careful coexistence—between humans, animals, plants, microorganisms, and objects.

Ecology comes from the Greek oikos, meaning “house” or “household,” and refers to the study of the world. Ecology asks how we live, how we share, care, and take responsibility for our household and the world. In this sense, it is also about a human- and planet-based economy—about how we use resources, how we produce and consume, and how we think about others in more-than-human contexts. This is inspired by feminist thinkers such as Donna Haraway and Lynn Margulis. In short, Margulis describes how evolutionary developments did not arise through competition, but through symbiosis – through cooperation between different organisms. The human body is basically never alone—biologically speaking, our bodies are interdependent with many living beings—one could say that our bodies are part of a metaorganism.

Applied to culture, an “individual” is embedded in a societal network of local relationships and global interconnections. Donna Haraway's concept of NatureCulture therefore breaks with the binary distinction between nature and culture: ecological practice means unlearning this dualism of the clear boundaries between “nature” and “culture.”

The exhibition aims to establish art as this form of ecological practice. It is not just about depicting nature or visualizing the climate crisis, but about experimenting with new forms of coexistence. This also includes how exhibitions are made: with reused materials, longer planning phases, and time-consuming collaborative processes, with responsibility towards what already has been created. In this way, the exhibition itself becomes a dynamic process that changes over time. It is not a finished product, but a space for research, encounter, and reflection—together with artists, scientists, local experts, and anyone who is interested.

2. Artistic research

The exhibition presents art as a form of research—critically observing, questioning, analyzing, and developing new perspectives in order to re-establish a relationship with the world. It is not just about creating “presentable” objects, but about revealing connections that are often overlooked in everyday life.

Artistic research as a practice differs from art-making as a purely personal or internalized expression, as well as from contemplative art that persists in detached observation. It is about an active, engaged, and physical practice. Specific to this project is the focus on evidence-based ecological questions. Artists approach these questions using methods reminiscent of scientific work—observation, experimentation, exchange, and reflection—but they do so with idiosyncratic, fuzzy, transdisciplinary, aesthetical, and publicly effective means specific to art.

This form of artistic research is not neutral. It questions power relations, norms, and systems. It questions who produces knowledge and whose voices are heard. Local perspectives, everyday knowledge, as well as sensory experiences play an important role—not just “hard facts,” but also stories, relationships, and experiences.

Research-based art does not mean that artists act like scientists, but rather that they seek new ways of acquiring and communicating knowledge. The exhibition also invites visitors to think and participate.

3. Situated knowledges

What we know depends on our position, on where we are and how we live. Knowledge is not neutral. It does not arise out of nowhere, but from a specific position, in a specific place, in specific relationships, through specific experiences shaped by class, gender, sex, ethnicity. Every process of knowledge is therefore situated and partial—embedded in social, historical, and physical contexts.

The feminist scholar Donna Haraway speaks of “situated knowledges” and concludes that one must acknowledge one's own position in order to take full responsibility. Situated knowledge for an exhibition also means taking responsibility for what one shows and how one shows it. In art, as in science, this is an act of attention, criticality, and openness to other perspectives.

It is important not to confuse neutrality with objectivity. Neutrality means not taking a stance—a position that pretends to stand outside of things. But that is precisely what is not possible. Objectivity, on the other hand—in the scientific sense—is the attempt to methodically investigate a set of facts and present them in a way that is as comprehensible and verifiable as possible. Reproducibility, transparency, and transferability play an important role in this. Situated knowledge can therefore also be objective—but it is aware of its own conditions—a “situated objectivity.”

The artistic practice in this project is also situated: it responds to concrete conditions, to people, spaces, materials. It observes, inquires, makes visible—without generalizing. This gives rise to new forms of knowledge that lie between everyday life, research, and art.

4. Translocality

In a globalized world, we are constantly connected to other places, people, products, and things. These entanglements are mostly unevenly distributed—sometimes exploitative—and shaped by power relations. This exhibition understands translocality as a practice of mindful exchange between different contexts.

Translocal work does not mean being everywhere at once, but rather looking closely at what applies where—and what does not. It means not relying on supposed “global” truths, but taking differences and translation processes seriously. It is about connections, but without homogenization.

For this exhibition, this means that we take the perspectives, places, and experiences from which knowledge arises seriously. We listen to stories, experiences, and practices that have developed here with local experts in rural northern Germany. And we connect them with other perspectives: from art, science, other regions, and other cultures.

This creates an exchange based on reciprocity. It is not about “applying” knowledge or transferring it from one place to another, but about acknowledging differences and carefully shaping relationships. This translocal perspective means that we cannot make quick comparisons, but rather attentive ones. We take shifts seriously and pay attention to where similarities hold true—and where they do not.

At the same time, identity is not treated as a fixed category in this project. Rather, we ask: Who is speaking from where? For whom? And with whom? This also applies to current discussions about identity politics. It is not about rejecting identity—it is important and often the basis for legitimate demands. But when it becomes rigid, there is a danger that solidarity-based engagement will turn into exclusionary politics.

Translocal work means enduring these tensions. It is about finding common ground without obscuring differences. It means engaging with contexts that are foreign to you—and constantly rethinking your own position.

In this sense, translocality is an open movement between places. It is neither global nor local, but something in between: a network of relationships, consisting of many voices—and a willingness to listen.

5. Participatory Exhibitionary Practices

An exhibition is not just a place where art objects are displayed and mediated. It can also be a space where knowledge is created—collectively, openly, in a process. This project understands the exhibition not as a finished product, but as an evolving constellation and exhibition-making as (collective) knowledge production.

The exhibition grows over the course of the year, with each season, with each assembly. It incorporates new works, documents shared processes, and integrates traces of encounters—whether in workshops, conversations, performances, or while cooking. What is shown is not fixed. Rather, an open form emerges which changes with practice.

At the same time, the exhibition does not stand alone. It is part of a social process, which is geared towards exchange. A rtworks do not stand isolated in space, but in relation to people, materials, and situations. Visitors are not only spectators, but often also participants—through discussion formats, through participation, through joint action s .

The way the exhibition is designed also follows this approach: many elements are made of recycled materials, they are mobile, can be moved, adapted, and rearranged. Instead of smooth surfaces, there are signs of wear and tear. This aesthetic decisions are not accidental—it follows a principle of sustainability, of conscious use of resources. This production process itself becomes part of the curatorial practice for the exhibition.

The exhibition becomes a contact zone where knowledge, everyday life, and artistic practices meet. Here, it is not just a matter of representation, but of thinking and acting together—in a form that constantly questions itself.

In this context, participation does not simply mean “joining in ”. It also encompasses the recognition of other forms of knowledge, perspectives, and bodies. It makes the exhibition a place where artistic research, local expertise, and social issues meet on an equal footing.