Fabian Knecht
Mythos Wald
Kunsthalle Emde
Emden, Germany
Jun 25 – Oct 31, 2022

Few places are entwined with as many myths and stories as the forest. In Germany in particular, the forest is a highly charged carrier of meaning, and since the Romantic period at the latest, it has been transfigured into a German national myth. At the same time, the forest is a central ecosystem whose vulnerability people have become deeply aware of since the great forest dieback in the 1980s. As a symbol of climate change and its ecological consequences, it is now more than ever a political issue. This existential attachment to the forest with the forest is also reflected in art. Whether mysterious and dark or peaceful and energising, forests and trees have been and still are central motifs in art history.

The exhibition spans the time from around 1900 to the present day. The tour takes in the different subjective references and opens up sensual-associative experiences. Aspects such as the symbolic power of the tree, the artistic examination of the seasons, or the forest as a projection surface for states of mind crystallise here. Recent works in particular address deforestation and the exploitation of forests as well as the consequences of climate change and natural disasters.

The exhibition shows around 75 works by over 40 artists, including David Claerbout, Lovis Corinth, Peter Doig, Anna Gaskell, Katharina Grosse, Alex Katz, Per Kirkeby, Fabian Knecht, Robert Longo, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Otto Mueller, Andreas Mühe, Gabriele Münter, Mariele Neudecker, Hans Op de Beeck, Giuseppe Penone, Christian Rohlfs, Michael Sailstorfer, Oskar Schlemmer.