GROUP SHOW WITH SVEN DRÜHL
ON LANDSCAPE: BETWEEN ESCAPISM AND DISENCHANTMENT

HAUS AM LÜTZOWPLATZ, BERLIN, GERMANY
10 SEPTEMBER 2026 – 3 JANUARY 2027

BERLIN ART WEEK OPENING
9 SEPTEMBER 2026 | 7 PM

The exhibition ON LANDSCAPE: BETWEEN ESCAPISM AND DISENCHANTMENT brings together international artists who renegotiate the theme of landscape within the context of ecological, technological, and societal questions. The focus centers on two key forces: first, the overexertion of the planet and its human transformation—as captured by the concept of the Anthropocene—and second, the growing power of the digital, accelerated by artificial intelligence, which increasingly permeates both daily life and artistic practices.

As an artistic subject, nature has never been a neutral image. Ever since landscape painting emerged as an independent genre in the 14th century, it has been a cultural construct. Whether viewed as an idealized idyll, untouched wilderness, or an economic and cultural space, landscape has always served as a canvas for projection. This appropriation reached its peak in 19th-century Romanticism, which elevated nature to a quasi-religious status through the concept of the Sublime. It is against this backdrop that today's perspective is measured.

How do contemporary artists view nature while fully aware of climate change, resource depletion, pollution, and unchecked growth mindsets? Landscapes can serve as testimonies of ecological guilt in the so-called "Age of Man"—and simultaneously as refuges for the longing for a better world. Humanity has shaped, exploited, and destroyed nature, yet still seeks redemption within it. We dream of an Arcadia that never existed, and of a Paradise that always implied cultivated gardens, never virgin forests. Still, artists continue to set off for the poles and the rainforest in search of a post-human experience.

So what happens when landscape itself becomes artificial? When it consists of algorithms, data, and AI-generated simulations? The exhibition questions whether such synthetic landscapes merely reflect our alienation or if they hold utopian potential. On Landscape strictly focuses on the genre of landscape itself, presenting it across various media—from painting, photography, and video to wall objects and sculpture.

Curated by Marc Wellmann and Asja Wolf.