human BEING | being HUMAN

human BEING | 23.09.17 - 16.11.17 Kunstraum Foth

Barbarastr.4, 79106 Freiburg

being HUMAN | 21.09.2017 - 17.10.2017 Goethe-Institut Freiburg

Wilhelmstr. 17, 79098 Freiburg

As part of the exhibition, there will be a discussion on “Aesthetics and Ethics in the Age of the Anthropocene”. On 12.10. at 19.00, Goethe-Institut Freiburg. The Freiburg physicist Otto Wöhrbach, the director of the Freiburg Museum of Contemporary Art, Christine Litz, the theologian Markus Aronica, the artist Jochen Kitzbihler and the audience will take part in the discussion.

''Our idea of nature is outdated. Man shapes the earth. This is the core of the Anthropocene thesis, which heralds a paradigm shift not only in the natural sciences, but also in culture, politics and everyday life. The parallel exhibition human BEING / being HUMAN by conceptual sculptor Jochen Kitzbihler poses the question of the origin and longing of the human species in the context of this transformation process. Does our striving for development and expansion still stem from a “natural” curiosity and is it part of our cultural self-determination or has it long been a matter of hubris? In his works, the artist counters man's advance into the depths of the earth and the cosmos with sensuality and contemplation. “In the two complementary exhibitions, I use the means of art to explore the state of mind, the fragile existence of man and at the same time that of art itself."‘’

The central installation in the partially darkened Foth art space is “Rare Earth”, a spotlit blue quartzite sphere (see image). The legendary “Pale Blue Dot” image from the Voyager 1 probe can also be found there. The wall sculpture “Earthling” (Adam) reflects the beginning of humanity. Correspondingly, the six-metre-long lettering installation “BEING” made of polished stainless steel letters is on display at the Goethe-Institut. It refers to the question of mankind's origin and longing in the Anthropocene that encompasses both exhibitions.