Visible and hidden spaces of nature

The great anniversary year of the painter Caspar David Friedrich prompted the artists Michael Nischke and Christiane Fleissner to exhibit together. In the NATUR_RAUM exhibition, they present works of art that are based on their enthusiasm for nature but turn out to be complex artistic investigations. Nischke's photographs and Fleissner's photo collages can be seen from June 13 to July 20 at the arToxin gallery in Munich. Dr. Annika Schoemann will give an introductory lecture at the vernissage at 7 pm.

The trained photographer Michael Nischke is known for the unique perspective with which he composes his work. With the ESCAPES series, which he produced in Iceland in 2015/16, Nischke turned to landscape photography for the first time. Friedrich's works served as the initial inspiration for this step. People, who often perceive themselves as the center of events, are confronted with a new perspective here. He seems small and insignificant in the face of the vast landscapes and rugged mountains, but his impact on nature cannot be completely erased despite his transience.

The artist Christiane Fleissner has also been a beekeeper since 2014. For years, she studied the structures of honeycomb construction, which ultimately led to her series The Game, created in 2023. The honeycomb structure of bees serves Fleissner as a starting point for her investigation into space and spatial perception: the basic principle of the honeycomb structure is always the same; countless generations of bees have built their nests according to it. Nevertheless, each nest is unique, adapted to the conditions of its environment. Fleissner emphasizes the mobile universality, the flexibility of geometric forms by combining the honeycomb structures with systems of human cultures in her photo collages. Geometric drawings or details from the Sefiroth, a universal system of order from the Jewish Kabbalah, are superimposed over or behind the honeycomb structures, revealing the greater order of nature that lies behind the obvious.