Lantz's Sculpture Park in Düsseldorf-Lohausen has initiated a fresh search for new art
The Lantz'sche Sculpture Park, nestled on Lohauser Dorfstraße in Düsseldorf, is currently playing host to an intriguing exhibition titled "Borrowed Scenery". This thought-provoking display, on until September 7, showcases works by five international artists: Mimosa Echard, Dara Friedman, Benjamin Hirte, Allison Katz, and Nancy Lupo.
Curator Stephanie Seidel has spent a year delving into the concept of "Borrowed Scenery" across the Atlantic, and her efforts have culminated in a captivating exploration of the park as a constructed space shaped by layers of history, memory, and social dynamics over time.
Upon entering the park, visitors are greeted by a small, cramped map that awakens a sense of treasure hunt enthusiasm. The exhibition positions the park as a dynamic archive, where the physical environment and immaterial histories interact and remain in constant flux, emphasizing how cultural and historical memories shape our experience of space.
Artist Mimosa Echard invites visitors to walk back and forth on her barely visible lines across the meadow for a "time-based physical experience". Meanwhile, Nancy Lupo skewed the benches to distort perspective, inspired by benches she saw on a trip to Tbilisi, Georgia.
A "snake sun" with mowed paths designed by Dara Friedman from Miami is marked by a few reddish stripes along the main path in the Lantz Sculpture Park. Allison Katz's "Skirts for Trees" installation, located at the northern edge of the park near the playground, features skirts tailored for eleven young trees with designs that include trellises, ornaments, and fluttering creatures.
Benjamin Hirte, a sculptor living in Berlin, has placed a marble block called "Speaker of the House" near an old, weed-covered decorative rock in the park. This piece refers to and tells the story of the old sculptures and empty pedestals present in the park, and how even seemingly inert material is permeated by historical, social, and political sediments.
For those interested in learning more about the exhibition, family tours will be held on July 20 at 3 pm, and a curator tour is scheduled for July 27 at 3 pm. Further information about the Lantz'sche Sculpture Park can be found at www.kunstkommission-duesseldorf.de/.
This exhibition critiques and expands the concept of landscape by highlighting its constructed and layered nature, with artworks that intertwine environmental, historical, and social narratives within the Lantz Sculpture Park setting. The diverse group of artists involved, including Edith Dekyndt, Sanaa Gateja, and more, contribute works that extend the idea of borrowed scenery beyond visual aspects to encompass history, materiality, and societal themes within the park's unique context.
In the landscape of home-and-garden settings, visitors can find a similar intrigue, as they explore how art interrogates and enriches the notion of a constructed space, like the Lantz'sche Sculpture Park. For instance, imagine a lifestyle where backyards become dynamic archives, with carefully designed gardens interacting with immaterial histories and constantly evolving, much like the park.
