Arkadia
Arkadia unfolds as a kaleidoscopic vision of nature in transformation: between real blades of grass and surreal chimeras, historical echoes and present realities, the sensual loss of human control over a fragile ecosystem becomes vividly perceptible.
For the series Arkadia, I photograph grassland landscapes together with a dichroic film that I insert between the dry blades of grass. This creates psychedelically tinged image compositions that at times appear as if generated by artificial intelligence. The bright streaks of color evoke associations with soapy liquids and tropical heat. Within them, alongside real insects, chimera-like forms appear—suggesting animals and mythical creatures.
The photographs are taken in the Neukladow Estate Park on the Havel River near Berlin, once the site of Johannes Guthmann’s Musenhof (court of muses), where he invited the cultural elite of the early 20th century. Among them was Max Slevogt, who loved and painted this patch of earth—alternately referred to as the Garden of Eden, the earthly paradise, or Arcadia.
More than a century later, as I work in the shimmering grass of a sunny clearing that used to be flooded for half the year, numerous forests across Europe are burning. Increasing drought is straining the old trees of this supposedly “idyllic” landscape park. The film seems to sweat in the summer heat. Dust and soil particles, fingerprints, scratches, and condensation droplets accumulate on its surface. My temporary, manual intervention into this natural habitat results in images of chromatic excess, in which a sense of loss of control finds a sensual, even joyful, expression.
