Dried plant parts placed on thin tubes, including a leaf and a cone
© Camila Carrasco / Andrea Acosta

Unruly Splendour

Exploring Bodies through the Spectrum of Nature

Neo-Baroque gardens such as the Körnerpark were intended to illustrate the dominance of man (or order) over nature (chaos). If the baroque garden is supposed to symbolise the triumph of man over nature, what happens when asymmetry, chaos, deviation, in other words, nature, takes over? Much of what we understand by aesthetics and design today can be traced back to these Baroque ideas: that symmetry, standardisation and normality are synonymous with aesthetic beauty. What if we looked for beauty in chaos, disorder and otherness? What if we embraced nature and all its deviations and enjoyed the pleasure of difference?

The exhibition presents artists who make art about the body and its relationship to nature, gardens, plants and ecological systems. What are their visions of the future, their potential utopias that defy the norm? How might a paradigm shift in our understanding of nature restore our relationship with the natural world? The artists explore the theme of difference as beauty in a variety of ways. Some explore the misbehaving body, while others explore the environmental context in which we live: nature and its cycles, the rhythms of reproduction as a force that resists capitalist structures that harm the human body.

Unruly Splendour is curated by Kate Brehme and Kirstin Broussard of Berlinklusion, Berlin’s network for accessibility in art and culture, led by Dirk Sorge, Jovana Komnenic, Kirstin Broussard and Kate Brehme. It is a collective of disabled and non-disabled artists and art educators who aim to positively transform Berlin’s cultural landscape by promoting inclusion and improving accessibility for artists, cultural workers, participants and audiences with and without disabilities.

The exhibition celebrates the aesthetics of access and promotes exchange through accessible exhibition design. It is informed by the curator’s experience of disability and work at the intersection of curating and art education. It builds on recent exhibitions such as The Space Between (CLB, Berlin, 2023) and To/From (Kommunale Galerie, Berlin, 2023-2024), where the collective sourced and selected otherwise marginalised artists, but also integrated multi-sensory design elements into the exhibition to enable accessible participation by our visitors.

With the support of Aktion Mensch

Curatorial assistance: Diana Nowak

Curated by Kate Brehme & Kirstin Broussard

Participating artists

Female curator stands in the exhibition space and speaks while performing a hand gesture. Three people are standing around her. Plants are placed on pedestals behind them Female curator speaks into a microphone while looking down at papers she is holding in her hand The female curator speaks into a microphone, holds a sheet of paper in her hand and looks over to the sign language interpreter. He holds a hand in front of his chest and makes a gesture Four women in full view. They are standing next to each other and smiling Andrea Acosta: Installation of found objects, brass rods and clamps; Anne Duk Hee Jordan: Site specific room installation, mixed media, video 21:20, scent, Sino-Indonesian Wedding Bed. Upright plant parts, including many leaves, arranged into an installation on the gallery floor Box-shaped bed made of solid wood with a decorative roof and elaborate carvings, including figurative depictions and Chinese characters Branches without leaves and behind them a crowd in the gallery space A window glass with the inscription “Create!” stuck on it. Behind it, a woman examining small metal boxes lying on a desk View of the gallery space with a picture on the wall, a wooden bed, an installation of dry branches and plants in flower pots placed on pedestals of different heights. A man bends over one of these plants A corner in the gallery space that invites interaction. A table with metal boxes, writing utensils and seating. Behind it, a wall text that introduces the exhibition View of the entire gallery space with round arches up to the reception. Framed pictures and installations are distributed along the walls and window niches. A tactile path on the floor leads through the room Two small boxes on a pedestal, filled with materials, including small pieces of fabric An arrangement of ceramic objects and fabric on a rectangular block Close-up of ceramic objects and lumps of earth placed on a block An MP3 player with headphones connected lies on a surface Branch hanging from the ceiling without leaves in the exhibition room A woman with headphones and an MP3 player in her hand stands in the exhibition space and looks in the direction of an artwork in the form of a hanging fabric Fabric with the depiction of a female figure surrounded by branches. The figure has no face, the head as such is only recognizable by contours Close-up of a branch Plant materials, including flowers, arranged in screw-top jars Beamer projection of a video work showing the inscription “Finding Identity”. Large cushions lie on the floor in front of it A tactile, haptic floor plan of Körnerpark and the surrounding streets Close-up of a hand over the tactile model of Körnerpark. The index finger touches the tactile surface A woman reaches into a box of bark. In front of her are more boxes with natural materials on a pedestal