heidundgriess

In our artistic practice we have been working and researching for several years on the topic of "growing cities" and their consequences for the so-called "nature".
We deal with questions like: What different understandings and interpretations are united by the concept of "nature", which is in each case individual, culturally shaped, or conceived as a market idea?

This interest was awakened a few years ago during an artist's residency of several months in China, where we observed the transformation of vast tracts of land in favor of the growing city. The city, which was originally conceived mainly as a communal living space for people to achieve protection and independence from nature in urban space, has in its recent history given rise to a completely new kind or concept of nature: the "aesthetically perceived landscape".
Placed in what from a European perspective is a huge new development district, we observed a bizarre smorgasbord of (nature) forgeries, rapid reconfigurations of existing ecosystems, and large-scale transplantations of entire forests to promote the appearance of attractive living in a big city without sacrificing the experience of nature or the natural environment. At first glance, it often appeared to be an area that had grown in symbiosis with the natural environment for decades, as a successful symbiosis of these two systems. A closer look debunked this illusion. for example, full-grown trees stood around everywhere, draped with nutrient infusion bags and supported by several crutches, like patients in a hospital, or entire skyscraper facades were draped with artificial plants.
These absurd, sometimes funny, but often disturbing fakes fascinated us and this theme has not let us go until today. We do not pursue our impressions, experiences and results as sociological studies or as a form of eco-activism, but on the level of making visible a wide variety of topics that concern us as a society as a whole, which we as privileged artists would like to present to the public in the form of artistic installations, interventions and projects and thereby stimulate discussion, reflection and action.