Opening Talk

IN A SILENT WAY. SCULPTURES AROUND THE SCHIRN is a group exhibition in several episodes set in the publicly accessible outdoor grounds of the SCHIRN in Bockenheim. The theme of the multi-part show is to capture the transience and fragility of environmental phenomena and transform them into aesthetic experiences. In doing so, artworks enter into a relationship with their surroundings and the forces of nature — sun, rain, wind, and the rhythms of day and night. The first episode presents the site-specific installations “HIC. EST. TUUM. HORA. 50° 07′ 15″ N 08° 39′ 74″ E” (2026) by Katja Mater, “Regentrommeln” (1988/2023) by Margaret Raspé, and the synthesizer system “Instant Sonification (Local real-time composition, N 50° 7′ 16” E 8° 39′ 10”) (2026)” by Bernhard Schreiner.

KATJA MATER studied Fine Art at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. Mater’s artistic practice encompasses photography, film, installation, and performance. Through her works, she documents phenomena that lie beyond visual perception and opens up alternative experiences of reality by renegotiating the concepts of space, time, and perception.

MARGARET RASPÉ is regarded as a pioneer of feminist experimental film. Between 1954 and 1957 she studied painting and fashion at the Kunstakademie München and the Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Berlin. In the 1970s she developed the camera helmet and began producing her camera helmet films. Her body of work also includes performative actions and sculptural pieces that engage with questions of the relationship to nature, ecology, and spirituality.

BERNHARD SCHREINER studied film under Peter Kubelka at the Städelschule. As part of his many years of teaching in the film and video lab, he helped build the Städelschule’s film workshop and sound studio. Between 2005 and 2007 he ran the label “feld-records.” Together with Thomas Bayrle, Schreiner developed the series of rosary-praying motors. He currently teaches, among other places, at the HfG Offenbach.