--- title: "Soon at the SCHIRN: In a Silent Way" date: 2026-06-15 last_modified: 2026-06-19T10:50:44+02:00 generated_at: 2026-06-19T14:46:42Z url: "https://www.schirn.de/en/schirnmag/bald-in-der-schirn-in-a-silent-way/" description: "Beginning on June 25, 2026, the SCHIRN presents “In A Silent Way. Sculptures around the SCHIRN,” a new open-air exhibition series curated by Matthias Ulrich and Theresa Dettinger. Three site-specific installations will transform the SCHIRN grounds into a vibrant space of resonance between art and the environment." image: "https://www.schirn.de/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Schirn_Presse_Margaret-Raspe_Regentrommeln_1988_2023_c_Stefan-Burger-1920x1281.jpg" language: "en-US" --- # Soon at the SCHIRN: In a Silent Way ![Hanging wooden discs between trees in a green, natural setting with blooming plants in the background.](https://schirn.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/MR_I_1_low.jpg) Margaret Raspé, Regentrommeln, 1988/2023, Baumwolle, Bienenwachs, Haselnusszweige, Nylonfaden, 84 x 67 cm, 66 x 72 cm, 82 x 73 cm. Margaret Raspé, Regentrommeln, 1988/2023, Baumwolle, Bienenwachs, Haselnusszweige, Nylonfaden, 84 x 67 cm, 66 x 72 cm, 82 x 73 cm. Courtesy der Nachlass Margaret Raspé und Galerie Molitor, Berlin. # Soon at the SCHIRN: In a Silent Way 1 min reading time Beginning on June 25, 2026, the SCHIRN presents “[In A Silent Way. Sculptures around the SCHIRN](https://www.schirn.de/en/exhibition/in-a-silent-way/),” a new open-air exhibition series curated by Matthias Ulrich and Theresa Dettinger. Three site-specific installations will transform the SCHIRN grounds into a vibrant space of resonance between art and the environment. The works are presented in the publicly accessible outdoor area at the temporary location in Bockenheim and explore the transience and fragility of environmental phenomena, transforming them into aesthetic experiences. Each of the works are in dialogue with their surroundings and the forces of nature—sun, rain, wind and the rhythms of day and night. The first episode of the exhibition opens on June 24, 2026, with an [OPENING TALK](https://www.schirn.de/en/event/opening-talk-in-a-silent-way-en/) and three site-specific installations by Katja Mater, Margaret Raspé, and Bernhard Schreiner. Each installation has its own unique way of relating to nature. The works, some of which are new productions, give audible and visible form to processes that usually go unnoticed in everyday life. They amplify the sound of rain, capture the movement of the sun, or transform the electrical vibrations generated by growing plants into sound. The exhibition will continue in autumn/winter 2026 and spring 2027 with additional works. In resonance with the preceding works, an ephemeral sculpture park around the SCHIRN will gradually take shape. #### “The participating artists respond to environmental phenomena and transform them into aesthetic experiences: a sundial, a rain drum, or the sonic effects of plants. It is an exhibition that sharpens our senses to the subtle manifestations of nature.” Sebastian Baden, Director of the SCHIRN ## A Sundial for the SCHIRN How can the measurement of time become a spatial experience? Katja Mater transforms the grounds of the SCHIRN’s interim site in Bockenheim into a sundial. The Latin title *HIC. EST. TUUM. HORA.* translates into English as “This is your hour,” and addresses every person who experiences the work in action. The subheading *50° 07′ 16″ N 08° 39′ 12″ E* refers to the clock’s geographic coordinates. Conventional sundials consist of a flat surface, a scale, and a so-called gnomon, a protruding part that casts a shadow. As the Earth rotates, the sun appears to move across the sky, leading the gnomon’s shadow to fall on different markings on the scale, which allows us to read the time. Mater’s sundial for the SCHIRN features four hour markers distributed across the site. The sundial is readable from April through September, depending on the changing position of the sun. The artist incorporates existing elements and structures such as the ground’s chimney, whose shadow falls on the building facade at 10 a.m. Depending on the month, the shadow falls on three different floors, each marked with the number 10: in June/July on the first floor, in May/August on the second, and in April/September on the third. Mater also makes use of existing numbers such as the building number 3 on Gabriel-Riesser-Weg, and the “2” on the sign for HALLE 2. In addition, the building number 13 on Zeppelin-Allee is added. Various shadow casters or reflections highlight the numbers at specific times, activating the work. ![Young woman with glasses, in white clothing, sitting on a staircase and looking directly at the camera. Black and white photo.](https://schirn.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Portraet_Katja-Mater_c_Stine-Sampers_3.jpg) Katja Mater Photo: Stine Sampers ![Aerial view of a former factory site with an art hall, surrounded by streets and trees.](https://schirn.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sonnenuhr_Katja-Mater.jpg) HIC. EST. TUUM. HORA. 50° 07′ 16″ N 08° 39′ 12″ E (2026) Aluminum, stainless steel, mirror, glass film, existing numbers, and chimney. Courtesy of the artist. ## The Sound of Rain Margaret Raspé sought to make slow, hidden processes and automated sequences visible through her art. Suspended between branches, her “rain drums” transform falling precipitation into delicate, aleatoric soundtracks. The organic shapes of the drums, made of fabric primed with beeswax, amplify the sound of rain to stage a fleeting, non-invasive collaboration with nature. Throughout her practice, Raspé strove to have a symbiotic relationship with the environment. In terms of both content and form, her artistic work was shaped by sustainability and local forms of production—at a time when ecological issues were only just beginning to enter public awareness. ![A woman in a bright sweatshirt intently examines a piece of artwork in dim light.](https://schirn.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/MR_1987-Foto-Monika-Brand_2.jpg) Margaret Raspé Photo: Monika Brand ![Artistic garden motif with empty objects and fallen leaves, surrounded by trees and a melancholic atmosphere.](https://schirn.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Regentrommeln_Margaret-Raspe_1988_2023.jpg) Rain Drums (1988/2023) Cotton fabric, beeswax, hazelnut branches, nylon thread. Courtesy of the estate of Margaret Raspé and Galerie Molitor, Berlin. ## Sound as a Temporal Process Bernhard Schreiner’s work explores sound as a temporal process that makes the world tangible. He sees sound as a connection between two types of reality: one that is external and physical, and one that is internal and neural. From an early age, he made field recordings of external, audible objects. Schreiner is less interested in their authentic reproduction than in using sounds to imitate an acoustic world in which things and non-things commingle and, through constant tonal modulation, introduce a sense of continuity into this world. For “In A Silent Way,” Bernhard Schreiner has developed a synthesizer whose sounds are generated and influenced by the interaction of the surrounding plants with the weather. Rain, sun, and even cool temperatures become transient producers of a real-time soundscape. In Schreiner’s installation, these external sound sources operate in interplay with the synthesizer’s internal modules. One module activates, for example, when the voltage in a plant increases as it absorbs water, translating the impulse of this heightened voltage into a sound that repeats until a new change is detected in the plant. By sampling such signals and translating them into sounds, an autonomous and infinite composition emerges: an analog-digital piece of music that undergoes continual transformation over an unending period of time. ![A bearded man holds an artistic mask in a green garden.](https://schirn.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Schirn_Presse_Bernhard-Schreiner_2021-©-Danni-Folan.jpg) Porträt Bernhard Schreiner, 2021 © Danni Folan ![Plant with patch cables and a modular synthesizer in the background on a table.](https://schirn.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2.jpg) Instant Sonification (Local real-time composition, N 50° 7′ 16″ E 8° 39′ 10″), (2026) Custom-built modular synthesizer system, amplifier, outdoor speakers, sensors, PV modules, hydrophone, cables, grapevine, ivy, display case. Courtesy of the artist.