symbiotic wood exhibition
28.6.–21.9.25 symbiotic wood exhibition
The exhibition »Symbiotic Wood« explores living with wood as a »more than human« material. Currently, climate change combined with forest monocultures are causing insect and fungal infestations in forests. In a human-centered perspective, the harvested material is seemingly devalued. The exhibition examines the impact of other species, such as the bark beetle, on wood. It then encourages a re-evaluation of this affected wood. In a series of spaces and prototypes, the theme unfolds as a symbiosis along the line of cognition–through science and culture–as well as the line of creation–moving through the past, present and future.
Awareness of cultural and aesthetic reorientation is cultivated in the Museum of Applied Arts with its historical collections. There, the aim is to see the age in objects and works of art and to recognise them in their historicity. We understand the traces of use and age, of care, but also of neglection and decay, as a valuable »patina«. It opens our eyes to the limits of human endeavour and to the symbiotic relationship with nature. In the collection of the Berlin Kunstgewerbemuseum, this perspective is represented by a late medieval griffin figure – an outstanding work of art despite the considerable damage caused by insect infestation.
A series of workshops and lectures will establish a discourse with the public around the theme of living in a symbiotic relationship with wood and its related species.
»Symbiotic Wood« is a collaboration with the Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity« at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin as part of the __matter Festival 2025
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exhibition
28.6.–21.9.25
Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin
Matthäikirchplatz, 10785 Berlin
Opening hours:
Wed–Fr: 10.00–17.00 h
Sa/Su: 11.00–18.00 h