UTOPIE.HEIMAT

In the organizer's words:

Two words that contradict each other - and at the same time are mutually dependent.

On display are works, some of which were already represented in the Villa Sponte and some of which were newly discovered on this theme. Printmaking meets photography, drawing meets sculpture, painting meets object. The result is not a juxtaposition, but a panorama of our present and history.

The focus is on "Dream City" by Johann H. Behrends from Bremen and "The Cathedral" by Pierluigi Slis from Italy. The "Dream City" sculpture made of stone and iron appears archaic and heavy - but light glows inside. Home appears here as a fragile construction that demands responsibility. "The Cathedral", on the other hand, is monumental and intense. It is both a shelter and a symbol of power - a symbol of the ambivalence of institution, history and belonging.

Other works broaden the view. "Wash your hands thoroughly" reflects everyday life after the pandemic. "Hohlweg" (1947) and "Kein Name" refer to the quiet and loud scars of war and flight and address existential questions of home and survival.

There is room for humor and irony as well as melancholy and political urgency. The "Storyteller" reminds us of the power of the free word, while the "Portrait of a women's rights activist from Syria" gives resistance a face. "Stadion II" shows community as a shared passion, "Plastic Love" combines beauty with ecological admonition.

From Bremen to Cuba to Burkina Faso, Vietnam and Syria, a geographical and emotional web is woven. Home does not appear as a closed territory, but as a process - as memory, longing and responsibility.