Anselm Kiefer's Naturecultures

About This Event

Anselm Kiefer is not usually thought of primarily as an artist engaging with the environment, yet several of his massive installations bring nature inside the museum and art gallery to comment on human-driven changes in the Anthropocene. Often, this transfer from outside to inside is affected through the operations of the archive and the trace. The talk will explore the intermingled taxonomies of human artefacts and plant matter in three of the artist's installations Geheimnis der Farne (Secret of the Ferns) (2007), Ages of the World (2014), and Steigend, steigend, sinke nieder (Rising, Rising, Falling Down) (2009-2012) to try to account for the transformative effect of the artist's naturecultures. Dr. Yota Batsaki’s lecture will touch upon some key themes of the Plant Humanities, a discipline she has fostered through a global initiative she founded at Dumbarton Oaks, Harvard University's acclaimed research center located in Washington, DC.

Featured Guests

• Dr. Yota Batsaki, Executive Director, Dumbarton Oaks, Harvard University