ARTYOU 6/6 – Katharina Kemmerling

Lush Meadows

The garden is often used as a metaphor and in aphorisms as a simile for the human body. We should nurture and care for it so that it grows and thrives. Microscopically examining the innards and tissues, the structures of glands, villi and vessels really do resemble tufts of plants, flowers and undergrowth. But all this is a perishable body, it can dry out and wither. Vermin and weeds can multiply and overgrow what has been painstakingly cultivated. Lush Meadwos is an art installation that has been growing in parts since 2022. A kind of „human biotope“ is created from fabric, ceramics and herbs in Lush Meadows. The sculptures and reliefs filled with herbs from the field of gynecology are modeled on medical images of various types of microscopes. Visitors are invited to smell the space and the art. The works will age and dry over time. The smell will vary and fade and cotton will take on the color of the plant residue.

Katharina Kemmerling

Katharina’s ceramic sculptures and colorful installations reveal a sense of fascination for fictional worlds. An immersion in another space, and yet there is a connection to reality. These contrasts build up tension. A fruitful dynamic is created, which Katherina uses for more differentiated thinking. The introspective view into the organic structures of oneself seems to be denied. Despite numerous textbooks that illustrate the individual parts of the body, we are left with a distanced feeling. Overcoming this bridge, creating a connection between the outside and the inside, is an area that Katherina Kemmerling is currently exploring in her art. The preparatory work for the design of her artworks is therefore accompanied by intensive research work, the reference to fact-based science, be it chemistry, biology or medicine. She aims to explore areas that rely on rationality and calculation and bring us back to the facts, as well as a differentiated knowledge of the properties of the material used. Her relationship with the material is very personal, her whole body is involved in the design. Her hands in particular, which process textiles and ceramics, pick up on the craftsmanship and stand in clear contrast to a conceptual work.