A Fragment of Eden

A Project within Open Worlds

The artist Malte Taffner has realized the exhibition project A Fragment of Eden for the Kestner Gesellschaft as part of the joint project Open Worlds.

A Fragment of Eden explores spaces of a symbiotic future in which humans are no longer viewed separately from the natural ecosystem. The artworks open up fictional possibilities and pose questions about the city of the future: What could it look like? How do we want to design it?

In addition to the installation on Goseriedeplatz, the joint project includes four satellite works by the artists Nike Kühn, Collectif Grapain, Malte Taffner, Lea Schürmann, and Christian Holl on Goseriedeplatz and Waterlooplatz and at the Dornröschenbrücke and the Welfengarten. The four satellites will rotate through the city of Hanover at regular intervals for four months. There is also an app that visitors can use to navigate from place to place, learn about the artworks, find the locations, and interact with the works and other visitors by chat.

A Fragment of Eden is the third project in Open Worlds, the research project by the Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen, the Kestner Gesellschaft in Hanover, IMAGINE THE CITY in Hamburg, and Marta Herford. Together with artists, curators, and users, the four institutions for contemporary art develop digital tours and artistic stagings in urban spaces which combine physical and virtual experiences.

The artists

Malte Taffner studied from 2014 to 2020 at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig and Kyoto Seika University in Japan. In 2021 he completed a master class under Raimund Kummer. Taffner has received several grants, including one from the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes.

The members of Collectif Grapain studied at the National Art School Villa Arson in Nice, France between 2013 and 2019 and at the Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts with the artist Paul Devautour (2016–2017) as well as at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Braunschweig in the sculpture studio of the artist Thomas Rentmeister (2019–2020). In 2018 they were awarded the prestigious MAIF Award for Sculpture and in 2021 they have been awarded a scholarship in fine arts from the State of Lower Saxony.

Nike Kühn studied at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig from 2013 to 2020. Kühn worked as a costume designer at the Staatstheater Hannover and has received grants from the Kulturstiftung des Freistaates Sachsen and the Stiftung Kunstfonds, among others. She lives and works in Leipzig.

Christian Holl studied at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig from 2013 to 2020 and completed his studies in 2020 as a master class student of Raimund Kummer. He has received grants from the Korner-Stiftung Braunschweig and the Stiftung Kunstfonds.

Lea Schürmann studied from 2013 to 2019 at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig and the Malmö Art Academy in Sweden. She graduated in 2019 in the sculpture class of Raimund Kummer. Schürmann has received several grants, currently she holds the annual scholarship for fine arts of the Ministry of Science and Culture of Lower Saxony.

Funded by the Kultur Digital program of the German Federal Cultural Foundation. Funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.