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„Um das Wachstum“, 2023.

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Sculpture (left)

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hazelnut shells, ATX power supply unit, electric motor, LED plant lights, metal, parcel cord, wheels

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Photos: Pauline Schey

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With works by Ivan Zubarev and Simon Gilmer at Galerie Magma Maria, Offenbach am Main

The installation "Um das Wachstum" captures the tension between nature and technology, life and death, meaning and meaninglessness in a fascinating way. In a daring mixture of metallic structures and delicate natural elements, Kohler shows a constantly rotating cable car with dozens of hazelnut shells dangling from it. Anchored between three industrial-inspired metal rods, LED plant lights - typical of the growth of houseplants - seem not only to provide light, but also to reflect on the eternal cycle of life.
 
In this artistic context, however, the lamps are not there to promote life, but to emphasise the futility of the perpetual quest for revival, and the entire installation casts a critical light on the human need to master transience and rebirth. By showing the futile (and manic) endeavour to bring already dead material back to life, Kohler questions our relationship with nature and the limits of the machine in its effort to preserve life. It is a haunting portrayal of the conflict between what is natural and our eternal obsession with influencing or even improving this natural state.

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