Nature in human hands? Exhibition-Design

Natur in Menschenhand?

Vom Schützen und Nützen

Curation team: Anja Stejskal, Bernhard Stejskal, Thomas Frieß, Ursula Stockinger,

Alois Wilfling

Where: The exhibition was first shown at Naturkundemuseum Joanneum Graz (2016-2017) and later at Stadtgemeinde Passail (2018). I will mix pictures of both exhibitions, because most of it was/is presented in the same way.

I was working with the Voyeur-crew (Clemens Plank-Bachselten, Georg Dinstl) and lots of great people to be able to create all these things. For further information about the credits please scroll down to the bottom of the page.

Part 1: Graphic Design

Clemens Plank-Bachselten and I created the key visual for the exhibition and I worked on the layout of the folder.

Every room of the exhibition got an explaining description printed on transparent paper and a unique small illustration to show what the text and room is all about.

Part 2: Facade and entrance

In Passail I painted parts of the facade and entrance of the building, so visitors can easily find the place.

In Graz Georg Dinstl painted the wall of the corridor of the Museum which lead to the entrance of the exhibition.

In Passail we had a different setup, so we rearranged the entrance. We reused the carpet but this time I used a wallpaper of the new key visual and created a small installation on an already existing, old heating panel.

Anja Stejskal arranged the installation with the hands at the window.

Part 3: Transformation

This room was created by Anja Stejskal and not by myself, but it is an important part of the exhibition, so I wanted to show it as well. It is all about empathy – if you change perspectives you can better understand others. As kids it is easy to imagine being someone or something else but when we get older we lose the ability to play and imagine those things. This room transforms us into a toad – so we can interact and communicate with it and relearn empathy with other creatures.

Part 4: The room of wisdom

This room was filled with wall maps and loads of information about biodiversity, wildlife, threats, ...

Clemens Plank-Bachselten and I created all the illustrations for the wall maps, together with Nina Markart and Markus Sworcik we created the design and finally we built every single map with our hands.

In the middle of the room was a treasure chamber – where all the endemic animals and plants from Austria where shown.

Part 5: Room of desicions

In this room we built up five stations where the visitors can answer questions and find out what kind of tourist/consumer/conservationist/farmer/politician he or she is or would be.

I painted and illustrated all the persons and animals in the room directly onto the walls (or onto wood) and my colleagues and I screenprinted the texts directly onto the walls as well.

Part 6: Room(s) of interaction

In this room a lot of stations were created, where you could find out interesting things about different topics in relation to environmental protection in Austria. For the exhibition in Graz my friend Clemens Plank-Bachselten painted a big mural of the tree-hand onto the wall of the last room – I used this mural later to create the key-visual for the exhibition in Passail.

Part 7: Naturpark Almenland

This part of the exhibiton is just shown in Passail, because the town is located in the center of the protective area Naturpark Almenland. This installation is about informing people about Naturpark Almenland and the way people live and work in this unique region.

Part 8: Raabklamm, Natura 2000 and protective areas in Styria

These additional wall maps where also created just for the exhibition in Passail. These maps show information about the Raabklamm (a canyon close to the town of Passail), Natura 2000 and other protective areas in Styria.

They all where designed and handmade by myself – the photos where taken by Emanuel Trummer, Franz Schlögl, Oliver Gebhard or Steiermark Tourismus.

Part 8: The last room ...

This room was also created almost without me, but is an important part of the exhibition, so i wanted to show it as well. It is a room made out of transparent paper – people could draw or write their thoughts onto the walls and interact with it. It is about reflecting the whole exhibiton.