"The installation Otherworldly, invites visitors to step into a realm where the line between reality and fantasy blurs, and where nature and imagination intertwine to create a space of quiet enchantment. This exhibition is a journey beyond the ordinary, to a place where the world of the natural meets the dreamlike, where the known and the unknown exist side by side, and where what is hidden is revealed in moments of transformation.
There is a quiet magic to nature, a hidden world of creatures and beings that we can almost sense, but never fully grasp. In Greek mythology, for example, the gods and mythical beings often embody the forces of nature, the divine, and the human experience, all at once. Figures such as Circe, Medusa, or the nymphs represent transformation through power, love, revenge, or growth. These mythic stories are never simple, and the characters, especially women, are complex and multifaceted. Madeline Miller’s feminist perspective on Circe, for example, reimagines the character of the sorceress, giving depth to her journey of self-discovery, isolation, and the tension between her divine powers and human emotions.
Drawing on the rich history of artistic innovation, I also find my inspiration for Otherworldly in the Renaissance tradition of grotesque art, where human, animal, and plant forms blend in intricate, sometimes surreal ways. One of the most powerful sources of inspiration is La Grotta di Buontalenti in the Boboli Gardens in Florence. The grotto’s fusion of natural rock formations with man-made elements feels as if boundaries between nature and human creation are seamlessly blurred, a world where the natural and the fantastical merge into a new, hybrid reality.
The exhibition is designed to immerse you in a world where the boundaries between the real and the imagined, the natural and the fantastical, dissolve. It is a space where the familiar becomes extraordinary, and where nature, in all its mysterious beauty, merges with the dreamlike and the unknown. Ultimately, Otherworldly is an invitation to experience transformation, both on a personal and a collective level, feeling a sense of wonder."
- Joana Schneider