Working Group: Exhibition Ecologies
The Working Group “Exhibition Ecologies” was founded in 2024 with the aim of examining exhibitions through the lens of ecological perspectives and to create an international research network of scholars dedicated to this topic. The group responds to the urgent need for developing suitable methodologies and theories to address the intricate intersection of exhibitions and ecologies, focusing on aesthetics, epistemologies, infrastructures, and ideologies.
The conceptual framework of Exhibition Ecologies explores the multifaceted relationships between exhibitions and ecologies, resources, aesthetics, media, and technology as a global phenomenon. These interrelations are understood as a multiplicity of ecologies within and surrounding exhibitions—encompassing the material, systemic, political, and historical conditions that constitute exhibitions. Furthermore, the framework considers the temporal, intellectual, and aesthetic dimensions of exhibitions, positioning them as cultural practices that shape and mediate ecological and planetary understandings.
Drawing on the biological term “ecology” and its recent transdisciplinary interpretations and applications, the working group is reflecting critically on how these discourses can be transferred or adapted to the context of exhibitions. The workshop will address, amongst others, the following questions: To what extent can exhibitions themselves be regarded as ecological systems? Do ecological narratives expand the concept of art and of exhibition formats? In what way do these serve as an institution-critical tool, or are they merely strategies of alleviation? How might they, in fact, perpetuate depoliticization, as well as greenwashing and resource consumption? Hence, to what extent can the concept of Exhibition Ecologies serve as a critical methodology that transcends current trends and addresses the deeper systemic issues within exhibition-making?
Current members of the Working Group “Exhibition Ecologies”:
- Dr. Friederike Schäfer (FU Berlin/EXC Temporal Communities, initiator)
- Mateo Chacón Pino (U Kassel/documenta Institut, initiator)
- Dr. Linn Burchert (ZI Munich)
- Dr. Lee Chichester (Ruhr-Universität Bochum)
- Dr. Regine Ehleiter (U Münster)
- Dr. Michael Klipphahn-Karge (ZI Munich)
- Vis. Prof. Dr. Fiona McGovern (Kunsthochschule Kassel)
- Magali Wagner (U Bern/SNF The Ecological Imperative)
Critical Friends:
- Dr. Hannah Baader (KHI Florence)
- Dr. Maria Bremer (Ruhr-Universität Bochum)
- Prof. Dr. Liliana Gómez (U Kassel/documenta Institut)
- Prof. Dr. Shannon Jackson (UC Berkeley)
- Isabelle Lindermann (Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien)
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For the first public event organized by the Working Group (February 27 and 28, 2025 at the Cluster of Excellence “Temporal Communities” at Freie Universität Berlin), see: https://www.temporal-communities.de/events/2025/workshop-exhibition-ecologies.html