Photo by Pipilotti Rist. Garden of Earthly Delights is on at Gropius Bau through Dec 1.
This group show has contemporary works which hail from all over the world, but is named after its delightfully strange 16th century Hieronymus Bosch painting. Under the theme of humanity’s urge to garden and quests to either control or enjoy nature’s power are 17 rooms full of large-scale, multimedia installations. From Renato Leotta’s creative collaboration with the seasons “Notte Di San Lorenzo”, which enlists falling lemons as a sculptor, to Yayoi Kusama’s huge, dissociative dotscape “With All My Love for the Tulips, I Pray Forever”, artists approach the topic with attitudes that range from the scientific to the surreal. Some take dubious routes in their quest to connect to the Earth, like Zheng Bo, whose multimedia installation “Pteridophilia 1-4” features nude men literally making love to ferns. A more successful attempt at sensuality is Pipilotti Rist’s immersive film “Homo Sapiens Sapiens”, where viewers lie on their backs to see an alternate garden of Eden, complete with two Eves. Continuing the Bau’s recent renaissance under director Stephanie Rosenthal, this show makes for an entertaining journey into the wild.
Garden of Earthly Delights | Gropius Bau, Mitte. Through Dec 1.