Umwelt Art & Science Project

Umwelt Exhibition July 2, 2022 - May 31, 2023

The open-air art & science exhibition titled Monuments of Impermanence is a tribute to acts of humankind in nature. The artworks narrate the course of humanity through everyday lives of a local community and through profoundly challenging and sustainable future-oriented questions around ethics of animal farming, equality and hierarchy, and perceptions of the human body.

“Everybody’s Table” - opening of the Umwelt Art & Science residency. Heartfelt thanks to the Szent György hegy community and winemakers for taking part in the making of this short film.

The exhibition translates the idea of sustainability as a path we walk rather than a utopian destination.

Acts of co-creation with nature and fellow beings, ability to co-exist and enhance the surrounding environment are the contemporary notions that constitute environmental and social sustainability. This way of seeing sustainability biomimics nature – multiple beings simultaneously perceiving and stimulating their environment and thus each species experiencing their entirely own worlds – Umwelten (Uexküll).

All species are subjects to change imposed by the laws of physics, and also, creativity. Humans in particular enjoy tinkering with matter, leading to some un-welcomed effects of the anthropocene – the climate change. The umwelt of humankind has altered the worlds of all species. Impermanence defines life and nature, what is born and what is made disappears eventually, at different speeds and in changing forms. Impermanence also offers us a lesson from nature – by reading and perceiving our surrounding environments we can create a better, inclusive and more fair and sustainable future.

This international exhibition of art & science set in a national park of the Balaton region, shows multimedial art installations and performances that visualise the course of humanity by using elements of biology, genetics, physics and social sciences.

The exhibition contains works of scientific research presented through art, where art leads to discoveries in science, and works that seek answers to critical questions through the sciences.

The exhibition creates a picture of the diversity of human activities – it intervenes with our view of the contemporary world.

Exhibition images November 2022 - January 2023, Orbán Péter, Umwelt archives

Lilla von Puttkamer, Altar of Everyday Life

Charlotte Jarvis, In Posse / Thesmaphoria

Dezso Renata, Co-Able formations in nature

Fabricius Anna, Techniques of a Scarecrow

Umwelt location is Mount Saint George (Szent György-hegy) - a volcano in Western Hungary by the lake Balaton. The open-air art venue is set in a national park and a wine region appelatation.

The artworks are made to show the changes with nature and their own impermanence. All materials for the installations are mindfully selected and non-biodegradable materials will be removed from the sites. Eventually, only the photograhs and recordings of the artworks will remain.

“Monuments of Impermanence” artists:

Laura Beloff (FI), Dezsu Renáta (HU), Fabricius Anna (HU), Horváth Gideon (HU), Charlotte Jarvis (UK), Simona Koch (DE/A), Lilla von Puttkamer (DE/HU), Süveges Rita (HU), Szalai Dániel (HU), Zilahi Anna (HU)

Umwelt Art & Science Summer Academy 2022 is a project by the Institute of Advanced Design Studies, Nonprofit Kft. with the support of Veszprém-Balaton 2023 European Capital of Culture.