Rebecca Louise Law
State of Nature
With State of Nature, the Landesmuseen Schleswig-Holstein present a comprehensive exhibition of the British artist Rebecca Louise Law, internationally renowned for her large-scale installations made of natural materials. Law transforms her surroundings into dense, atmospheric spaces of experience, where we encounter nature directly - sensual, poetic, and often overwhelming. Moving through her installations, one perceives the scent of dried blossoms, experiences fleeting beauty, and realizes: every stalk, every flower speaks of growth, change, and transience in nature - and of our responsibility to preserve the foundations of natural life.
The exhibition title State of Nature is deliberately chosen to be multilayered. It refers to the philosophical concept of the “state of nature” - a thought model that asks how humans encounter the world before it is overlaid by rules, claims of ownership, and social order. What is meant is not a historical primeval condition, but rather an attitude of immediacy: a relationship to nature shaped by attentiveness, dependence, and responsibility.
Against this backdrop, State of Nature is to be understood as an invitation to pause and look anew. The works of Rebecca Louise Law create spaces of concentration and wonder. They heighten awareness of ecological interconnections without moralizing, and open experiential realms that make the close bond between humanity and nature sensually tangible.
Four Sites – Four Experiences
Museum Island Gottorf Castle – Riding Hall
Under the title The Archive, Rebecca Louise Law presents more than 750,000 dried flowers from her personal collection. The expansive installation is complemented by images and ceramic works. This comprehensive survey of the artist’s oeuvre opens a fascinating passage through two decades of her creative practice.
Gottorf Globe House
Honesty consists of thousands of shimmering silver leaves (Lunaria annua). The installation unfolds baroque splendor and, in an impressive way, connects to the botanical richness of the historical Neuwerk Garden.
Open-Air Museum Molfsee – Jahr100Haus
At the Molfsee Open-Air Museum, the monumental installation The Field, made of oats and flowers, can be experienced in all its quiet grandeur. The work brings together the themes of landscape, craftsmanship, and food in a singular, contemplative way. The plants were cultivated specifically for the exhibition in the museum’s fields, harvested together with the community, and subsequently processed.
Jewish Museum Rendsburg
At the Jewish Museum Rendsburg, Grain evokes the quiet power of wheat and cereal ears, addressing universal themes of gratitude and care that resonate across cultures.
Community as Artistic Principle
Characteristic of the exhibition project and of the artist’s working method is the close involvement of local people. Plants are cultivated, harvested, dried, and processed in collective manual work.
At the Open-Air Museum Molfsee, the Jewish Museum Rendsburg, and the Museum Island Gottorf Castle, people come together in the specially founded Blomentüddel-Clubs (Flower Odds and Ends Club). In shared meetings and workshops, cereals and flowers are processed into exhibition elements. At each new location, Rebecca Louise Law integrates site-specific plants into her works with numerous helping hands.
A catalogue will be published in German and English to accompany the exhibition.
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