The Kummer-Vanotti Foundation, established in 2018, will present the “Environment and Art Award” for the second time. In late 2021, the independent jury selected the artwork “Low PolyTree” by Cologne-based media artist Achim Mohné, a university lecturer in post-photography and digital imaging. Achim Mohne’s accolade follows international artist Antye Günther’s success in 2020 for the work ‘Ceramic Document Climate Change’.
The Kummer-Vanotti Foundation’s Environmental Sculpture Park will be created on Grafenwerth Island starting in spring 2022 after construction work is completed. The plan is to place high-quality works of art on the island that address an environmental theme. The artworks, which are freely accessible to everyone, are intended to emphasize to viewers the need for a sustainable approach to nature and the environment. Achim Mohné will realize a spectacular object for the sculpture park. In his artwork, Mohné addresses the observation of nature, artistic creativity in dealing with digitalization, and, at the same time, the relationship between human beings and the environment. He said himself about his work (see the respective illustration for this):
“The virtual representation of a tree, as it appears on Google Earth in 3D mode, gives the sculpture its form. The artificial tree has been transposed from virtuality back into the real world, on a scale of 1:1. Thus the real tree and its digital counterpart made of polished steel face each other and mirror its natural environment, the island of Grafenwerth. While the “real” tree changes with the seasons and grows larger, the sculpture remains unchanged.
The representation of nature has played a major role in the tradition of the arts: from painting to photography to digital imagery, of which three-dimensional virtual globes are the most recent, human ideas of nature have been influenced and manipulated. Google Earth thus represents a new form of this appropriation of nature. The reflection of the visitors in the mirrored tree encourages media self-dramatization, also via social networks. The aim is to produce the sculpture in the most environmentally friendly way possible, using state-of-the-art digital processes and sustainable materials as well as climate-neutral techniques. The carbon footprint created by production will be determined and offset.”
The jury, consisting of Dr. Sebastian Baden- Curator of Kunsthalle Mannheim, Dr. Camilla Bausch – Executive Director of the Ecologic Institute in Berlin, Andra Lauffs- Wegner, art collector and owner of KAT_A, Dr. Oliver Kornhoff – Museum Director at the Arp- Museum, Jesse Magee, artist and scientist; Sascha Müller-Kraenner, Managing Director of Deutsche Umwelthilfe, and Otto Neuhoff, Mayor of Bad Honnef, selected the best competition entries from a total of 15 submissions.
Jury Chair Sebastian Baden praised the project as “an innovative and interactive contribution to the sculpture park. The award winner has convinced with its concept for a technically ambitious, aesthetically sophisticated work that combines high-tech with attention to nature.” The prize is endowed with €20.000 and will enable the production of the selected artwork. The installation of the artwork will take place in 2022. The opening ceremony of the park is planned for June 19, 2022, combined with the award ceremony of Antye Günther, who won the tender of the foundation last year.
Visit the official Kummer-Vanotti Foundation website for further information, including submissions for the 2022 Award
Image: Draft of the award-winning artwork “Low_Poly_Tree” (Google_Earth_Modell_13) by Achim Mohné. Copyright the artist. Courtesy Galerie Judith Andreae, Bonn.
Image.: Achim Mohné in his studio “Lab_AMé” in Cologne. Photo: Tilman Lothspeich
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