Kathrin Linkersdorff's fascinating large-format photographs are located somewhere between art and science. In her experiments, which are at the interface with botany and microbiology, she analyses the nature and structure of plants. She purposely sets off disintegration processes that reveal the inner structure of blossoms in order to capture them in photographic stagings.
The aesthetics of these works of art originate in the Japanese concept of Wabi Sabi, where beauty always involves accepting impermanence, imperfection, and vulnerability.
For her photography series Fairies Linkersdorff began with drying tulips in a meticulous, months-long process, methodically extracting the pigments from the blossoms. She then immerses the dried and discoloured blossoms in glass containers filled with water. Sometimes she adds the pigments she extracted from the flowers, which then float around their former plant body in a fluid whirl of pigments.
In her latest series Microverse Kathrin Linkersdorff works with Prof. Regine Hengge from the Department of Microbiology at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. With processing methods applied in microbiology she stages aesthetic and breathtaking snapshots, capturing specific moments of biological transformation processes. The discoloured plant parts she later uses as growth substrate for bacteria that form colonies producing colourful antibiotics.
The artist makes the natural process of coming into being and decaying visible in an exploding ocean of colours. She allows us to get a glimpse of the nature surrounding us, from an unusual angle.
Kathrin Linkersdorff (*1966) studied architecture and worked as an architect for several years. She received a DAAD foreign exchange scholarship and spent two years in Tokyo. After her return, her focus shifted to photography and ink painting. She started studying photography with Robert Lyons in Berlin in 2006. She has been devoted to the topic of transience for twelve years, which she studies using flowers and their pigments in complex series of experiments. Her work of art has been exhibited in Berlin, Hamburg, Tokyo, Miami, and New York. Kathrin Linkersdorff has been a member of the Clusters of Excellence: Matters of Activity at the Department of Biology/Microbiology at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin since 2024.
Curated by Dr. Raimund Kast
The Stadthaus would like to thank Heimstätte Ulm for supporting the exhibition!
Until the garden festival in 2030 the Stadthaus Ulm will regularly illuminate the relationship of humans with nature and plants.
Exhibition opening: Sun 22 Jun 2025, 11.30am - 1pm