1 - 30 Sep 2021

Frank Jimin Hopp ( Germany )

Many facets of our earth will change drastically due to the climate catastrophe, which has been proven for decades by numerous studies and measurements. But the numbers seem too abstract, the scale too unimaginable, leaving a feeling of powerlessness. How can we deal with this drastic process that seems unstoppable? What does it do to us personally? What will the world look like in 100, 500 or 1,000 years? Dealing with one's own mortality has been part of human identity since the dawn of time, but what does it mean to leave behind an uninhabitable earth?  

Using ceramics, one of the oldest building materials known to mankind, Frank Jimin Hopp, together with Nelly Choné, Marie Salcedo Horn, Aline Schwörer and Danijela Pivašević-Tenner, leaves behind messages through very different objects to the inhabitants after us. With this time capsule, the artists find an emotional, tangible and very personal way of dealing with powerlessness, responsibility and the ever faster changing future.

In his works, Frank Jimin Hopp links (consumer) objects of our everyday life with metaphors and myths of human history. At first glance, the sculptures appear colourful and inviting, but on closer inspection they reveal abysses. One soon realises that the cosy, colourful appearance is deceptive and that these very objects prophesy a dystopian world marked by climate change. The caramelised lemon on a cake, for example, becomes a sun with a falling Icarus and a metaphor for the arrogance of man himself. The glowing candles turn out to be burning trees and the extravagant vase becomes a symbol of a burning, drastically changing world.