The photo series Private View explores the fixed idea of discovering real, wild nature and experiencing it up close.This longing became even stronger during the COVID-19 pandemic – we were on the run from civilization, which was suddenly too confining. In the world of 2.0, however, this desire turns out to be a post-romantic fantasy. Instead of untouched wilderness, we find cultivated landscapes and a nature that has long since been claimed. It belongs to a company, a private individual, or “the city”. Can nature have an “owner” at all? Is this concept ethically or philosophically viable? These questions arose during my tour of the Apennines, in the midst of the commodified Carrara Mountains, whose marble powder ends up in our toothpaste.

Through an aestheticization of images, the landscape once again comes more strongly into our consciousness. The boundaries of the documentary are dissolved. In this way, new connections emerge. Artistic interventions draw attention to processes of change. Fictional and surreal worlds are created that invite reflection. But do the “manipulated” geographies also contain clues to social and economic transformation processes?

Harald F. Theiss, curator and art historian