Exhibition view Space Plants, Brühler Kunstverein | Little Cosmic Garden, 2024
Space Plants, 2024
Plants in space are known to us only from the International Space Station (ISS), where they are cultivated under microgravity for scientific purposes. But how might they appear on other planets?
In her latest installation at Brühler Kunstverein, Alexandra Knie explores this imagination using textile and natural structures such as branches, lichens, and algae. In doing so, she creates a speculative ecosystem of „cosmic plants,“ exploring symbiotic relationships between the natural and the artificial, the scientific and the artistic, as well as the real and the fictional. She also translates this theme into acrylic and needle painting (machine embroidery) on both canvas and traditional Valencian fabrics, in medium and small-scale formats.
See also the text of the opening speech by Ina Ewers-Schultz in German here…
Detail Little Cosmic Garden, 2024 | machine embroidery on seaweed (Kombu), wire
Detail Little Cosmic Garden, 2024 | acrylic on lichens, PVC, branches with lichens, steel stele, knitted cords
Detail Little Cosmic Garden, 2024 | acrylic on lichen, branches with lichens, steel stele, knitted cords
Detail Little Cosmic Garden, 2024 | acrylic on lichens, recycled cardboard, machine embroidery, branches with lichens, steel stele, knitted cords
Detail Little Cosmic Garden, 2024 | machine embroidery on seaweed (Kombu), wire
Detail Little Cosmic Garden, 2024 | acrylic on tree branches with lichens, steel stele, knitted cords, black light
Detail Little Cosmic Garden, 2024 | acrylic on branches with lichens, black light
Exhibition view Space Plants, Brühler Kunstverein, 2024
Exhibition view Space Plants, Brühler Kunstverein, 2024
Model of a Giant Space Plant I+II, 2024 | acrylic, oil pastel and machine embroidery on raw cotton; 100 x 80 cm each one
Exhibition view Space Plants, Brühler Kunstverein, 2024
From Cosmic Garden, 2024 | acrylic and machine embroidery on raw canvas; 65 x 50 cm
Spiral Space Flowers II, 2024 | machine embroidery on synthetic fabric; Ø 11 x 3 cm
Ancient Space Plants I, 2024 | machine embroidery on synthetic fabric mounted on painted canvas, machine embroidery on Espolín (traditional Valencian fabric); 120 x 90 cm
Ancient Space Plants II, 2024 | acrylic on canvas, tape, machine embroidery on synthetic fabric mounted on Espolín (traditional Valencian fabric); 165 x 120 cm
Ancient Space Plants III, 2024 | machine embroidery on Espolín (traditional Valencian fabric), knitted cords; 30 x 25 cm
Space Plants in Orbit, 2024 | machine embroidery on synthetic fabric, acrylic and machine embroidery on raw cotton; 40 x 30 cm
