HFBK

Climate change is one of the most urgent and existential crises of our times. It is no longer a dystopian vision of the future but a very present phenomenon. In actual fact, more than just the temperature is undergoing a change – the political and social climate is also changing noticeably, in Germany and also internationally.

Can art, which often recognises seismographic changes, make change visible? In the summer of 2024, students from HFBK Hamburg, the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig and the Academy of Fine Arts Munich came together in Neuhardenberg to explore the opportunities for art in times of climate change during a photography summer workshop. The accompanying exhibition was held at Neuhardenberg Castle in the summer of 2025.

Can forests be archived before they are destroyed? How is the soil condition related to climate change? How do we deal with invasive species? What is alien to us? What is familiar? The students addressed these and other questions for an entire year. In the exhibition at the ICAT at the HFBK Hamburg, which features works that have been partially updated, they attempt to find answers by artistic means.

under the supervision of Prof. Armin Linke, Prof. Heidi Specker, Prof. Tobias Zielony and Prof. Thomas Weski