DUSSELDORF.- Recognizing that our built environment is shaped by immaterial forces as much as by solid materials, the exhibition Borrowed Scenery centers around the idea of the Lantz’scher Park as a constructed space that encodes historical narratives and social dynamics across time. Originating in Japanese garden design, the concept “Borrowed Scenery” (Jap. “Shakkei”) refers to the intentional framing and integration of surrounding landscape features into a garden’s composition. In the context of the exhibition, Borrowed Scenery extends beyond the visual to encompass historical, material and visceral dimensions relating to the partially obscured histories and shifting forces that inscribe meaning onto the park’s terrain.

The layered historic traces of this English landscape park reaching back into the 13th century continue to mold the landscape, even though they might only exist as echoes, fragments and layered remnants of spatial arrangements that shape our perception. Borrowed Scenery seeks to unearth these entanglements, while inserting new perspectives into the complex constellation of preservation, erasure and reinterpretation. Newly commissioned works by Mimosa Echard (b. 1986 in Alès, France; based in Paris), Dara Friedman (b. 1968, Bad Kreuznach, Germany; based in Miami), and Allison Katz (b. 1980, Montreal, Canada; based in London) along with sculptures by Nancy Lupo (b. 1983, Flagstaff, Arizona; based in Los Angeles and Berlin), and Benjamin Hirte (b. 1980 in Aschaffenburg, Germany; based in Vienna and Berlin) engage with the latent forces embedded in the landscape—a psychic terrain shaped as much by memory as by its paths, towering trees, strategically placed ornamental rocks, and historical sculptures. An installation by Edith Dekyndt (b. 1960, Ypres, Belgium; based in Brussels and Berlin) is on view at the exhibition's second venue Künstlerverein Malkasten establishing a historical and spatial axis across the city. The artists’ pieces may subtly disrupt planned perspectives or introduce new narratives into the landscape. Borrowed Scenery invites visitors to experience the park as a living, dynamic archive where histories continue to shift under one’s feet.

Curator: Stephanie Seidel / Curatorial Assistant: Silja Lenz.

An accompanying exhibition catalogue edited by Stephanie Seidel and designed by Catherine Hu will be published in the fall of 2025.

Borrowed Scenery is a project of the Kunstkommission Düsseldorf and is supported by the Kulturamt der Stadt Düsseldorf, the Kunststiftung NRW, and the Bureau des arts plastiques of the Institut français Germany.

Artists: Edith Dekyndt, Mimosa Echard, Dara Friedman, Benjamin Hirte, Allison Katz, Nancy Lupo.