New exhibitions

The GrazMuseum becomes a living green space this year

Curator Catalin Betz, Director Sibylle Dienesch, curator Daniela Brasil and Bernhard König from the Breathe Earth Collective (from right) in the new "Stadtoase".(Bild: Christoph Hartner)

This year, the GrazMuseum is dedicating two exhibitions to the question of the interplay between city and nature. Currently, "In Graz Gardens and Courtyards" invites visitors to take a tour, followed by "Habitat Graz" from mid-May. And the museum is also greening up in other ways these days.

Even in the foyer of the GrazMuseum, visitors are currently greeted by a small piece of nature: "Forest Floor" is the name of the installation for which Helene Thümel and Gabriela Hiti are bringing a piece of nature into the museum: mosses, climbing plants and mushrooms will grow here over the coming weeks: "We don't want to imitate wilderness here, but rather create a kind of Zen garden that invites visitors to linger and reflect on our idea of nature," explains the duo.

Relationship between culture and nature
Their "Forest Floor" is just a small part of this year's focus on the theme of "City Nature", in which the GrazMuseum wants to explore the significance of natural spaces in the city. "Climate change is the central issue of our time and the starting point for us to explore the relationship between nature and culture in urban spaces," says museum director Sybille Dienesch.

Helene Thümel (right) and Gabriele Hiti in their installation "Forest Floor"(Bild: Christoph Hartner)

As a first step, the Breathe Earth Collective installed an "urban oasis" in the museum's inner courtyard - a mix of seating landscape and mini forest that can be used at any time with free admission.

A foray through the city's green spaces
The new exhibition "In Graz Gardens and Courtyards" also begins in this "urban oasis" - a journey through the history of cultivated green spaces in the city: "With the beginning of industrialization in the 19th century, the relevance of green spaces in cities was slowly recognized," says Catalin Betz, the curator of the show in the Gothic Hall. From the Gründerzeit onwards, green inner courtyards and front gardens increasingly became part of urban planning. The first community gardens and home gardens also developed. "Initially, they were mainly used to grow fruit and vegetables, but later they also became a recreational space," explains Betz.

Vegetable garden behind the Karl-Franzens-University, around 1900(Bild: Stadtarchiv Graz)

However, the exhibition not only focuses on the development of these "urban cultivated green spaces", but also looks at their biodiversity "They not only serve as a recreational space for people, but also as a habitat for many animals," says Betz.

The city as a habitat for animals
This also builds a bridge to the "Habitat Graz" exhibition, which opens in mid-May. "Plants, animals and fungi have always lived in the city, whether intentionally or not," says curator Daniela Brasil. "The show is intended to look beyond the city's gardens and explore places such as the Mühlgang or cemeteries as a home and refuge for a variety of living creatures," she says, giving an initial outlook.

This year, the GrazMuseum will also be opening the "Mini Graz Museum", which was developed with primary school children, during the spring festival (April 13 and 14) and inviting visitors to the new "Hybrid Graz Festival" in the city archive in June, which will focus on new forms of archiving digital memories. And from October, a traveling exhibition on "Hitler's Executive" will also be on display, which is a first preview of the 2025 annual focus on the topic of "City and Democracy".