Nature After Nature

Drawing on the V-A-C collection display the Curator and Lecturer in Modern and Contemporary Art at UCL, Petra Lange-Berndt discusses with artist Klara Hobza alternative ways of living with nature.

The event begins with a presentation by Hobza on her practice, entitled Moving with Fervour into Moments of Levity. The lecture explores her commitment to self-imposed durational, and often impossible, projects. Such endeavours  may span up to 30 years, continuing well into the future; as with her current work Diving Through Europe (2010 – ca. 2040), for which she charts a river route across Europe, from the mouth of the North Sea to the Black Sea.

Hobza’s work finds its meaning and complexity in the clash between the world of imagination and that of reality. The artist confronts the ambition of the projects she pursues, accepting the pragmatics of problem solving necessary in such fantastic situations. The peculiar and often humorous results form the raw material for visual and narrative outputs, which manifest as films, sculptures, drawings, texts and lectures.