The museum in Bad Arolsen Residential Palace offers an extremely festive setting for the smallest fragments of our everyday lives. Fits really well! Who says that only the princely legacy is worth treasuring, marveling at and admiring? My (vegan) insect worlds and the tiny bird paradises impress with their absolute liveliness and diversity. These are the current prospects we need for a future worth living: Hope is in the smallest detail! That’s what I said!

Countless finds are currently being brought together in the Bad Arolsen Museum to form new habitats. Insectology is blossoming here, so to speak. Things are not always what they seem at first glance. However, anyone who thinks that a typewriter was involved in the creation of this exhibit has typed correctly. This work is one of many others that now reside in Bad Arolsen. Fits, wobbles and has air!

“Magdalena Hohlweg’s collages elevate incoherence to an art form.

The highly individual and intuitive selection of everyday found objects opens up new perspectives in the works and establishes its own [UN]order.

Every element, no matter how banal, is essential to the overall message of the bizarre works and puts our perception to the test.

Depending on their placement in the works, the most banal fragments result in either bird-like creatures or insects, which are often not so easy to distinguish from the real models from nature.

Insect or not insect? That’s the question here!”

Arolsen Residential Palace breathes history: centuries-old creaking steps, long galleries, paneled walls, historic rooms that have certainly seen a lot.

Now, fragile bird creatures and bizarre insects have taken up residence in the stately halls.

The accompanying text panels not only shed light on the individual aspects of my work relating to perception, change and values. The enlargements also make it easier to engage with the miniature works. Thanks to an elaborate technique in which several macro shots are superimposed, the powerful photos on the panels lose none of their brilliance. And you can see for yourself whether you have seen correctly. Unlike usual: please feel free to get really close to the originals!

At first glance, some of the works are reminiscent of scientific collections, because:

Collecting, measuring, organizing, preparing, exhibiting – these were the central activities of scientific research until well into the 20th century. For a long time, environmental conditions and behavioral patterns played no role whatsoever. Essential environmental conditions and species-specific behavior were completely neglected.

In my works, I elevate the principles of incoherence and arbitrariness to an art form. The highly individual and random compilation of everyday found objects opens up new perspectives and establishes a radically new order. Every detail, no matter how small, is declared indispensable here.

Insect or non-insect? That is the question with some of the exhibits.

How do we perceive our world?

How can an object gain a presence in our consciousness and have a deeper impact?

In the end, it’s all a question of observation. The value of any object is closely linked to our perception.

It is only through our attention that things come to life and unfold their magic.

My workplace can also be found in the exhibition – here is the display case with work utensils from my studio surrounded by participants in one of my guided tours. I have brought some materials with me to show how the works were created.

The tours are simply great fun. It was another entertaining hour with everyone. Thank you to all the visitors!

Before the hanging, I had slight doubts as to how my small-scale works would hold their own in the baroque halls and galleries. Like countless splashes of color, they could get lost on the huge walls, couldn’t they?

On the contrary! The 40 or so exhibits shine here in a wonderful contrast that reveals new perspectives.

I couldn’t imagine a more worthy setting – glitz and glamor for the smallest insignificances of our everyday world. Here they shine with all their – sometimes somewhat morbid – charm.

From the small scenes measuring 5 x 5 cm to the large-format works, which at first glance may look like old scientific collections – each exhibit has found its place and invites you to take a closer look.

The exhibition has already been visited by a number of school classes from the Bad Arolsen area. I am delighted when the children in particular can take away ideas for discovering exciting things even in the smallest remnants.

It was also a huge pleasure for me to create more fantastic creatures together with enthusiastic third graders. So far, I have experienced it in all the groups: every child really does find their very own little treasure in the initially meaningless particles that I offer them for their work.

After viewing the exhibition, they all worked diligently and in great depth. At the end, each child proudly took their own work home with them.

Fortunately, setting up the exhibition was not solely in my hands – with a project of this size, I would probably still be screwing and sorting today. The preparations together with the museum management and the team were all the more fun. A big thank you also to all the other helpers – it definitely wouldn’t have worked so smoothly without you. I would especially like to thank the director of the Bad Pyrmont Castle Museum, art historian Melanie Mehring, for her friendly and competent support at the opening.

Incidentally, the cabinet for metamorphosis was particularly in need of helping hands. The expansive cocoon remains mysterious from the outside – simply enter and let the transformation happen. Who knows, maybe you’ll come out a little transformed…

I don’t want to anticipate everything. Because camouflage is also an important principle in nature. And not every step in the course of a metamorphosis is “pretty”

The box would like to pose a riddle. Good on the outside, bad on the inside? Here it’s more the other way around. I won’t reveal any more 🙂

The photos in the room show some greatly enlarged original butterfly pupae (cocoons) – each one unique with impressive and almost artistic details. It is only in these macro shots that their bizarre beauty becomes visible.

The walk-in cocoon is an invitation to change. The metamorphosis as a model is therefore also part of the exhibition. Discover jars with remnants of real cocoons in the display cases. These inconspicuous structures were once the protective space for a breathtaking metamorphosis. Now they are empty shells. Even the beautiful butterflies that hatched from them have most likely already turned to dust. Generations of them have already come and gone.

Some of these finds are the basis for impressive macros. The smallest fragile remains impress with their complex structures, which only reveal themselves when you zoom in. Many thanks for this photo installation to the photographer Manfred Hohlweg .

As always, I really enjoyed the multiple guided tours of the exhibition. The conversations and exchanges are part of my work and each time they provide welcome new inspiration. Hopefully not just for me.

Many thanks for the great interest

Magdalena Hohlweg

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