PostCompost – Forest Reset
Project information
submitted by
Christian Doeller
Co-Authors
Fritzi Mathilda Buhtz, Johann Joesten, Nina Kegel, Zakhar Komarov-Zelinskii, Katharina Langenhan, Krittaporn Mahaweerarat, Jan Munske, Tan Oktik, Leandra Schieder, Adam Schmidt, Ayca Tugran
Mentors
Christian Doeller, Klaus Fritze-Herbst
Faculty:
Art and Design
Degree programme:
Media Art and Design (Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.)),
Media Art and Design - Study programme Integrated International Media Art and Design Studies (IIMDS) (Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) and Master of Arts (M.A.)),
Media Art and Design -Study programme Media Art und Design (MAD) (english) (Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.)),
Media Art and Design - Study programme Media Art and Design (MAD) (english) (Master of Science (M.Sc.))
Type of project presentation
Exhibition
Semester
Summer semester 2024
- Geschwister-Scholl-Straße 8 - Open Air Galerie
Available during summaery opening hours
Contributors:
Beyond Now – Umwelten
Project description
Vast forest areas that resemble lunar landscapes; heavy forestry machinery used to fell infected trees; truckloads of harvested logs piled up in forest parking lots.
These are the consequences of decades of consistent reforestation with spruce trees. Their monoculture has increased the vulnerability of the Thuringian forest landscape. In this environment, various bark beetle species found ideal living conditions — able to feed freely on their preferred host trees. What remains is a dystopian landscape of destruction that also marks the beginning of an ecological transformation: berry bushes, ferns, mosses, and lichens are now finding new habitats in the remaining deadwood.
In the project module “PostCompost – Forest Reset,” we artistically explored the traces and impacts of this drastic transformation. During an excursion to the deforested areas of Thuringia, we formed a temporary artistic research group that examined the terrain from multiple perspectives and with various media — photography, video, drawing, sound — as well as DIY techniques such as photogrammetry or video analysis.
The exhibition for Summaery 2025 offers insights into the observations and experiments that emerged during our field research on site.