Vesuv, Venus

In Vesuv, Venus, Saskia Groneberg explores Wörlitzer Park, blending photography with themes of nature, utopia, and the human experience in a dreamlike landscape.

Since the Age of Enlightenment, our understanding of nature in the Western world has undergone a profound transformation. No other medium captures this evolution quite like the English landscape garden. In Vesuv, Venus, Saskia Groneberg takes a closer look at one of Europe’s most significant garden monuments, Wörlitzer Park. Through a photographic journey, she explores the age-old dream of a paradise on Earth, highlighting the harmonious coexistence of humankind and nature.

Groneberg's work presents fine gradations of gray, playing with the contradictory yet dreamlike spaces of this art(ificial) nature. The narrative oscillates between utopia and reality, where space and time become indistinguishable. As winter follows spring and detail follows sequence, dreams lead to deconstruction. A striking replica of Mount Vesuvius, crafted from enormous blocks of stone, alongside the sculpture of Venus de Medici, symbolize the dichotomy of masculine and feminine, earthly and divine, darkness and light.

Mythical motifs such as the swan and fig leaf intertwine with the presence of mundane tourists. These visitors, equipped with fold-out maps and walking sticks, navigate the park's winding paths, becoming part of a dreamlike tableau vivant. They are both observers and protagonists in a never-ending play, where plants, buildings, canals, and wildlife reveal themselves as integral elements of this picturesque scenery, inviting reflection on the interplay between nature and human experience.