Water Lilies under Ice

UNTER EIS [Under Ice] - Jörg Zimmermann

Exhibition in Greenhouse 19 of the Botanic Garden of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
from July 16 through September 30, 2011
daily from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. (Fridays until 1 p.m.)

Under ice

The dark areas of water surfaces under ice with the decomposing remains of nymphaeaceae and other plants are the subject of this exhibition in the Botanic Garden at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. The pictures represent a selection of the results of many photographic forays in the garden during the relatively rare periods of prolonged frost without snow. These conditions allow the decomposition typical of fall rather than rapid putrefaction. The other condition needed was early morning sunlight casting its beams through the layers of ice, - a constellation that has probably only occurred on a very few days in recent years. We can only hope that the fact that these pictures, chosen as they were from an esthetic point of view, are being shown in the height of summer in a greenhouse in the garden where they were taken will enhance their frosty effect. Everything else is left to the viewers' imagination.

The exhibition, part of the project "The Esthetics of Decomposition", showcases the topic of plant decomposition for the first time. This also shifts the focus within the discussion towards botanics, as this is the scientific discipline involved.

Contact and further information
Prof. Dr. Jörg Zimmermann
Mainz Academy of Arts
Art Theory
E-Mail: joerg.zimmermann@uni-mainz.de

Dr. Ralf Omlor
Botanischer Garten der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität
Anselm-Franz-von-Bentzel-Weg 9 b
D 55128 Mainz
Phone +49 6131 39 22628
E-Mail: omlor@uni-mainz.de