On Paradise
The exhibition On Paradise explores one of the most powerful concepts in cultural history, asking where the idea of paradise has led us over the centuries. At Villa Schöningen, the exhibition takes visitors on a journey through the interior spaces and garden, where historical visual traditions meet contemporary artistic perspectives.
Rather than presenting paradise as a lost place, the exhibition portrays it as a projection shaped by longings, ideals, and forms of control. Through depictions of nature, the human body and social order, we see how this concept continues to influence the present day.
Among trees
“Zwischen Bäumen” brings together around 90 works by more than 60 international artists spanning three centuries. Rather than treating the forest as a fixed motif, the exhibition approaches it as a shared terrain—observed, recorded, and continually reimagined by each generation. Historical and contemporary positions enter into a dialogue about nature, landscape, and our changing relationship with them.
Curated by Victor Auberjonois and presented in cooperation with PASSAGE, the exhibition unfolds throughout Villa Schöningen and its historic parkland in Potsdam as an encounter between art, nature, and space. Here, landscape is not so much depicted as opened up—as a repository of time, memory, and transformation.
