MIMOSEN

During the pandemic lockdown, Grisebach’s window display was left vacant as the gallery remained closed to the public. That’s when they invited Illenberger to create a pop-up installation and breathe new life into the empty window space. What gave impetus to the concept was reminiscing about all the things and activities of everyday life that had disappeared in the months of isolation. The space transformed into a fitness studio made up almost entirely of natural materials. Taking cues from the then-widespread motto “Nature is healing” that transpired after people observed the overgrown moss in urban environments, the artist “dressed” the fitness equipment in plants. A discarded tree log became a punching bag, a treadmill was covered in moss, a trampoline was planted with violets (“Veilchen” in German, which is also a term used for a “black eye”), and dumbbells replaced their weights with roughly cut stones. For the opening event, the bodybuilder David Kirschke performed within the space, happy to be in public again.