In the constant attempt to understand the big picture, man is constantly trying to overcome his (perceptual) limitations. A pioneering spirit, technical progress and the discovery of unknown worlds have unhinged long-held laws of nature and made possible glimpses of the vastness of the universe, but also of the smallest atomic elements and microscopic structures.

"IN/OUT - The Universe" shows six photographic positions that approach the micro- and macrocosm in a variety of ways. The artistic works not only reveal poetic, distant landscapes and enigmatic surface structures from a distance, they are also a study of changing conditions, historical events and phenomena of the most diverse life worlds. The focus on detail, consisting of amorphous forms and the smallest, atomic elements, enables the visualisation of what is invisible to the naked eye. Bizarre formations and molecular parts are captured with technical images and refer to small and large evolutions. Already in antiquity, cognitive models were created to explain the reality that surrounds us. Democritus was able to recognise from his own power of imagination and without modern technology and apparatus that everything surrounding man must consist of the smallest atomic parts. In quantum physics, some of the foundations of today's research are still based on philosophical considerations and spiritual ideas of antiquity.

The exhibition focuses on the relationship between imagination and the expansion of the human eye through photographic-documentary processes. Artistic imaginative processes think beyond the existing at an early stage, transcend the documentary image through their own interpretations and enable a discourse on further developments. How does the perception of the world change with the technical possibilities of documenting it? How do artists react to these permanently expanding perspectives, profound insights and far-reaching outlooks? The artistic-photographic explorations enable forms of locating and searching for knowledge that go far beyond a purely scientific-documentary investigation.

Starting from satellite photographs, scanning electron microscope photographs or detailed photos of earth surfaces, the artists develop their subjective visual worlds of micro- and macrocosm. The advances in photographic techniques make the invisible visible, serve as source material and inspiration for their own artistic interpretations. They penetrate into the deepest layers of atomic elements or zoom out into the vastness of the universe. Poetic views of distant landscapes and micro-worlds, visionary attempts at utopias, but also a critical look at civilisation and growth processes, environmental destruction and war encourage us to think about the future. No scientific or documentary claim is made, but the possibility is offered for free association and discussion of metaphysical, philosophical but also socio-critical questions, at the end of which there is often a confrontation with one's own existence.

With the kind support of: