„Crumbling stones, cracked plaster, toppled columns: time and weather leave their traces on buildings and eventually turn them into ruins. The sight of ruins evokes in us strong emotions of melancholy and nostalgia: decay is a reminder of the temporal nature of life and of our own mortality.“

— Katrin Terstegen

Overgrown – opera of the nervous system is the second exhibition on view at Galerie 3AP in Düsseldorf from April 09, 2022. The group exhibition brings together contemporary positions from Munich, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Offenbach and Rotterdam. On display are works by architect Roberto Barbosa (*1990) and the artists Toni Meyer (*1988), Sandra Mann (*1970), Robert Schittko (*1987) and Lara Werth (*1996). Experiences of architecture and nature lead to artistic spatial constitutions that find expression in photography, video art, drawing, sculpture and even architectural models. The permanent is contrasted with the fleetingly impermanent, decay is  followed by overgrowth and resurrection. The various positions express a feeling of an age that is characterized by fragile, highly efficient systems and networks, at the same time cut off connections to oneself, others and nature. What all the works have in common is the examination of external structural forms that work with and against the laws of internal structures. Various strategies are used to outline questions about the relationship between man, architecture and nature.

The city appears as an action-theoretical context in which the natural environment is rearranged and restructured. As a nervous system and material expression of physical activity, it is in a state of continuous change, growth and reshaping. But what dramaturgy does human second nature follow? Who or what are its heroes and protagonists? A text by architect and university lecturer Prof. Katrin Terstegen accompanies the exhibition. She is principal of Los Angeles based design studio KATRINTERSTEGEN, a registered architect in California, and Associate Professor in the Architecture Department at California Polytechnic State University, Pomona.