Ohne Titel (Cuscuta epilinum), Ohne Titel (Coleanthus Subtilis),Ohne Titel (Cuscuta epilinum), Ohne Titel (Bud Entanglement)
each 26 x 18 cm, 2023 (c) Theresa Wey
Collected
Series of collages from C-Prints (Fujicolor photo paper matte), 2023, Herbarium paper sheets from archives of the Natural History Museum Vienna, 2023“For her series begun in 2022, Michaela Putz explored the idea of archiving, image and reproduction. Starting from a „red list of ferns and flowering plants, which includes „vulnerable“ and „lost“ plants, she scoured the Internet for digital images of these endangered oreven extinct plant species and created a digital image archive, onthe one hand, and on the other, she inspected the herbarium of the botanical department in the Natural History Museum Vienna onsite and sifted through stacks of herbarium specimens. The two approaches could hardly be more different. For her contribution to the exhibition, she uses both sources, materializes immaterial things (image data are exposed) and shows quasi dematerialized things from the museum. In the course of restoration work at the Museumof Natural History, underground papers that are considered too damaged are repeatedly exchanged, or storage sheets in which plants were waiting to be processed into herbarium specimens are discarded. For this purpose, the plants are carefully detached fromtheir paper substrates and removed so that only their imprints remain - such as those left by woody stems in the handmade papers, stored for decades in folders and stacked on top of each other - as if transferred to the soft paper with an embossing stamp.” - Ruth Horak, translated by Paula Marschalek
Exhibition view “Between Light & Shadow” with Hessam Samavatian (c) Theresa Wey
“Exhibits are therefore also such „empty“ sheets of paper, on which, however, traces of the original plants are still clearly visible. In a figurative sense, the invisible, which is listed as lost throughout Austria, is made visible again: Michaela Putz‘s archive includes photographs of endangered plant species collected on the web, including the often detailed descriptions of their various stages of life - for example, the Artemis Alba with buds, its feathery foliage, blossoms, seed stand, but also its amazing scent of cola is described by the user:inside. Image data are exposed as C-prints and these (always) rectangular photographs are cropped in a next step, some follow the outlines of flowers, others take on new organic forms. Different stages of life are combined and composed into collages. Even the otherwise invisible screen on which Michaela scrolls along her search results becomes visible when the artist photographs some of the plants from the screenand a keyboard partially burned into the Retina display of the Macbook after years of use becomes visible as a bright outline, just like dust, scratches or fingerprints. Even tools of image processing, such as the magnifying glass, become part of the composition. But especially with the decision to compose blurred parts in an intertwined way, Michaela Putz takes back the pragmatics of the fact-based research work and gives the plants back their sensuality.” - Ruth Horak, translated by Paula Marschalek
Photo from the research in the Natural History Museum Vienna, 2023, (c) Michaela Putz, Bildrecht
Ohne Titel (Linaria arvensis), 100 x 70 cm, 2023 (c) Theresa Wey
Ohne Titel (Artemis alba), 100 x 70 cm, 2023 (c) Theresa Wey
Exhibition view “Between Light & Shadow” with Hessam Samavatian (c) Theresa Wey
Ohne Titel (Orchis coriophora), 26 x 18 cm, 2023 (c) Theresa Wey
Untitled (Paper Archaeology) 56,8 x 47,8 cm, handmade paper, empty herbarium sheet with traces of plants, from the archive of the Natural History Museum Vienna, 2023
Ohne Titel (Linaria arvensis), 26 x 18 cm, 2023 (c) Theresa Wey
Untitled (Paper Archaeology) ca. 40 x 30 cm, handmade paper, empty herbarium sheet with traces of plants, from the archive of the Natural History Museum Vienna, 2023
Untitled (Paper Archaeology), handmade paper, empty herbarium sheet with traces of plants, from the archive of the Natural History Museum Vienna, 2023
Untitled (Paper Archaeology) ca. 40 x 30 cm, handmade paper, empty herbarium sheet with traces of plants, from the archive of the Natural History Museum Vienna, 2023