I Feel the Earth Whisper

Artists: Bianca Bondi, Julian Charrière, Sam Falls, Ernesto Neto. Curated by Patricia Kamp and Jérôme Sans.

Amid a world rapidly changing under the weight of climate change, the exhibition I Feel the Earth Whisper at the Museum Frieder Burda invites us to contemplate the fragile beauty of the natural world and our profound interconnectedness with it—through installations by Bianca Bondi, Julian Charrière, Sam Falls, and Ernesto Neto. Encompassing sculpture, painting, video, and photography in evocative scenarios, the show curated by Patricia Kamp and Jérôme Sans invites us to perceive ourselves as part of nature, its forests, and the unique ecosystems of our planet, encouraging us to reclaim our historically rooted role as respectful guardians of these vibrant habitats and to tell new, caring stories about our relationship with the Earth—true “planetary” love stories.

Uniquely united for the first time, the artists’ exhibited works draw our gaze to natural landscapes outside and invite the living world into the museum, creating engaging spaces that inspire us to consider more-than-human perspectives and awakening a deep sense of kinship with the animate Earth. Furthermore, the interaction of light and nature in the museum building, designed by renowned architect Richard Meier, blurs the boundaries between the outside and inside, creating a dynamic and immersive environment that challenges the traditional white-cube museum aesthetic.

By weaving together threads of mythology, cosmology, and ecology—our shared heritage and future—the exhibition I Feel the Earth Whisper contemplates how the modern Western world, by commodifying nature, has progressively alienated itself from the Earth and its wisdom, reducing it to an abstract, subordinate entity driven by human desires. The show eschews a nostalgic or idealistic return to the ethos of the nature movements of the 1960s, advocating instead a profound reengagement with the forgotten languages of nature.

The relentless drive for rationalization and secularization of Western society have led to a loss of magic, mystery, and deeper meaning once found in our communion with the natural world. This disconnect is characterized by a profound disenchantment and a physical disconnection in contemporary life. Such disembodiment, or the separation of mind from body and self from nature, has made it easier to objectify, commodify, and destroy the natural systems that sustain us.

Unraveling the persistent myth of a dichotomy between the natural world and human civilization, this exhibition confronts the naive assumption that humanity can control nature. Rather than engaging in a relationship of domination, the exhibition advocates healing and a renewed humility before the grandeur of creation, encouraging us to cultivate a sentient, embodied, and reciprocal relationship with the natural worlds that recognizes our interdependence and the inherent value of all life forms.

Highlighting our roles as active agents of change, each artist’s installation urges us to embrace our relationship with the natural world with radical intimacy and to remember: our bodies are not separate from the soil, our veins flow with the same water as the rivers, and our lungs are one with the trees. Like an invitation to feel its vibrating pulse anew, I Feel the Earth Whisper is a resounding declaration of love to our Earth and all its animate worlds, (re)learning to live in symbiosis together.

20 Years Museum Frieder Burda
As the Museum Frieder Burda—build by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Richard Meier—commemorates its twentieth anniversary, I Feel the Earth Whisper pays tribute to the visionary spirit and enduring legacy of its founder, Frieder Burda as a passionate and dedicated collector of contemporary art. Connected to the greatest minds and creators of his generation, the German collector built his museum on a human scale.

The museum, nestled within the picturesque park Lichtentaler Allee, part of the UNESCO World Heritage, features light-filled spaces that create a harmonious symbiosis between art, architecture, and the breathtaking, contemplative natural surroundings. Situated near the borders of France and Switzerland, the museum is situated within the enigmatic Black Forest, a region rich with legends and spiritual resonance. As a response to the museum’s unique history and positioning in Baden-Baden, a town steeped in the tradition of providing healing and restoration with its mineral-rich thermal waters and historical bathhouses, the exhibition explores concepts of healing on multiple levels —physical, emotional, and environmental—calling for environmental guardianship and inspiring a harmonious relationship with ourselves and the Earth.