The Glenkeen Variations

Glenkeen, meaning “beautiful valley” in Irish, is a vast garden developed over 20 years by Ulrike Crespo (1950–2019) in Roaringwater Bay on Ireland’s southwest coast. Half wild and half artistically cultivated—including a meadow designed by Piet Oudolf—it is nestled within the quintessential Irish landscape of cottages, meadows, and drystone walls, surrounded by abundant rain and the sea. Since 2021, Glenkeen has hosted artists as part of the Crespo Foundation’s artist-in-residence program. Ulrike Crespo described the garden as her “life’s work,” a space that inspired many of her photographic series. In line with her vision, Glenkeen has become a temporary home for artists from diverse disciplines, immersing themselves in the lush landscape, the rich cultural surroundings, and the welcoming social fabric of West Cork.

ArtNature/NatureArt is the central theme of the Glenkeen Garden Residencies. How do art and nature—or humanity and nature—interact in the era of the Anthropocene, Technocene, or Novocene? What fresh perspectives can be drawn from Europe’s often-overlooked rural contours? These questions guided 12 international artists and artist groups, each with diverse practices ranging from painting and sculpture to film, literature, installation, soundscapes, science fiction, botanical studies, and artistic research.

The Glenkeen Variations: ArtNature/NatureArt marks the first public presentation of all works created during the residencies’ first two years, from 2021 to 2023. The exhibition, which inaugurates the new Crespo House in Frankfurt, presents work by all of the artists who have participated in the Glenkeen Garden residency.

Participating artists: Markus Huemer (Austria); Tania Rubio (Mexico); Carolin Liebl (Germany) and Nikolas Schmid-Pfähler (Germany); Marcus Maeder (Switzerland); Moritz Fehr (Germany); Christina Cheiranagnostaki (Greece) and Konstanza Kapsali (Greece); Kristin Reiman (Estonia) and Filippa Pettersson (Sweden); Jan Wagner (Germany); Yulia Carolin Kothe (Germany), Katerina Sidorova (NL/Russia) and Max Brück (Germany); STRWÜÜ (Jo Wanneng (China), Lukas Fütterer (Germany)); Lorenzo Rebediani (Italy), Vera Scaccabarozzi (Italy), Luca Trevisani (Italy), and Francesca Verga (Italy); Doireann O’Malley (Ireland) and Elisa T. Bertuzzo (Italy).

Through moorlands and seaweed forests, along drystone walls and hedgerows, and all the way down to the local pub in Ballydehob, the exhibited works bear the traces of these explorations of Glenkeen Garden and its surroundings. The network nurtured around Glenkeen Garden—including Frankfurt’s Senckenberg Society for Nature Research, University College Cork (especially its Glucksman Gallery and the Environmental Research Institute), the Goethe-Institut in Dublin, Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre in Skibbereen, the Working Artists Studios and the local community of Ballydehob—help the artists foster an understanding of the relationship between art, humanity, and nature.

The exhibition is curated by Ben Livne Weitzman, Program Coordinator Glenkeen Garden Residencies, and Christiane Riedel, Chairwoman of the Crespo Foundation.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue published with DISTANZ.

As part of the Crespo House launch celebrations, an exhibition of 66 works from the collection of Ulrike Crespo will be shown throughout the new Crespo House in Frankfurt. Curated by Mario Kramer, formerly of MMK Frankfurt, where some of the Crespo collection was gifted, this exhibition marks the first time a large group from the collection has been on display and provides insight into Crespo’s collecting interests, in particular, her support for women and under-represented and emerging artists. Highlights include works by Thomas Bayrle, Herbert Brandl, Ralph Fleck, Franz Graf, Iryna Kalenyk, Thomas Kilpper, Sun-Rae Kim, Imi Knoebel, Sigrid Kopfermann, Marie Joe Lafontaine, Rosa Loy, David Nash, Joan Hernández Pijuan, Anke Röhrscheid and Herman de Vries.

About the Crespo Foundation
The Crespo Foundation, founded by the late Ulrike Crespo—a gifted photographer, accomplished psychologist and passionate philanthropist—is based in Frankfurt am Main and focuses on the educational, social and cultural sectors. The foundation’s programs and projects support artists, promote cultural education, provide access to education for those facing disadvantages, and help empower individuals.

International Press
Sarah Greenberg, Evergreen Arts: sgreenberg [​at​] evergreen-arts.com
For images, contact: ppanagopoulos [​at​] evergreen-arts.com