Henrik Håkansson's Exhibition: Exploring Natural Cycles and Human-Nature Dialogue Through Contemporary Art

This exhibition features the works of Henrik Håkansson, focusing on fragmented natural cycles and the observation of living beings. It explores the dialogue between humans and nature through scientific registration apparatuses and visual media, combined with subjective language and pop culture references.

The exhibition by Henrik Håkansson at the Secession delves into fragments of natural cycles, observed and recreated within exhibition contexts. Håkansson's practice centers on the observation of plants, birds, insects, and their environments, posing questions about potential forms of dialogue between humans and nature. He employs various registration apparatuses and visualization media, such as surveillance cameras and high-speed films, akin to scientific experiments, to analyze acoustical and motoric patterns. While these elements formally allude to the integration of science into art, they conceptually represent processes of abstraction and objectification. Håkansson combines these scientific systems of understanding with a language of subjectivity, pop culture, and music history. His installations reconstruct recording situations in a manner reminiscent of film settings. For instance, a three-hour film of a sleeping anaconda is titled _Sleep (Eunectes murinus)_ (1998), echoing Andy Warhol, and bird songs appear in record format (_The Blackbird – Song for a new breed_ and _Nightingale – Love two times_, both 2001). These observational settings aim not to reflect supposed contradictions between nature and culture or science and art, but rather to raise awareness of natural phenomena within already fragmented living and perceptual spaces. The exhibition specifically showcases two new projects thematically centered on birds. _The Skylark (Alauda arvensis)_. The optimal flight between nowhere and somewhere_ is a film installation documenting the flight of a skylark, captured on 16mm high-speed film in southern Sweden, visualizing an 'optimal' flight path. Accompanying this, Håkansson releases a vinyl record featuring the skylark's song, which also serves as the film's soundtrack. The second project focuses on the Bali Mynah bird, as part of a larger film project, _The Birds_, dedicated to endangered species. This includes a video portrait, termed a 'screen test' after film industry casting practices, of a Bali Mynah pair filmed at Zoo Schönbrunn. The exhibition displays this screen test alongside a reconstruction of the aviary where the pair was recorded, presenting it as both a temporary habitat and a film set.

Tickets can be purchased online via the provided link or at the venue. The Secession is open from Tuesday to Sunday, 10 AM to 6 PM. Further information is available on the website.