Where do we come from? Who are we? Where are we going?

The artist Renate Kirchhof-Stahlmann explores questions that continue to resonate with every generation. Ever since the opening of the listed Kulturbahnhof Ottensoos (Forum for Sustainable Development and Renate Kirchhof-Stahlmann Art Museum), the series *Genesis* and *Zeiten*, exhibited on the ground floor, have explored the history of the development of the world and humankind. The stairwell now displays the stages of her own life and key encounters with people up to the present day. The human being, who carries nature within them, is symbolised on the upper floor by the installation Dragonfly Woman and the collage Unfolding. Humanity’s original connection with nature then gradually dissolves as people increasingly seek to separate themselves from it and treat it as an object. They largely consume and abuse it to satisfy their boundless desires. Technology accelerates their lives, alienates them from nature, and they run the risk of becoming machine-like beings. Is this sustainable progress that ensures a good quality of life for 10 billion people? The installations ‘Progress’ and ‘Eye of Creation’ address this central question: Where are we heading? Complementing these are further drawings, objects and information under the three-part exhibition theme.

Last edited on 15.04.2026