The Rheinaue is a large park between the city center of Bonn and the district Bad Godesberg.
Originally, buildings for the government district were planned on the site of today’s park. To prevent this and to preserve the realm as a recreational area, the city applied for the federal horticultural show of 1979 and was awarded the contract. Following an architectural competition, the park was built in the 70s. In 2017, it was listed as a building monument.
The Auensee (Auenlake), measuring 15ha forms the center of the park. With 4 islands and its morphological form it imitates a cut-off meander of the river Rhine, running nearby. Growing up in Bonn, the lake and the park are a big part of my childhood memories. We would go there in summer for picknicks or paddle boating and in winter we would ice skate on the lake or go sledging on the small slopes. Being a city-girl, this was nature for me. But maintaining this artificial “nature” requires an immense effort. The deficient (de-)watering system of the lake, its shallow depth, fast-growing algae, warmer winters and animal-feeding caused regular collapses of the lake. Till 2021, 35cm of putrid sludge had accumulated on its ground, calling for an extensive desludging and restoration.
Over the course of two Summers (2021-2022) I dealt with this process – with the human idea of nature and its construction and with the absurdity of fighting nature in order to imitate “correctly”. This body of work is the result of my survey.
Helen Gräser (*1992 in Bonn, Germany) is an architect and visual artist working in the field of photography. She studied architecture in Aachen, Germany, and has been working with photography since the beginning of her studies in 2012. At university, she took seminars in art history, visual arts and photography and her work was presented at the faculty’s annual shows.
The focus of her work is the exploration of space and atmosphere. The human impact on the world and the interactions and confrontations between human and natural creation are recurring topics in her work. In addition to the very concrete examination of a particular place or situation, she explores the question of place, atmosphere and perception on an abstract level: Does the one place, the atmosphere in the sense of the genius loci exist at all, or are places not always man-made constructs – literally as well as figuratively – dependent on individual perceptions and interpretations? Her approach is conceptual and personal, and while her visual style is often documentary, her works are not solely descriptive. Instead, they are a result of her subjective engagement and perception.
Her work has been featured in print and online media. In September 2021 she opened her first solo show in Remscheid (“Place and Atmosphere”), followed by a fundraiser show in Berlin (“Kiew/Odessa”) for the humanitarian aid in Ukraine last April. This solo show is currently on view in Bonn.
© Text and pictures by Helen Gräser
