The Irish artist Claire Morgan (*1980) has developed a new installation specifically for the light-flooded ground floor of the Landesgalerie Niederösterreich. This impressive exhibition showcases the artist’s work for the first time in Austria. In her art, Claire Morgan raises fundamental questions about the role of humans and their relationship to nature.

Complex three-dimensional forms made from artificial and natural materials are a frequently recurring motif in Morgan’s work. In Krems, colourful snippets of plastic, fine thistle seeds and feathers hang from the ceiling of the exhibition space on thousands of transparent nylon threads. They form a filigree, geometric-looking composition that is brought to life by ten different birds hidden within it. For the first time in Claire Morgan’s installations a human being in the form of a sculpture will be visible as well.

The artist took the title of the work Hold me tightly lest I fall from the lyrics of a song. The request to be held and protected metaphorically expresses the threat to human existence in a natural world that is increasingly destabilised by human activity. In the face of climate change, environmental pollution and the destruction of habitats, Claire Morgan’s artistic work can be understood as a subtly poetic plea for a more sustainable relationship with nature.

Curated by: Gerda Ridler