In dia­lo­gue wi­th the earth: pic­tu­re ex­cava­tions by Mat­thi­as Op­per­mann at the Ham­burg Ar­chaeo­lo­gi­cal Mu­se­um

From 22 Oc­to­ber 2025, the Ar­chaeo­lo­gi­cal Mu­se­um Ham­burg will be pre­sen­ting “Image Ex­cava­tions — Art in Dia­lo­gue wi­th the Earth”, an ex­tra­or­di­na­ry pro­ject by Ham­burg ar­tist Mat­thi­as Op­per­mann. He­re, art and na­tu­re mer­ge in an im­pres­si­ve way: In 2017, Op­per­mann cut up ele­ven of his pain­tings in­to a to­tal of 48 frag­ments and bu­ried them in va­rious places around the world. Af­ter se­ve­ral ye­ars in the ground, the frag­ments we­re re­co­ver­ed and ex­hi­bi­ted for the first time wi­th the traces of their jour­ney — de­s­truc­tion, trans­for­ma­ti­on and crea­ti­ve ch­an­ge.

The ex­hi­bi­ti­on in­vi­tes vi­si­tors to ques­ti­on con­ven­tio­nal per­spec­ti­ves on art and opens up a new, ar­chaeo­lo­gi­cal view of ar­tis­tic pro­ces­ses. The vi­si­bly aged pain­tings, cha­rac­te­ri­sed by the earth, tell sto­ries of tran­si­ence and trans­for­ma­ti­on and do­cu­ment the in­ter­play bet­ween hu­man crea­ti­on and the forces of na­tu­re. Vi­si­tors to the ex­hi­bi­ti­on ex­pe­ri­ence art as a dia­lo­gue — raw, di­rect and deep­ly roo­ted in the histo­ry of the earth.