Stretching across public spaces, cultural institutions, and artist-run venues, Biennale für Freiburg's latest edition with the name HAPPY PLACE brings together local and international artists who explore the complex interrelations between environment, mobility, leisure, and travel. Each exhibition site follows a distinct thematic focus, shedding light on specific facets of this broader subject. For her exhibition at the venue Pförtnerhaus, Cosima zu Knyphausen turns to the pastoral genre. The bucolic – nature as a place of refuge and idealization, is explored as a space for lesbian longing. Borrowing from various art historical motifs and references, Cosima zu Knyphausen presents small-format paintings against the backdrop of a self designed toile-de-jouy. Leisure and idleness, the quotidian, escapism and desire are brought into tension in the small interior of the art space. Words of the sonnet Inútil soy (“Useless I am”) by Argentinian poet Alfonsina Storni (1892-1938) appear in an attempted translation by the artist.
5 June to 27 July 2025
