At Ambras Castle a major exhibition on the four elements, between ancient and contemporary

A major exhibition at Ambras Castle in Innsbruck celebrates the four elements: water, air, earth, and fire will be considered in art-historical and contemporary perspectives through some one hundred and fifty paintings and objects. On view from June 16 to October 2, 2022, the exhibition titled One World. The Power of the Four Elements intends to focus on how the harmonious interaction between the four elements has always formed the basis of life and survival on Earth and how this has inspired each in his or her field artists, scientists and thinkers to address and portray the beautiful and darker sides of air, water, earth and fire.

“This year’s exhibition offers visitors an opportunity to immerse themselves in a topical and relevant subject by considering it from multiple perspectives,” said Castle Director Veronika Sandbickler.

We know that Archduke Ferdinand II of Habsburg (Linz, 1529 - Innsbruck, 1595), who was responsible for the construction of Ambras Castle, built on a rocky outcrop overlooking the Inn River on the remains of a fortress that was destroyed in 1133, with the intention of making it a magnificent Renaissance residence as the true humanist ruler he was, and who gave to his morganatic wife Philippine Welser (Augsburg, 1527 - Innsbruck), was a passionate collector(we had already devoted an in-depth article to Ambras Castle and its history): he then brought together in his Chamber of Wonders the suits of armor that later formed the basis of today’s armory of heroes, pieces of art , and rare natural relics, such as corals, decorated minerals, mother-of-pearl and porcelain objects, creating one of the oldest museums in the world. It is not, however, the oldest collection open to the public ever: the donation of Sixtus IV’s bronzes to the Roman people means that the Capitoline Museums precede Ambras by more than a century. However, the Castle is the oldest example in the world of a place that houses an art collection for exhibition purposes and from which the collection has never been moved.

Objects from the Chamber of Wonders are part of the exhibition, along with rare loans that come from many European collections. All to illustrate the disharmony of the elements and their uncontrollable forces, war power, natural phenomena such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, fires and floods, but also what is beautiful and magical about the four elements.

Central to the summer festival at Ambras Castle is the experimentation with the four elements: the supernatural, the intermediate world and reality will accompany visitors through the rooms of the High Castle. Six rooms in which the four elements figuratively bring order to Chaos, mingle, ignite, and make their power visible, transform materials and become something new. The intent is to make the elements of water, fire, earth, and air perceived in multiple different ways through video and audio productions.

The elements

Water

The source of life and all beginnings, water represents creation, purification, rest, but also nature’s power and destruction. It tells of sea deities in ancient mythology, voyages of discovery and current issues related to the blue planet, water distribution and pollution. In nature, the water of the seas and oceans represents infinity, but artificially it is capable of creating evocative play. Among the works on display are the clapper with the god Neptune holding his trident, standing on the legs of two hippocampi, the half-horse, half-fish sea creatures, and the five boules de neige inside which artist Maarten Vanden Eynde introduced microplastics he collected from the North and South Atlantic, North and South Pacific and Indian Ocean over five years.

Fire

A carrier of energy among the elements, fire has the power to bring warmth, comfort, and brightness, but it is also a bringer of destruction. Used as a source of light and heat, it is employed in crafts or entertainment. Volcanoes are true natural spectacles that testify to the fascination of this element. Among the works on display are Giuseppe Arcimboldo’sAllegory of Fire , made for Emperor Maximilian II and from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, and Little Sun by Olafur Eliasson and Frederik Ottesen. The latter is a sun-shaped LED solar lamp made from sustainable materials and intended to bring low-threshold light to geographically and economically remote regions that have no access to electricity.

Earth

Synonymous with fertility, land is a source of food, shelter and stability. Tied to the land are many activities, such as agriculture, horticulture, mining and trade. It also provides us with valuable natural resources such as precious stones, but sometimes brings with it many natural disasters. The earth as the beginning and end of everything. Among the works in the exhibition are the painting depicting Ceres and the four elements, by Jan Brueghel the Elder and Hendrik van Balen, from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, and Nicolás Lamas ’ work consisting of a worn metal globe: the artist rolled the globe for days on the rough surface of the earth.

Air

Air is synonymous with lightness, invisibility and movement. Birds move lightly and seem almost weightless as they hover in the air. It also carries pollution, and the exclusion of this element occurs only in a vacuum. Without air, there is no life. Works on display include Hans von Aachen ’s painting on alabaster depicting the unleashing of the winds at the hands of Aeolus and the Bubble Tray, feather-light hand-molded with pearl texture, made exclusively of biopolymer. 100% bio-based and compostable.

Today catastrophic events warn of the irreparable consequences of a nature that has lost its balance. Since climate change is a consequence of the disharmony of the elements, the One world exhibition also presents contemporary works of"Climate Change Art" and"Climate Change Design." The focus is on current environmental issues, innovative materials and new types of processes.

For the first time, the park surrounding the Castle and an area of the Court Garden will also become exhibition spaces. In the park of Ambras Castle, the public will have the opportunity to directly experience the four elements, which will be set in different locations, each corresponding to one of them.

Another essential part of the exhibition will be the works of multimedia artist Helmut Wimmer. The Castle’s well-known Spanish Hall will be transformed into a stage for water, fire, earth and air: art and reality will merge into a visionary spectacle.

Accompanying the exhibition is an extensively illustrated catalog in German and published by Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König.

One World. The Power of the Four Elements can be visited daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Tickets: Full 16 euros, reduced 12 euros. Free for children and young people under 19. Special tours on request. Audioguides 4 euros available in German and English.

For more info on the exhibition at Ambras Castle visit austria.info.

At Ambras Castle a major exhibition on the four elements, between ancient and contemporary

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