state of nature
Multi-site museum exhibition
Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Exhibited: 27th February 2026 - 1st November 2026
Locations: Riding Hall at Gottorf Castle; Globe House at Gottorf Castle; Jewish Museum Rendsburg; Molfsee Open-Air Museum
Presented across three cultural locations in Schleswig-Holstein, State of Nature is a major exhibition by Rebecca Louise Law, centred at Gottorf Castle and extending to the Jewish Museum Rendsburg and Molfsee Open-Air Museum.
‘I wanted the viewer to be nature. To connect.’
- Rebecca Louise Law
State of Nature presents a retrospective view of Rebecca Louise Law’s practice, with installation, painting, drawing, ceramics, weaving, film and archival material shown alongside the site-specific installation Florilegia.
Together, these works trace Law’s ongoing interest in the origins of life, the biology of protection and the cycles of the natural world. Across painting, glass and ceramics, she draws connections between human anatomy and botanical processes: seeds, shells, cells and the womb appear as forms that protect and hold the possibility of growth.
Flowers, plants and natural structures are not used as decoration, but as records of time, labour, memory and care. The exhibition reveals a practice concerned with fragility and survival: the sensitive core, the protective casing, and the natural systems in which human life is embedded.
Florilegia
The Flower
Angiosperm
Pollen Grain
Meiosis
Mitosis
Ovule
Meiosis
Mitosis
Pollination
Fertilisation
Zygote
Endosperm
Embryo
Seed
— Rebecca Louise Law
Rebecca Louise Law, Rebecca Louise Law, Florilegia, 2026. Installation view, Schleswig-Holstein. Photo: Jan Brockhaus
Rebecca Louise Law, Rebecca Louise Law, Florilegia, 2026. Installation view, Schleswig-Holstein. Photo: Jan Brockhaus
Rebecca Louise Law, The Womb Paintings, 2019. Installation view. Photo: Jan Brockhaus
Rebecca Louise Law, Weave Series, 2021. Installation view. Photo: Jan Brockhaus
Rebecca Louise Law, Dust Archive, 2018. Installation view. Photo: Jan Brockhaus
Rebecca Louise Law, Dahlia, 2003. Installation view. Photo: Jan Brockhaus
In the Globe House, Law presents Honesty, a site-specific installation made with lunaria and enamelled copper wire. The work responds to the botanical and architectural context of the Globe House, drawing attention to transparency, fragility and the quiet structural beauty of the plant.
Lunaria, often known as honesty, carries associations of memory, value and exchange. Suspended within the space, the material forms a delicate field through which visitors may move, shifting between observation and participation. As with much of Law’s work, the installation asks the viewer to become aware of their own presence within nature, architecture and time.
Rebecca Louise Law, Honesty, 2026. Installation view, Globe House at Gottorf, Schleswig-Holstein. Lunaria and enamelled copper wire. Photo: Jan Brockhaus
Rebecca Louise Law, Honesty, 2026. Installation view. Photo: Jan Brockhaus
At the Jewish Museum Rendsburg, Grain considers themes of nourishment, continuity and memory. Made with grain and preserved natural materials, the work responds to the museum’s context and to the cultural and symbolic significance of harvest, sustenance and gratitude.
Grain
Symbolism
Connection
Subsistence
Humanity
Toil
The Land
The Sky
The Harvest
An Offering
A Sacrifice
A Cycle
Life
Gratitude
Existence
— Rebecca Louise Law
Rebecca Louise Law, Grain, 2026. Installation view, Jewish Museum Rendsburg, Schleswig-Holstein. Grain, preserved natural materials and enamelled copper wire. Photo: Jan Brockhaus
Rebecca Louise Law, Grain, 2026. Installation view. Photo: Jan Brockhaus
At Molfsee Open-Air Museum, The Field brings together landscape, agricultural labour and collective making. Created with oats and locally grown plants, the work has been developed through a process of growing, harvesting, drying and preparing materials with participants from the Blomentüddel Clubs.
The Field
Ancient
Provision
Ancestors
Working
The Land
Connecting
Air
Water
Soil
Hands
The weather
The seasons
The harvest
Acknowledgment
Gratitude
Responsibility
Conservation
Care
Protect
The Land
Care
Protect
Each Other
Sustenance
Enough
Distribution
Hunger
The Field
A Safe and Just Place for Humanity
— Rebecca Louise Law
Rebecca Louise Law, The Field, 2026. Installation view, Molfsee Open-Air Museum, Schleswig-Holstein. Oats, flowers, locally grown plants and enamelled copper wire. Photo: Jan Brockhaus
Rebecca Louise Law, The Field, 2026. Installation view. Photo: Jan Brockhaus
Community and Process
Through the Blomentüddel Clubs, plants have been grown, harvested, dried and prepared by many hands. This process extends the exhibition beyond the gallery space, connecting the artworks to local knowledge, seasonal labour and shared participation.
For Law, participation is not separate from the finished work. It forms part of the artwork’s material history and legacy. Local plants may be added to an installation and then become part of the artist’s archive, preserved and reused over time. In this way, each artwork continues beyond its original site, carrying traces of the people and places that shaped it.
