Step by Step. Explorations

In his work, Jörg Steiner addresses the dichotomy between nature and culture by seeking out places where these two spheres meet in subtle coexistence or silent collision: These are the inconspicuous roadsides, the wild hedges, the transitions between the edges of settlements and ruderal areas, building sites and other wastelands that defy any organised structure.
These places, known as ‘terrain vague’, reflect an uncontrolled, anarchic growth that appears to run counter to the disciplined order of urban geography.

Maria Lie-Steiner's work is dedicated to the forest and the garden, two central motifs of Romanticism, which in their symbolism and meaning go far beyond the mere depiction of nature. While the forest symbolises the unknown, the mysterious and the wild, the garden embodies the cultivated, the human, nature brought into harmony. Both concepts unite the longing for a deeper understanding of the world and one's own existence, whereby they are always also an expression of the tension between nature and culture.