What if art was not something we look at, but something we participate in? Forty years after Joseph Beuys’ death, L’Aquila turns a botanical garden into a living laboratory of creativity, nature and collective responsibility.

An open-air exhibition at the Botanical Garden of Collemaggio asks one of the most urgent questions of our time: Can art still change the world?

There are exhibitions that ask us to admire.
There are exhibitions that ask us to understand.
And then there are those rare exhibitions that ask something much more difficult:

What kind of society do we want to create together?

This summer, from 30 July to 5 September 2026, the historic Orto Botanico di Collemaggio in L’Aquila becomes the setting for one of Italy’s most meaningful contemporary art projects.

“Germogliati semi. Omaggio a Joseph Beuys (1921–1986) nel Quarantennale della scomparsa”, curated by Antonio Gasbarrini and Mariano Cipollini, is more than a tribute to one of the twentieth century’s most influential artists. It is an invitation to reconsider the role of creativity in an age marked by ecological uncertainty, social transformation, and the urgent need to rethink our relationship with nature and community.

The exhibition is part of L’Aquila Capitale Italiana della Cultura 2026 and is presented by MuBAq – Museo dei Bambini L’Aquila within the sixth edition of Seminiamo Arte, directed by Lea Contestabile and Antonio Gasbarrini, and supported and promoted by the Comune dell’Aquila.

Bringing together 35 Italian and international artists, the exhibition creates a contemporary dialogue with the legacy of Joseph Beuys through sculptures, installations and performances distributed throughout the historic landscape of the Orto Botanico di Collemaggio, a place where art, nature and memory meet.

Joseph Beuys Was Never Interested in Making Beautiful Objects

To understand this exhibition, one must first understand why Joseph Beuys continues to matter. For Beuys, art was never simply an aesthetic discipline. It was not decoration, nor luxury, nor entertainment.

It was a method of thinking.
A method of healing.
A method of reshaping society.

Long before concepts such as sustainability, social innovation or participatory design became part of everyday language, Beuys argued that creativity was humanity’s greatest renewable resource.

His revolutionary concept of Social Sculpture proposed that society itself could become a work of art—continuously shaped by every conversation, every decision, every act of responsibility.
His most famous sentence remains astonishingly radical:

“Everyone is an artist.”

This statement was never meant to suggest that everyone should paint or sculpt.
it meant something far more demanding. Every human being possesses the creative capacity and therefore the responsibility to shape the future.

Why a Botanical Garden?

There could hardly be a more appropriate setting. The Botanical Garden of Collemaggio is not simply a beautiful location. It is a living organism. Every tree records time. Every season rewrites the landscape. Nothing remains fixed.

Placed within this environment, the artworks become part of an ecosystem rather than isolated objects. They breathe with changing weather, shifting light and the movement of visitors. The distinction between art and nature slowly dissolves.

Walking through the exhibition becomes less like visiting a museum and more like entering a conversation—one between humans, plants, history and imagination.

“Germogliati semi. Omaggio a Joseph Beuys (1921–1986) nel Quarantennale della scomparsa”, curated by Antonio Gasbarrini and Mariano Cipollini

“Germogliati semi. Omaggio a Joseph Beuys (1921–1986) nel Quarantennale della scomparsa”, curated by Antonio Gasbarrini and Mariano Cipollini

Seeds as a Metaphor for the Future

The title “Germogliati semi”—“Sprouted Seeds”—is deceptively simple. Seeds contain possibility. They ask for patience. They grow invisibly long before they become visible. In many ways, ideas behave exactly the same.

Joseph Beuys understood that cultural transformation rarely begins with spectacular events. It begins quietly with conversations, education, encounters, imagination and shared responsibility.

Every artwork in this exhibition becomes such a seed. Some question how we inhabit the Earth. Others reflect on memory, identity or ecological fragility. Together they suggest that perhaps the most important changes are those that begin almost unnoticed.

Thirty-Five Artists, Thirty-Five Perspectives

Rather than illustrating Beuys’ theories, the participating artists engage with them critically, poetically and personally. Their practices differ enormously, yet they converge around one fundamental question:

How can artistic practice contribute to a more conscious relationship between people, place and planet?

Participating artists include:

Alessandro Antonucci, Paola Babini, Rosetta Berardi, Vito Bucciarelli, Mirta Carroli, Mario Costantini, Gianfranco D’Alonzo, Paolo Dell’Elce, Yvonne Ekman, Marco Fioramanti, Giampiero Gigliozzi, Okan Gökgöz, Jörg Grünert, Cam Lecce, Francesco Guadagnuolo, Hans-Hermann Koopmann, Mauro Magni, Mandra Cerrone, Carola Masini, Davide Medri, Massimo Pellegrinetti, Massimo Piunti, Enrico Pulsoni, Romanoleli, Paola Romoli Venturi, Virginia Ryan, Paolo Spoltore, Silvia Stucky, Cinzia Colombo, Tiziana Tacconi, Stefano Trappolini, Patrizia Trevisi, Barbara Uccelli, Wang Yongxu and Cervo Zoppo.

Their collective presence reflects something increasingly rare in contemporary culture: plurality. Different generations. Different artistic languages. Different cultural backgrounds. Not a single narrative, but many voices learning to coexist.

L’Aquila Understands the Meaning of Regeneration

There are cities where Beuys’ ideas remain theoretical. L’Aquila is not one of them. Few places know more intimately what rebuilding means. After the devastating earthquake of 2009, reconstruction has never been only about restoring buildings. It has also required rebuilding trust, identity, public space and collective imagination.

Within this context, the exhibition acquires another layer of meaning. The Botanical Garden becomes a symbol of regeneration, not only ecological, but cultural. Every artwork inhabits a place where resilience is not an abstract concept but lived experience.

Beyond Environmentalism

Although the exhibition speaks powerfully about nature, it is not merely an environmental exhibition. Its deeper concern is relationship. The relationship between humans and landscape. Between individual freedom and collective responsibility. Between memory and future. Between artistic imagination and civic action. Beuys insisted that ecological crises cannot be solved by technology alone. They require a transformation of consciousness. Forty years later, this proposition feels remarkably contemporary.

Art as a Practice of Hope

Hope has become an increasingly difficult word. Too often it is confused with optimism. Joseph Beuys understood something different. Hope is not passive. Hope is work. Planting a tree is hope. Teaching is hope. Creating an artwork is hope. Listening is hope. Protecting a landscape is hope.

This exhibition quietly reminds us that culture is not separate from these actions.
Culture is where they begin.

Visit

Germogliati semi. Omaggio a Joseph Beuys (1921–1986) nel Quarantennale della scomparsa

Opening
Thursday, 30 July 2026, 6:00 PM

Exhibition
30 July – 5 September 2026

Venue
Orto Botanico di Collemaggio
Viale Collemaggio
67100 L’Aquila, Italy

Curators
Antonio Gasbarrini & Mariano Cipollini

A Final Thought

Perhaps Joseph Beuys’ greatest artwork was never an object. Perhaps it was an idea. The idea that creativity is not a privilege reserved for artists, but a human capacity that carries ethical responsibility. Walking through Germogliati semi, one begins to realize that the exhibition is not asking us to admire thirty-five artworks. It is asking us to reconsider our own place within the living sculpture we call society.

Because every future begins the same way. With a seed.

What Kulaberlin is going here?

As media partner, KULABERLIN is proud to accompany Germogliati semi not only through editorial coverage but also through an ongoing artistic dialogue with the participating artists.

Throughout the exhibition, our blog will publish a series of exclusive artist portraits, in-depth interviews, and photographic features, offering readers a closer look behind the artworks and into the creative processes, ideas, and personal stories of the artists involved. Rather than documenting the exhibition alone, we aim to create a lasting archive that captures the diversity of artistic voices brought together in L’Aquila.

Through conversations with the artists and original photography of the installations, artworks, studios, and exhibition spaces, KULA Berlin seeks to extend the experience beyond the Botanical Garden, making it accessible to an international audience while highlighting the relevance of contemporary art in addressing questions of ecology, community, memory, and social responsibility.

We believe that exhibitions do not end with the opening night, they continue through dialogue. By giving space to the artists’ own voices, KULABERLIN hopes to foster a deeper understanding of their practice and of the ideas that connect this remarkable tribute to Joseph Beuys with the challenges of our time.

Follow our Instagram to stay updated and don’t miss our exclusive artist interviews, behind-the-scenes insights, and photographic stories from the exhibition.