Interior Garden

At the onset of WWII, the visionary Dada artist Hannah Hoech retreated to a secluded house on the outskirts of Berlin, fleeing persecution for her radical collage work and her unflagging opposition to fascism. In the decades that followed, the surrounding garden became her artistic muse, but it was also a means of survival: its fruits and vegetables were a vital source of sustenance during wartime, and its soil served as the hiding place for her priceless collection of Dada artworks. Eighty years later, this richly illustrated yet deeply researched book reimagines Hoech’s garden from an artist’s perspective. It brings together Hoech’s botanical collages and garden photographs with deep archival cuts exploring her queer history with Til Brugman; new art by the artists Scott Roben and Johanna Tiedtke, based on visits to Hoech’s garden; and an essay by the writer Alhena Katsof. Together, these elements interweave past and present, private and public, personal and political, offering new views into Hoech’s lush refuge.