Part 1 (April 10): Scientist Dr. Anna Gasperl provided insights into the history of European mulberry and silk production, tracing its development up to the present day.
Working groups will explore historical, ecological, economic, botanical, and artistic aspects of the topic. Each group will create and present a poster — for example: From Caterpillar to Silk, From the Mulberry Leaf to Mulberry Paper, The Mulberry in Art, and more.
Part 2: Irmi Horn will introduce a literary perspective with Ovid’s Metamorphoses, expanding the tragic love story of Pyramus and Thisbe through a comparison with Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. A discussion will follow about how far the kinds of situations described in these stories still occur today and to what extent restrictive forms of upbringing continue to shape lives around the world.
The changing human emotions—fear, joy, longing, sorrow—depicted in these stories will be explored through pencil drawings. The students will present their works and share what emotions they perceive in the figures’ postures—for instance, joy expressed through body language.
Pyramus und Thisbe, Kato Pafos Archaeological Park is in Paphos, Cyprus
A discourse is to arise about this, to what extent such situations, which are described in the literature presented, still occur today, to what extent restrictive educational models are still anchored in the world.
Artist: Max Klinger, time of creation 1880/1882
The representation of the human body in the various “moods” of these stories should be presented. Fear, joy, longing, sadness …
Part 3: Later, under the guidance of Mag. Katschner, the students will create ink drawings on mulberry paper at school. These works will be shown in a public exhibition at kunstGarten on May 22, where students will speak about their artistic approaches and personal interpretations.
Dr. Anna Gasperl is responsible for the project NATURVERBUNDEN. The southeastern Styria, also known as the Styrian Volcanic Land, is much more than a pretty postcard motif. With nine nature reserves, the Lower Murtal Biosphere Park and a variety of innovative projects, the region proves how to reconcile sustainability and progress. Here, nature conservation is not so incidental – it becomes a master plan for the future.
She also works committed to planting mulberries:
From myth to modernity: Mulberry trees in Europe
Even in the times of Ovid, who described the tragic fate of the lovers Pyramus and Thisbe, mulberry trees were widespread in southern Europe. As the only food source for the larvae of the real silk spider, mulberry leaves were highly valued for centuries. For a long time, silk was an exclusive and expensive rarity, which was primarily reserved for the clergy and the nobility. In her lecture, Dr. Anna Gasperl gives fascinating insights into the history of European mulberry and silk production up to the present. It shows how a sustainable future can be shaped through innovative agro-ecological and technological approaches. Mulberries are not only suitable as climate-friendly shade providers, they also make an important contribution to the renaturalization of soils contaminated with heavy metals.
Dr. Anna Gasperl conducts research under the direction of Ao.Prof. Dr. Andreja Urbanek Krajnc, Chair of Botany and Plant Physiology at the Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Sciences of the University of Maribor, Slovenia. As part of the interdisciplinary EU Horizon project “ARACNE Advocating the role of Silk Art and Cultural Heritage at National and European Scale”, she works with European colleagues to investigate the geographical distribution and genetic and ingredient diversity of mulberry trees and their use in mixed crops and renaturalization.