“The freedom obtained as an artist was actually greater than I had expected, ” says Julius von Bismarck, the scientist turned artist whose extreme creations fall at the intersection of the two disciplines. “But this freedom, and free space, one has to create for oneself.” Von Bismarck’s practice is difficult to pin down. Using photography, video, sculpture, and performance, he probes the relationship between man and nature, particularly as it relates to human perception. One such project is his “Kunst” (Art) series. Aimed at satirizing the human practice of claiming and labeling land, it made him public enemy No. 1 in Iceland. The Berlinische Galerie will feature a number of Von Bismarck’s multimedia pieces, beginning with “I like the flowers,” an arrangement of large, flat, levitating palm species made of pressed metal. These forms allude to both botanical engravings and Europe’s appropriation of the “exotic.” —Nyla Gilstrap