Nature as Artifice
dal 10/6/2008 al 27/9/2008
Segnalato da
Hans Aarsman
Theo Baart
Wout Berger
Henze Boekhout
Driessens & Verstappen
Marnix Goossens
Arnoud Holleman
Gert Jan Kocken
Jannes Linders
Cary Markerink
Hans van der Meer
Gabor Osz
Bas Princen
Xavier Ribas
Gerco de Ruijter
Frank van der Salm
Hans Werlemann
Edwin Zwakman
Maartje van den Heuvel
10/6/2008
Nature as Artifice
Kroller-Muller Museum, Otterlo
Eighteen Dutch and foreign photographers and (video) artists' recent visions of the Dutch landscape. Part of the International Triennial Apeldoorn 2008. The artists have taken this urbanised and artificial aspect of the landscape as their starting point. They do not make a negative judgement of these developments, but regard this reality with open eyes and seek new forms of beauty.
From 12 June until 28 September 2008 the Kröller-Müller Museum is showing eighteen Dutch and foreign photographers and (video) artists’ recent visions of the Dutch landscape.
With works by:
Hans Aarsman, Theo Baart, Wout Berger, Henze Boekhout, Driessens & Verstappen, Marnix Goossens, Arnoud Holleman, Gert Jan Kocken, Jannes Linders, Cary Markerink, Hans van der Meer, Gábor Ösz, Bas Princen, Xavier Ribas, Gerco de Ruijter, Frank van der Salm, Hans Werlemann and Edwin Zwakman.
Guest curator: Maartje van den Heuvel.
The archetypal Dutch landscape we know from paintings was a pastoral idyll of virgin nature, meadows, windmills and cows. As farmers or shepherds, man lived within this landscape in order to serve nature. Through photography and video – our contemporary visual culture’s pre-eminent media – the exhibition Nature as Artifice provides a new image of the Dutch landscape. As in other countries, the globalisation of the economy has replaced this bucolic idyll with motorways, airport expansions, suburbs, industrial estates, recreational facilities and new landscaping. In its battle against the water, the landscape of the Netherlands has always been controlled by people. The nation’s pioneering civil engineering technology developed to create land where there was once water, computer-driven horticulture and biotechnological agriculture have extended the Dutch desire for order to nature as a whole. The Netherlands is now known as the most artificial landscape in the world. The artists in Nature as Artifice have taken this urbanised and artificial aspect of the Dutch landscape as their starting point. They do not make a negative judgement of these developments, but regard this reality with open eyes and seek new forms of beauty. Man’s control of the landscape and the environment is a topic of international discussion with a relevance far beyond the Netherlands’ borders.
The exhibition has been curated by Maartje van den Heuvel. The exhibition is accompanied by an eponymous publication edited by Maartje van den Heuvel and Tracy Metz. Nature as Artifice is part of the International Triennial Apeldoorn: 100 days of culture, gardens and landscapes (11 June – 28 September 2008, http://www.triennale.nl) and will then travel to Germany and North America.
Nature as Artifice has been realised with the support of the Mondriaan Foundation; the Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture (Fonds BKVB); the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality; the National Service for Archaeology, Cultural Landscape and Built Heritage (RACM); the Stimuleringsfonds voor Architectuur (Belvedère) and the Cultuurfonds Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten.
Photo banner: Cary Markerink, A4 Schiphol, from: Snelweg, 1996
Preview 11 June, 6 - 8 pm
Kröller-Müller Museum
Houtkampweg 6 6731 AW Otterlo
The museum is open to the public all year round from 10.00 to 17.00.
The sculpture garden closes at 16.30
closed on Mondays (except public holidays)