Windflower, Perceptions of Nature
Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo (The Netherlands)
09.10.2011 - 15.01.2012
Motive Gallery, Amsterdam (Netherlands). 12.03 - 29.04.2011
Press release
Kröller-Müller presents visions of contemporary international artists in Windflower,
Perceptions of Nature.
Windflower, Perceptions of Nature is an exhibition in which
the Kröller-Müller Museum focuses on a specific aspect of nature: nature as a vulnerable
factor in the worldwide pursuit of progress. The museum examines the subject from
a broad perspective and from a wealth of various cultural backgrounds. The exhibition
runs from 9 October 2011 until 15 January 2012.
The exhibition brings together a carefully
selected group of artists from different continents and cultures—Western and non-Western—whose
work expresses an outspoken relationship to nature. These are artists with a critical
view of the world, who are aware of the increasing global concern for nature's future
and the earth's sustainability. They connect these contemporary issues to traditions
and ways of thinking that derive from various cultures in order to create a new vision
of the future.
The result is an exhibition with twelve very different visions of nature/culture
in the form of sculptures, installations, videos, drawings, paintings or combinations
of these media.
The works are spread throughout the galleries and corridors, starting
with a majestic bouquet of flowers by the Dutch artist Willem de Rooij in the first
gallery. Text sculptures by Yoko Ono, entitled Pieces, run like a poetic thread through
the exhibition. Placed on the museum's large windows, they connect the interior and
the landscape.
The exhibition contains work by the following artists: Lothar Baumgarten (Rheinsberg,
Germany, 1944), Cai Guo-Qiang (Quanzhou City, China, 1957), Mark Dion (New Bedford,
MA, USA, 1961), Peter Doig (Edinburgh, Scotland, 1959), Mario García Torres (Monclova,
Mexico, 1975), Kimsooja (Taegu, Korea, 1957), Tetsumi Kudo (Osaka, Japan, 1935 –Tokyo,
Japan, 1990), Charly Nijensohn (Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1966), Yoko Ono (Tokyo,
Japan, 1933), Marco Pando Quevedo (Lima, Peru, 1973), Willem de Rooij (Beverwijk,
The Netherlands, 1969), Liang Shaoji (Shanghai, China, 1945).
The exhibition is accompanied
by an English-language publication entitled Windflower, Perceptions of Nature, ISBN
978-90-5662-836-9. The exhibition and the publication have been made possible in
part with the support of SNS REAAL Fund and the Mondriaan Foundation.
