10TH EDITION BEELDEN OP DE BERG
BELMONTE ARBORETUM
WAGENINGEN
ON AUTHENTICITY & MANIPULATION
10th edition of the international exhibition in the Arboretum Belmonte in Wageningen
from 14 June to 15 September 2013.
(Re)Source
on authenticity and manipulation
For the tenth time, Stichting Beelden op de Berg is organizing an international exhibition in the Arboretum Belmonte in Wageningen. The curator Koos Flinterman and co-curator Krijn Christiaansen have chosen two themes for this edition that are central to both contemporary visual art and science: authenticity and manipulation. Is there such a thing as authenticity? Or is simulated authenticity the only kind we ever really experience? They invited a select group of celebrated Dutch and international artists to create new works of art that explore the realm of the original and the manipulated. The results include a fifteen-metre-long chicken coop with two pheasant-like primeval chickens from the Belgian artist Koen Vanmechelen’s Cosmopolitan Chicken Project; a film by Barbara Visser about the deserted tropical greenhouse near the arboretum; a series of tomato plants growing in the thin space between two sheets of perspex, a bio-printer, and modified historic audio recordings of African music. (Re)Source showcases new sculptures, installations, and films by artists and designers who play, reflect, and work around the themes of authenticity and manipulation. (Re)Source is a treat for the eye and a feast for the mind.
The participants are: Atelier NL (NL), Maria Barnas (NL), Stefaan Dheedene (BE), Driessens & Verstappen (NL), Nick Ervinck (BE), Tue Greenfort (DK), Anne Holtrop (NL), Studio Eric Klarenbeek (NL), Christien Meindertsma (NL), Agency (Int.), Simon Martin (UK), Ernst van der Hoeven (NL), Koen Vanmechelen (BE), and Barbara Visser (NL).
The real and the fake
The term ‘source’ is used in many ways; its core meaning is ‘origin’ or ‘spring’. The original purpose of the arboretum was to provide scientists with ‘sources’ – ‘original’ trees and shrubs – for research and for the further development of new crops and varieties. The ‘source’ is often regarded as authentic and authoritative, as ‘right’. Manipulation, in contrast, generally inspires distrust. Genetically modified foods, for example, are felt to be artificial. Some people are opposed to them, mainly because we still know very little about the effects of genetic modification on our health. What is right, and what is wrong? What is real, and what is fake? In both contemporary visual culture and bioengineering, the meanings of the terms ‘authenticity’ and ‘manipulation’ are shifting. (Re)Source illustrates this shift in a vivid, hard-hitting way. The inevitable question arises of whether there is any such thing as authenticity. Or is simulated authenticity the only kind we ever truly experience? And are we slowly becoming accustomed to manipulated reality, just as plastic now feels ‘real’ to us? Or does each manipulation bring an end to authenticity?
Red Junglefowl, Louis XV, and Chantal
For years Koen Vanmechelen has been building an impressive body of work, including his now internationally renowned Cosmopolitan Chicken Project. His project for (Re)Source is a fifteen-metre-long chicken coop running straight across a path and containing the Red Junglefowl, the original or primeval chicken and ancestor of all chicken breeds. This member of the pheasant family has inhabited the fringes of Asian forests for many thousands of years, in a border zone between nature and culture. The species has remained ‘pure’, in contrast to its manipulated ‘offspring’.
14.06.2013—15.09.2013
Barbara Visser presents a film about the deserted botanical greenhouse near the arboretum. What remains of it is a hushed, desolate landscape of decayed grasses and shrivelled tropical plants. The Belgian artist Nick Ervinck has created EMISOLB, a bright yellow, gleaming synthetic sculpture that alludes to mangrove trees’ peculiar underground root systems. This five-by-seven-metre object also serves a functional purpose as a bench.
The British artist Simon Martin took the classic Louis XV chair, which was resurrected in polycarbonate in the 1990s by the designer Philippe Starck, as the basis for his film Louis Ghost Chair. Maria Barnas presents a film about a blind visitor strolling through London’s world-famous eighteenth-century Kew Gardens.
Studio Eric Klarenbeek investigates the possibility of 3D printing with the protean natural material mycelium, a fungus’s network of threads. Hidden among the tall trees is a sound sculpture by Stefaan Dheedene consisting of a wooden picnic table, a SoundDock, an iPod, and a Perspex cover. The SoundDock plays samples from historic field recordings of traditional African music and sounds.
The designer Christien Meindertsma has been working on her Flax Project for some time. During (Re)Source she will grow ancestral and heirloom strains of flax of the Chantal race in old test boxes. The installation Cascade by the landscape architect Ernst van der Hoeven consists of a large bamboo frame in which thirty-metre lengths of textile are stretched taut. The textile is dyed a variety of subtly different shades of indigo. It was manufactured and dyed in Vietnam.
The architect Anne Holtrop is erecting a concrete open-air pavilion with walls formed by cast-in-place concrete slabs. The designers of Atelier NL are studying the original properties of sand. They will present their research by exhibiting their entire Sand studio.
Driessens & Verstappen present the Herbarium Vivum, an experiment in which plants grow in two dimensions. Confined within ten upright frames made of transparent perspex, they will ultimately resemble the images in classic botanical illustrations and herbaria.
How can traditional knowledge and folklore become included within art and science practices? In the work ‘Assembly’ Agency (int) brings together a selection of a.o. plants, chants, rituals and languages that are subject of controversies and lawsuits involving intellectual property, copyright and patents. As part of (Re)Source stakeholders will meet during two public assemblies.
The Danish artist Tue Greenfort has contributed the installation Wardian Case, in which orchids are displayed.
Scientists, artists, and designers
A walk through the serene historic botanical garden on the Wageningse Berg, with its sweeping view of the Rhine and the Betuwe region, never fails to inspire scientists, artists, and other visitors. For (Re)Source, artists and scientists from the Wageningen University and Research centre (WUR) have been invited to share their fascinations. The burning question is: Where does science end and art begin? In May, as the exhibition approaches, three debates will be held between scientists, artists, and designers.
For more information, please visit: www.beeldenopdeberg.nl
Since 1963, Stichting Beelden op de Berg has organized an exhibition in the Arboretum Belmonte in Wageningen once every four or five years. The tenth edition will take place this summer. This anniversary edition coincides with the 750th anniversary celebration of Wageningen’s town charter.
Arboretum Belmonte, Wageningen
Generaal Foulkesweg 94, NL-6703 DS Wageningen, the Netherlands
www.arboretum-belmonte.nl
