herman de vries: all this

herman de vries
all this
Opening: Tue 18.03.2024, 19h
19.03. – 10.08.2025 | MQ Freiraum

With “all this”, the MQ is showing the first institutional solo exhibition by herman de vries in Austria. Works from the last 70 years will be on display in the MQ Freiraum.
The work of the Dutch artist (*1931, Alkmaar) focuses on nature as an autonomous work of art per se. Since the 1950s, de vries' artistic activities have derived not only from a deep love of nature, but also from his work as a research assistant in ecological research. In all its diverse manifestations, de vries' work creates space and opportunity to view nature not as an objective and exploitable resource, but as a living, autonomous and consciously acting agent. The artist becomes a collector and presenter of the “works” of nature. He integrates various media such as books, photography, poetry and performative activities into his practice. Today, the work of herman de vries is considered a pioneer and significant example of the paradigmatic shift currently taking place in contemporary art, characterized by post-humanist positions on ecology, language, history and theory. A publication examining the ecological aspect of his work will be published in cooperation with the Rijksmuseum Twenthe in Enschede, Netherlands.

Curated by Dr. Cees de Boer (independent curator) and Verena Kaspar-Eisert (MQ chief curator).

herman de vries, steigerwald kosmologie, 2008/2010
Foto: studio herman de vries / Joana Schwender