Diana Scherer is a visual artist living and working in Amsterdam.  She is born in Lauingen Germany  and studied fine art at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. Her practice encompasses botany, material research and sculpture. Recent shows include Reset Now – Haus der Kunst Munchen, Farming Textiles - Museum Kranenburgh, Intelligence of Plants - Frankfurter Kunstverein, Biennale of Sydney 2022, Gene Cultures – MIT Museum Cambridge, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and  Fashioned from Nature at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and Shenzhen.

In her ongoing project Interwoven 2015 – , Diana Scherer focuses on the dynamics of underground plant parts. The root system, with its hidden, subterranean life, is considered by plant neurobiologists to be the plant’s brain.  In this  project, the artist brings to light subterranean processes.

Scherer employs a unique technique that uses the natural growth processes to create various structures out of root tissues. She derives her patterns from shapes found in the botanical world, as well as from man-made structures. The results are tactile and poetic, and her creative process invokes the current ecological balance between humans and nature. The work and process, however, raises some further critical questions: To what extent does speaking of cooperating with nature make any sense? And is it in any way consistently logical? Are conditions that are part of self-sufficient natural processes being artistically and culturally appropriated? These questions reveal the fundamental ambivalence in our dealings with nature. The artist continuously investigates the interplay between (plant) culture and (plant) nature.  Scherer’s work is thought-provoking, but above all it’s a poetic portrayal of the human urge to control nature.

InterWoven has been honoured by the New Material Award 2016. The New Material Award is a biennial prize organized by Het Nieuwe Instituut Rotterdam that challenges artists and designers to develop sustainable materials and innovative technologies. In recent years, four Delft – University of Technology students have graduated from the Project InterWoven (Master of Science). Scherer began developing the technique Interwoven from idea to material, grown dress – sculptures to large-scale installations.

CV

Upcoming / Ongoing

Farming Textiles - Solo  - Kranenburgh Museum curator Colin Huizing, Bergen until April 2024 NL

Catalyst Lab – Ars Electronica Linz & European Patent Office München 2023 DE

History of Making – Compton Verney & Crafts Council UK

Water Pressure - Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg  curators Erika Pinner & Jane Withers Studio March 2024 DE

Climate Biennale - Into the Woods – Kunsthaus Wien Museum Hundertwasser curator Sophie Hasslinger April 2024 AT

OCA  Oasy Contemporary Art, curators Emmanuele Montibeller & Diletta Cancellato June 2024 IT

Natuur onder druk – Allard Pierson Museum Amsterdam August 2024 – januari 2025, curator Els van de Plas NL

Gene Cultures  - MIT Museum curators William Myers & Rawad Baaklini, Boston  ongoing VS

MAK  Lab –  Austrian Museum of Applied Arts and Contemporary Art, Vienna curator  Marlies Wirth ongoing AT

 

Selected Solo Exhibitions

Wonderground - Solo presentation Roof – A Rotterdam 22023, Hyper Rhizome – Solo Exhibition Droog Gallery 2019, curator Renny Ramakers, Amsterdam Exercises In Rootsystem Domestications – Kennedy van der Laan curator Nathalie Bruys Spectrum Crops 2019 – Findings in Color, Mediamatic;2018 Amsterdam Interwoven;  Het Nieuwe Instituut Rotterdam Looking up / Looking down – with Anne Geene, Arjan de Nooy; 2017 Gallery Caroline O’Breen, Amsterdam Duo- Kim, Yong Hoon & Diana Scherer; Korogram Korea Seoul Interwoven: How science and art meet below ground ; Wageningen University Nurture Studies – curator Wim van Krimpen  Villa Mondriaan; Winterswijk Nurture Studies –  curator Let Geerling Nijmegen UMC;  Netherlands The Peace Weary;  Menno Wigman & Diana Scherer; Balie  Amsterdam Theo; Buro Leeuwarden, Fries Museum; Netherlands Neue Arbeiten; Gallery Van Zoetendaal; Amsterdam

Selected Exhibitions

2018-2023

Haus der Kunst Munchen – 6. Biennale Reset Now! ,

Rīvus - 23rd Biennale of Sydney - Artistic Director, José  Roca

Seeds of Resilence  – Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism  Architecture - Design Society Shenzhen 2022

As a Seed, As a Plant – Andriesse – Eyck Gallery Amsterdam

Rivermouth- Monash University Museum of Art MUMA Curators José Roca  Charlotte Day, Melbourne

Sub Terra - La maison des Arts Brussels curator Lola Meotti 2023

Cheongju Craft Biennale, Korea  The Geography of the Objet – Living in the Net of Biophilia 2023

It’s our F***ing Backyard - Material Futures - Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam

Paradys Arcadia – Oranjewoud curator Hans den Hartog Jager

Superfusion - Chengdu Biennale-  Gallery of Contemporary Art Chengdu China

Intelligents of Plants -Kunstverein Frankfurt – Curator Franziska Nori; Fashioned from Nature – by Edwina Ehrman Victoria & Albert Museum; Shenzhen 2021 Ecodata-Ecomedia-Ecoaesthetics - RIXC Art Science Festival Riga – The National Library of Letland , Curators Yvonne Volkart, Rasa Smite, Raitis Smits. Oktober 2020 Mondriaanfonds Exhibition at Capital C Amsterdam , curator Ellis Kat TASIES 2019; Plant Fever -  curator Laura Drouet, travelling exhibition Museum fuer Gestaltung Zurich 5th International Art and Science Exhibition , National Museum of China & Tsinghua University  Beijing China Centre Photographique Rouen Normandie – Curator Raphaëlle Stopin   http://centrephotographique.com/ Nature Morte – CID Grand Hornu Belgium , curators Ralph Collier, Françoise Foulon, Veerle Wenes. Plant & Human – Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney From Inspiration to Integration; curator William Myers Rhode Island School of Design; Fashioned from Nature – by Edwina Ehrman Victoria & Albert Museum;  London In Vivo; Noorderlicht  International Photo festival Photo Basel; Gallery Caroline O’ Breen Bio meets Digital; Atelier Néerlandais Paris A Queen Within – Adorned Archetypes curator Sofia Hedman & Serge Martynov/ New Orleans Museum of Art Frankenstein, tussen fantasie en frictie / Rijksmuseum Boerhaave  2016/17 Springvloed – curator Willem van Zoetendaal,; Nederlands Fotomuseum Rotterdam Earth Matters – curator Lidewij Edelkoort Textiel Museum; Tilburg until November 2017 Herbarium – Fotografisk Center; Copenhagen The Principle of least Effort -  curator Alexandra Landre Kunstvereniging Diepenheim Salone del Mobile – Milan Design Week,  Nieuwe Instituut (Re)Inventing Nature – curator Rob Wetzer  Fotodok; Utrecht Dutch Design Week; Nieuwe Instituut – New Material Award Photography Extended; Museum Het Valkhof Nijmegen Post Books, Van Zoetendaal Publishers books; Tokyo Still/Life; Contemporary Dutch Photography; Himalayas Museum Shanghai /Foam Amsterdam The Peace Weary;  Menno Wigman & Diana Scherer; Balie /Athenaeum Amsterdam World Book Design ;  Printing Museum Tokyo

Selected Reviews

NRC - Interview Lucette ter Borg 2023, Trouw - Joke de Wolf 2023, Volkskrant - Wonderlijke wortelweefsel Janna Reinsma 2023, Kunstforum International  2022 – Über Riesen, Gaia-Kleider und Anti-SymbioseEin Gespräch von Herbert Kopp-Oberstebrink  www.kunstforum.de/artikel/diana-scherer/  Antennae Magazine http://www.antennae.org.uk/2021; TL Magazine 2021 by Sara Schug ArteMorbida 2021 -Diana Scherer – Domestication and collaboration  Human and natural entanglement by Elena Redaelli NRC- Tracy Metz on ‘Hyper Rhizome’ Droog 2020 https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2020/02/05/wandkleden-van-wortels-tonen-onvermoede-schoonheid-a3989337; Atmos Magazine; V&A Magazine; Bio Design Book – By MoMA & William Myers Frame Magazine; BLDG Blog by by Geoff Manaugh ‘Rootkit’ http://www.bldgblog.com Bio- and Manufacturing / research paper in collaboration TU Delft 2020 https://doi.org/10.1007/s42242-020-00088-2 Hortitecture  book University Braunschweig Wired Magazine by Margaret Rhodes, https://www.wired.com/2016/12/artist-teaches-roots-grow-beautiful-alien-patterns/  NRC  ’Dwarse vogel – encyclopedie en wonderlijke wortelpatronen’ by Rianne van Dijk Het Parool ‘De Natuur is Poezie’ Trouw – “De wortel als Borduurgaren’ by Joke de Wolf Art Das Kunstmagazin #3 / Album #4 ‘Mein Freund der Baum’ Exit Magazine #55 / 2015 ‘Underground’ ; Madrid Volkskrant Uitgelicht ‘Ondergrondse glorie’ Volkskrant, Best Photobooks Hotshoe Magazine  ;Uk Photoeye – Best Books nomination Volkskrant; Best Photobooks Athenaeum books; Schijnende schoonheid

Talks – Guest lectures

New school of the Anthropocene https://www.nsota.org/ Sydney Biennale – Goethe Institute – Dutch Embassy, Conference  The Archaeology of Textiles  by Lidewij Edelkoort Philip Fimmano & Parsons School of Art & Design Royal College of Art – RCA Bio Hyper Rhizome – Droog Amsterdam Vom Ephemeren zum Nachhaltigen Symposium, Embassy of Italy Berlin, Symposium Hortitecture 03 ; TU Braunschweig , Technical University Braunschweig, Technical University Delft, Folkwang University of Arts, Essen Symposium Future Matters; exploring our sustainable materiality; Central Saint Martins London Symposium Alive. Active. Adaptive.  International Conference Emerging Materials – Nieuwe Instituut / TU Delft; Rotterdam Interwoven – How science and art meet below ground; University Wageningen Netherlands Material-Pioneers - Het Nieuwe Instituut;  Rotterdam Biotalk Regeneration – Mediamatic & Transnatural; Amsterdam

Collections

Victoria & Albert Museum, De Hallen Harlem Frans Hals Museum, Museum Arnhem, Photomuseum Den Haag, Centraal Museum Utrecht, Photomuseum Amsterdam FOAM, Photomuseum Texas, LUMC Leiden, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Netherlands UMC Utrecht, Bijzondere Collecties Leiden and private Collections