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, textiles and sculpture. Recent shows include Manifesta 15 Metropolitana, Reset Now – Haus der Kunst Munchen, Soil – Somerset House London, 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. Scherer developed the project from idea to material, grown dress – sculptures to large-scale installations.
Her work is included in the collections of among others: Victoria & Albert Museum London, Design Society Shenzhen, FOAM Amsterdam, Museum Arnhem, Centraal Museum Utrecht, Rabo Art Collection, Art collection of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Netherlands, Bijzondere Collecties Leiden, Normec, NN Collection Netherland, LUMC Leiden, UMC Utrecht and Photography Museum Rotterdam.
CV
Upcoming / Ongoing
Grote Kerk Veere / solo NL June 2025 (s)
16. Fellbach Triennale Habitate – May 2025 D (g)
More than Human – Design Museum London UK July 2025 (g)
Re- Constellating - Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art September 2025 Hangzhou CN (g)
Draaiflessen Collection, Mettingen May 2025 D (g)
NN Award Nomination – Kunsthal Rotterdam 15 March / Art Rotterdam 27 March NL (g)
Water Pressure – MAK, curators Erika Pinner & Jane Withers Studio May 25 May Vienna AT (g)
Matter Matters: Four Attitudes in the Digital Age- SEMoca Seoul KR (g)
OCA Oasy Contemporary Art, curators Emmanuele Montibeller & Diletta Cancellato June 2026 IT (s)
Gene Cultures - MIT Museum curators William Myers & Rawad Baaklini, Cambridge ongoing VS (g)
MAK Lab – Austrian Museum of Applied Arts and Contemporary Art, Vienna curator Marlies Wirth ongoing AT (g)
Selected Solo Exhibitions
Farming Textiles - Museum Kranenburgh, Bergen NL 2024 curator Colin Huizing; Andriesse Eyck Gallery – Apical 2025 , Wonderground - Solo presentation Roof – A Rotterdam NL 2023; Hyper Rhizome – Solo Exhibition Droog Gallery Amsterdam NL 2019; Spectrum Crops 2019 – Findings in Color, Mediamatic 2018 Amsterdam NL; Interwoven - Het Nieuwe Instituut Rotterdam; Looking up / Looking down 2017 Gallery Caroline O’Breen, Amsterdam; Interwoven: How science and art meet below ground, Wageningen University; Nurture Studies – curator Wim van Krimpen Villa Mondriaan, Winterswijk NL; Nurture Studies – curator Let Geerling Nijmegen UMC NL; Theo, Buro Leeuwarden, Fries Museum Leeuwarden NL, Neue Arbeiten- Gallery Van Zoetendaal, Amsterdam
Selected Exhibitions
2018-2025
Manifesta Biennale 15 Metropolitana -Barcelona September 8th 2024 curator Filipa Oliveira ES
Soil - Somerset House London curators The Land Gardeners and May Rosenthal, 2025 UK
Climate Biennale - Into the Woods - Kunsthaus Wien Museum Hundertwasser curator Sophie Hasslinger Vienna AT
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, Nu te zien Avro Tros TV -https://npo.nl/start/serie/nu-te-zien/seizoen-8/nu-te-zien_49/afspelen 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
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