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. Over the past years she has exhibited in several international solo and group shows. Recent shows include Intelligence of Plants Frankfurter Kunstverein, Biennale of Sydney 2022, Earth Matters; Textile Museum Tilburg, Still Life -Foam Amsterdam & Himalayas Museum Shanghai, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and  Fashioned from Nature at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and Shenzhen.

Scherer explores the relationship of man versus his natural environment. Through her installations she examines the boundaries between plant culture and nature. What does “natural” mean in the Anthropocene and is man not also  nature or a parasitic species on the rest of  his environment? For the past few years her fascination has been focused on the dynamics of underground plant parts. She has been captivated by the root system, with its hidden, underground processes. By taking geometric and ordering principles from nature and combining them with traces of humans, Scherer poses a dilemma, as her craft is both a manipulation of natural processes and the possible cultivation of a common path. Her longterm project InterWoven originated as an art project with an intuitive approach has also developed into an innovative material research. Working on this project Scherer shifts between disciplines from art to design and science. To develop her work she collaborates with biologists and engineers from TU Delft and Radboud University Nijmegen. Diana Scherer developed a new technique InterWoven and an innovative research in grown plant root textiles and material.

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).

Upcoming / Ongoing

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

Interwoven - publication Jap Sam Books 2023

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

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

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

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

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

 

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  2023

Sub Terra - La maison des Arts Brussels curator Lola Meotti , February 24th 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 Hams 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, 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, Private Collections

Book exhibitions

Mädchen; Short list – PhotoEspaña 2015 Best Photography Book of the Year Award Museum of the National Library; Madrid Post Books 2015, Van Zoetendaal Publishers books; Tokyo Undercover; Museum of Contemporary Art Erarta St. Petersburg Best Dutch Book Designs; Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam The Peace Weary;  Menno Wigman & Diana Scherer; Balie /Athenaeum Amsterdam World Book Design; curator Willem van ZoetendaalPrinting Museum Tokyo New York Photobook Fair PS1; New York