Artists: Mehraneh Atashi, Rossella Biscotti, Milena Bonilla, CPR, Anne Geene, Gluklya, Philipp Gufler, Camille Henrot, Patricia Kaersenhout, Otobong Nkanga, Ruchama Noorda, Maria Pask, Lily van der Stokker
Exhibition title: Is it possible to be a revolutionary and like flowers?
Venue: NEST, The Hague, The Netherlands
Date: September 10 – December 19, 2021
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and NEST, Rotterdam
Note: Exhibition booklet is available here
The artists in this exhibition answer the question of the exhibition title with a resounding “YES!”. They show that the flower as a symbol can seduce, comfort, heal, adorn and distract, and find common ground in feminist affinities, queer desires and ecological solidarity. But flowers can also represent a form of oppression and censorship, a secret language, a wink and a punch all in one.
‘Is it possible to be a revolutionary and like flowers’ is an exhibition diptych with the Centraal Museum (Laurie Cluitmans and Eva Burgering) where ‘The Botanical Revolution’ is being shown simultaneously.
An extensive contextual program has been developed around the exhibitions at both locations.
With special thanks to Camille Henrot, after whose work this exhibition is titled.
The festive opening of ‘Is it possible to be a revolutionary and like flowers?’* is Thursday, September 9th from 8 pm to 10 pm at Nest.
Anne Geene, From the Collection, 2021
Overview entrance / Anne Geene, Otobong Nkanga
Overview entrance / CPR
Overview ‘Is it possible to be a revolutionary and like flowers’
Overview ‘Is it possible to be a revolutionary and like flowers’
Gluklya, Morning Flowers, 2021
Overview / Camille Henrot, Mehraneh Atashi, CPR
Ruchama Noorda, Circadian Power Plant, 2021
Otobong Nkanga, After We Are Gone, 2020 and Revelations, 2020
Overview / Ruchama Noorda, Maria Pask, Patricia Kaersenhout
Maria Pask, Shoulder to Shoulder, 2020 and Philipp Gufler, Saftgrün_Indanthrenblau (Orasol® Rot 395), 2018 and Quindo Rosa D_Orasol Gelb 152
Patricia Kaersenhout, Food for Thought (series), 2021
Patricia Kaersenhout, Food for Thought (series), 2021
Lily van der Stokker, Nothing Really, 1992 – 2021
Overview / Gluklya, Camille Henrot, CPR
Rossella Biscotti, Dismembered Rafflesia, 2019 and Seeds, 2019
Rossella Biscotti, Seeds, 2019
Milena Bonilla, Dark Fading Chlorophyll (Luxemburg), 2020-2021
Camille Henrot, Beauty and Sadness, Yasunari Kawabata, 2014
Camille Henrot, Treatise on the Influence of the Passion upon the Happiness of Individual and of Nations, Madame de Staël, 2012
Mehraneh Atashi, Tehran’s Self-Portrait, 2008-2010
Mehraneh Atashi, Flowers, 2010
Overview Glukyla
Maria Pask, Shoulder to Shoulder, 2020 (detail)
Philipp Gufler, Saftgrün_Indanthrenblau (Orasol® Rot 395), 2018
Ruchama Noorda, Circadian Power Plant, 2021 (detail)
Ruchama Noorda, Circadian Power Plant, 2021 (detail)
