Dutch Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale
“Herman de Vries—to be all ways to be”
Artist: Herman de Vries
Curators: Colin Huizing, Cees de Boer
Commissioner: Mondriaan Fund
Venue: Pavilion at Giardini
The pieces that comprise herman de vries’s contribution to the 2015 Biennale on behalf of the Netherlands may not be immediately recognizable as artworks. His project “to be all ways to be” (he eschews caps in titles and his own name to avoid hierarchy), continues his use of organic materials and spans far beyond the Gerrit Rietveld-designed Dutch Pavilion, into the Giardini and further, out to multiple locations in the lagoon. What could be considered the heart of the project, natura mater is located on Lazzaretto Vecchio. The now-uninhabited island once housed a quarantine area for those thought to be suffering from the plague or subsequent infectious disease outbreaks. Visitors can hop on specially chartered boats to go have a look.
