Tabor Robak in Akzo Nobel Groupshow

"In this exhibition, we bring together artists from the collection who are pioneers in stretching and reinterpreting the possibilities of their media, aiming for undiscovered territory and new ways to bring their surfaces to life." - Hester Alberdingk Thijm, director AkzoNobel Art Foundation

 

AkzoNobel Art Foundation presents Reflections Beyond teh Surface - an exhibition dedicated to artistic pioneering.

 

When reinventing ourselves, we look back at what has come before, realizing time and again that we stand on the shoulders of giants. Whether the giant be the natural wor;d or human genius, we build our innovations on the foundations of our shared heritage. As painter Paul Cézanne observed: 'One does not put oneself in place of the past, one only adds a new link.'

Only recently have researchers discovered an intricate system of communication underneath the surface of forest soils, curiously labeled the Wood Wide Web. Millions of fungal cells interconnect with the roots of plants and trees, building what, according to many, amount to a collaborative structure where the forest becomes one single super organism and plants look after one another by distributing their resources and warning eac other when under attack from insects.

The discovery of hte Wood Wide Web has made it all the more apparent that nothing exists in a vacuum and that everything which is animated, whether by natural foces or human nature, grows. All of these systems of sustainable growth have persuaded AkzoNobel to work towards the creation of pioneering products, such as the newly launched smart paints that actively remove harmful air pollutants. Whether it's AkzoNovel's Paints and Coatings or an artist's blank canvas, to anumate the medium we're trying to master, to bring bring its surface to life, we need to imagine the possibilities that exist beyond the surface.

In this exhibition the AkzoNobel Art Foundation brings together artists from the collection who are pioneers in strething and reinterpreting the possibilities of their media, aiming for undiscovered territory and new ways to being their surfaces to life.

 

More information here.

 

 

Publication date: 2 Jun '21