In the lush greenery surrounding Kranenburgh, you can spot many bird species. It’s a paradise for the feathered creatures that almost everyone loves. What actually defines our connection with birds? In this age of rationalization, we forget that birds have captured the imagination of artists, poets, priests, and prophets for centuries. Guest curator Hanne Hagenaars returns the bird as a symbol with B is for Bird.
B is for Bird
Symbol of the Soul
For a long time, we saw birds as mediators between the divine and humanity. Bird diviners made important predictions based on their flight patterns. We attributed all sorts of powers and wisdom to owls, falcons, doves, and swans and saw them as symbols of the human soul. Nowadays, we think we can manage perfectly well without superstition and diviners. But what remains in a world without magic?
Artist as Diviner
In B is for Bird, contemporary artists honor the bird as a symbol, in fantastic myths and in art in which the bird once again carries the human soul. Through their paintings, drawings, collages, and photographs, we learn much about ourselves, because each work is as much about birds as it is about people.
Artists
Daniëlle van Ark (NL, 1974) | Anne van As (NL, 1959) | Pieter Bijwaard (NL, 1955) | Martin Brandsma (NL, 1972) | Johan Claassen (NL, 1943) | Lisa Couwenbergh (NL, 1953) | Driessens & Verstappen (Erwin Driessens, NL, 1963; Maria Verstappen, NL, 1964) | Daan van Golden (NL, 1936-2017) | Dolf Henkes (NL, 1903-1989) | David Jablonowski (DE, 1982) | Martijn de Jonge (NL, 1957) | Wouter Klein Velderman (NL, 1979) | Paul Kooiker (NL, 1964) | Eva Kot’átková (CZ, 1982) | Anaïs López (NL, 1981) | Chaim van Luit (NL, 1985) | Kevin Simón Mancera (BR, 1982) | José María Sicilia (ES, 1954) | Claudia Sola (NL, 1974)| Mirjam Somers (NL, 1971) | Dieuwke Spaans (NL, 1973)| S. H. W. van Trigt (NL, 1790-1850) | Julie van der Vaart (NL, 1988) | Emo Verkerk (NL, 1955) | Mirjana Vrbaski (CA, 1978) | Johan Marinus de Vries (NL, 1892-1982) | Cornelis Nozeman (NL, 1720-1786) & Christiaan Sepp (NL, 1820-1890)
