Air

For the exhibition “Air,” guest curator Colin Huizing invited internationally acclaimed artists who, through their installations, objects, and performances, make the phenomenon of air tangible and question it. A large number of works in the exhibition allow you to experience the beauty and essence of air, but others directly or indirectly draw attention to the threatened quality of air in our atmosphere, the downside of our current prosperity. They reflect the zeitgeist in various ways, but primarily draw attention to neglected details and thus make us aware of the world we live in. The exhibition, which occupies the vast majority of Kranenburgh’s new wing, unfolds like a thrilling journey through the galleries, allowing visitors to see, hear, feel, and contemplate air.

From conscious breathing to a combustion aircraft engine

Life.

The first part of the exhibition presents works that relate air to the human body and life. In these works, physiological processes play a significant role; they become visible, tangible, and palpable. In the 1960s, artists Marinus Boezem, herman de vries, and Yoko Ono elevated everyday reality to art and gained widespread recognition. Their works engage visitors with phenomena and processes related to air and life. Take, for example, Breathe, one of Yoko Ono’s famous “Instructions,” which invites the viewer to consciously reflect on a self-evident act: breathing. herman de vries audibly breathes. It is a natural process and one of the most essential actions for our existence. Marinus Boezem visualizes his breath on television by fogging up the lens of a camera.

Phenomena.

This part of the exhibition consists of installations and objects that appeal to the senses in a concrete and poetic way, presenting air primarily as a scientific phenomenon. Marinus Boezem’s Show IX – The Curtain Room consists of a curtain that forms the imaginary perimeter of his studio space. Fans constantly move it back and forth, through which Boezem depicts his relationship with the world outside the studio. In Jan Andriesse’s painted triptych “Color Spectrum of Light,” the colors of air become visible. Three sculptures from Jan van Munster’s series “Frozen Lightning” visualize water in the exhibition space’s atmosphere in the form of frozen crystals that form on the steel objects. The weight of all the air in the exhibition space becomes tangible in David Rickard’s installation “A Room Full of Air.”

Complications.

The works in the museum’s lower hall consist of observations, objects, and installations of, with, and about air. They allow the visitor to experience pure beauty, confusion, or wonder, while simultaneously referring to current issues such as the threatened quality of air and our living environment. Roger Hiorns’s installation “Untitled (Atomized Passenger Aircraft Engine)” is ambiguous. It depicts an aircraft engine transformed into dust through combustion. Combustion cannot occur without air. What was once an airplane engine, enabling air travel, also negatively impacted air quality. The film installation Bantar Gebang by Jeroen de Rijke & Willem de Rooij depicts a sunrise in Jakarta. As the sun rises, the beauty of the sunrise takes on a bitter aftertaste. Mask by Ai Weiwei is perhaps the most unambiguous work in this installation: a gas chamber carved from marble, created as a protest against Beijing’s extreme air pollution.