description

Diana Scherer

Diana Scherer
Interwoven
2023
zade, gras, wortels , aarde / sod, grass, roots , earth
215 x 135 cm

Provenance

directly from the artist

Detail Description

Diana Scherer is one of the pioneers of biotechnological art. Originally from Germany, she has lived in Amsterdam for more than 20 years. Underlying her botanical installations, textiles and photography is a great admiration and curiosity about what neurobiologists call "the brain of plants". The artist studies plants and root systems to guide their "natural" growth processes. In her studio, she creates artificial biotopes to grow her root-art using soil, seeds, light and underground templates of both natural and man-made patterns. The roots follow these patterns and from there the work grows itself.

In the growth structures, Scherer combines the geometric principles of nature with man-made basic patterns from her environment. The basis of the organising principles of nature is the theory that the same elements and patterns are recurrent in every plant and consist of a geometric order. She works with universal shapes, such as the circle or square, and combines them with the anatomy of plants on the microscopic level.



Diana Scherer (Lauingen, DE, 1971) examines the boundaries between plant culture and nature. For the past few years her fascination has been focused on the dynamics of underground plant parts. She has been captivated by the root system, with its hidden, underground processes. Following this fascination, her art project InterWoven has developed into an innovative material research. By collaborating with biologists and engineers from TU Delft and Radboud University Nijmegen, the project shifts between disciplines from art to design and science. In 2016 InterWoven has been honoured by the New Material Award organized by Het Nieuwe Instituut Rotterdam.

Her solo exhibition Farming Textiles is currently on view in Museum Kranenburgh (Bergen, NL). Over the past years she has exhibited in several international solo and group shows, including 6. Binnale Reset Now! in Künstlerverbund im Haus der Kunst (München, DE), Wonderground in Roof - A (Rotterdam, NL), Gene Cultures at MIT Museum (Boston, US), Intelligence of Plants in Frankfurter Kunstverein (Frankfurt, DE), Biennale of Sydney 2022 (Sydney, AUS), Earth Matters at Textile Museum Tilburg (Tilburg, NL), Still Life in FOAM (Amsterdam, NL) & Himalayas Museum Shanghai, to name a few.