KREFELD.- “Mom, what is nature really?” The Dutch artist duo Bik Van der Pol pursues this question in the second presentation of the Collection Satellite series. Founded in 2018, this new project series of the Kunstmuseen Krefeld is now making its first appearance in the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum. Making use of selected works from the collection of the Kunstmuseen Krefeld, the Dutch artist duo Bik Van der Pol has conceived an exhibition that addresses connections between art, the environment and human history. They have also realised a sound and wall piece (in collaboration with Thomas Artur Spallek) that – like the title “Mom, what is nature really?” – is based on exhibition reviews from the Kunstmuseen Krefeld. The reviews refer to the 1971 COVER exhibition by the artist group Haus-Rucker-Co, a spectacular installation in and around Haus Lange that already called attention to the growing problem of environmental pollution. Bik Van der Pol focus in this way on the institutional history of the Kunstmuseen Krefeld and present art to visitors as a mirror of its times.

Liesbeth Bik and Jos van der Pol have worked together under the name Bik Van der Pol since 1995. Each of the duo’s projects begins with extensive research and dealings with the respective exhibition context. Their artistic practice is targeted at producing a dialogue between the public and the museum. Often collaborative in nature, their projects offer communicative platforms for the activities of diverse groupings. The artists have already created museum interventions in the past that occupy themselves with aspects of the collection in question. They have already realised exhibitions at the MACRO Museum (Rome), the Secession (Vienna), the Witte de With, Centre of Contemporary Art (Rotterdam) and the Perez Art Museum (Miami). They participated at the 2016 GwangJu Biennale and at the 2014 Sao Paulo Biennale. Liesbeth Bik and Jos van der Pol live and work in Rotterdam.

The Collection Satellite is a new semi-annual exhibition and project series of the Kunstmuseen Krefeld in which artists, designers, choreographers, writers etc. are invited to innovative exploration and occupation with individual works or groups of works from the museum’s own collections. The collection as the identificational heart of the museum serves as starting point and catalyst for new artistic projects. Katia Baudin, who initiated the project, says about the Collection Satellites: “The long tradition of site-specific interventions at Haus Lange and Haus Esters is being continued in the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum with the Collection Satellites series with the intention of establishing the museum as a workshop and venue where new art is created. Bik Van der Pol shed in their exhibition new light on our institution and its history”. A series of publications will accompany the Collection Satellites.

Featuring: Bik van der Pol, Vito Acconci, Josef Albers, Mamma Andersson, Lothar Baumgarten, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Jan Dibbets, Hein Engelskirchen, Andreas Gursky, Hans Haacke, Ulrich Rückriem, Michel Sauer, James Webb, Christopher Williams etc.

Curator: Constanze Zawadzky