Yayoi KUSAMA
With Love from Holland
Yayoi Kusama’s artistic practice from the late 1950s to the 1960s, the time she was in New York, has been frequently introduced through many exhibitions all over the world. However, it has not been emphasized by now, that her works of that time were exhibited in Holland even more frequently than in New York.
In the aftermath of the Second World War, a group of young German and Dutch artists took it upon themselves to leave the past behind and create a new artistic beginning. Beginning with Heinz Mack and Otto Piene, they took the name ZERO in 1958, as Piero Manzoni and Jan Schoonhoven did in the same year in Holland. Followed by Henk Peeters and Armando, who took the Dutch word for zero NUL in 1961.
In just five short years they and their European network created an avant-garde movement that remains a unique influence and inspiration in contemporary art. Yayoi Kusama work has been shown in various contexts, but that she was an important figure for the European ZERO artists has not been emphasized by now, not in the USA, not in Holland, nor in Japan.
The confluent relationship between Kusama’s works of the 60s and the international ZERO movements can be claimed with such common elements as the exploration of monochrome, the use of daily materials like mirrors, and the repetition of single motif, and the tactility of the body. In the meantime, they have different characteristics in their arts: the ZERO artists pursued ‘that the artwork does not refer to anything, but the artwork itself.’ On the other hand, the core of Kusama’s practices is based on ‘herself,’ by utilizing the performativity of her physical body.
Since 2005, the Nul Archive and the ZERO foundation have been collecting archival material from all over the world. Recent discoveries, more than 300 unpublished photos from Kusama her activities in Holland by Dutch photographers, as well as the many artworks still in Dutch private collections, are the reason to organise an exhibition around Kusama. The exhibition, titled “With Love From Holland,” will feature, for the first time ever Kusama’s performative activities in the Netherlands, and that in the context of the sexual revolution.
As the exhibition is the first in the Netherlands focussing on Kusama's activities in Holland, the 0-INSTITUTE will publish a book with an inventory of all her projects, happening and exhibition in the Netherlands between 1960 and 1970. With essays by Margriet Schavemaker on the performative activities in Holland, Caroline de Westenholz about Kusama's Dutch gallery Orez, and Tijs Visser about the international ZERO networks, and with Henk Peeters as promoter.
In the aftermath of the Second World War, a group of young German and Dutch artists took it upon themselves to leave the past behind and create a new artistic beginning. Beginning with Heinz Mack and Otto Piene, they took the name ZERO in 1958, as Piero Manzoni and Jan Schoonhoven did in the same year in Holland. Followed by Henk Peeters and Armando, who took the Dutch word for zero NUL in 1961.
In just five short years they and their European network created an avant-garde movement that remains a unique influence and inspiration in contemporary art. Yayoi Kusama work has been shown in various contexts, but that she was an important figure for the European ZERO artists has not been emphasized by now, not in the USA, not in Holland, nor in Japan.
The confluent relationship between Kusama’s works of the 60s and the international ZERO movements can be claimed with such common elements as the exploration of monochrome, the use of daily materials like mirrors, and the repetition of single motif, and the tactility of the body. In the meantime, they have different characteristics in their arts: the ZERO artists pursued ‘that the artwork does not refer to anything, but the artwork itself.’ On the other hand, the core of Kusama’s practices is based on ‘herself,’ by utilizing the performativity of her physical body.
Since 2005, the Nul Archive and the ZERO foundation have been collecting archival material from all over the world. Recent discoveries, more than 300 unpublished photos from Kusama her activities in Holland by Dutch photographers, as well as the many artworks still in Dutch private collections, are the reason to organise an exhibition around Kusama. The exhibition, titled “With Love From Holland,” will feature, for the first time ever Kusama’s performative activities in the Netherlands, and that in the context of the sexual revolution.
As the exhibition is the first in the Netherlands focussing on Kusama's activities in Holland, the 0-INSTITUTE will publish a book with an inventory of all her projects, happening and exhibition in the Netherlands between 1960 and 1970. With essays by Margriet Schavemaker on the performative activities in Holland, Caroline de Westenholz about Kusama's Dutch gallery Orez, and Tijs Visser about the international ZERO networks, and with Henk Peeters as promoter.