Reading by Osmosis

Semâ Bekirović

With works by non human artists, starring: the wind, the river Thames, fire, oysters, vines, rain, gravity, crows, lava, friction, dogs, pigeons, mud, barnacles, ants, moss, fungi, the sea, and others.

The culture/nature dichotomy is not as self evident as has long been held. If culture and nature can no longer be seen as opposites, what’s to keep us from stretching things a little bit further, and proclaim nature to be capable of art, of authorship?

Reading by Osmosis is a research project by artist and curator Semâ Bekirović. Reading by Osmosis will focus on artworks made by non-human artists: works made by animals, trees, the wind, and other entities and processes. The project especially focuses on works that are inspired by the human domain, or employ humans or man-made objects as tools and material. The objects range from a muddy plastic Madonna, survivor of the earthquake in Haiti, to a nest consisting of clothes hangers made by an inventive Tokyo crow.

Photos by Sander Tiedema

For this show, Semâ, who has been known to collaborate with natural phenomena within her own art practice, tries to steer clear of her usual role of author/artist. As curator she provides the works with context, hoping to start a discussion about authorship. Nature clearly doesn’t care all that much about us. It is always ready to upend our familiar world. Different natural processes employ different means towards this end, engendering different aesthetics. An aesthetics that surprisingly often reminds us of contemporary art works. It’s clear that it’s not just us who interpret nature, but nature itself that interprets us.

More info:
https://reading-by-osmosis.tumblr.com/ and http://www.semabekirovic.nl/
Read more about Reading by Osmosis in the press:
NRC, Mister Motley, Amsterdam FM, Metropolis M.

Public Program
Sunday March 24, 2019
An afternoon with discussion and lectures
Kees Moeliker (director Natural History Museum Rotterdam) will engage in a conversation with Semâ Bekirović about her project Reading by Osmosis.. Japanese bird nest collector and children book writer Mamoru Suzuki gives a lecture about his bird nest collection. lecture by Mamoru will be translated in Dutch and also invites children. After the lecture, people young and old are invited to build birds nests themselves.

Friday April 26, 2019
Finissage Reading by Osmosis
het Glazen Huis, 17:00 – 19:00 uur
Reading by Osmosis will close with a bang with live music by Peter and Carol (from Bettie Serveert)

Read the exhibition brochure here.

Het Glazen Huis