#amstelveen

Amstelveen is a suburban part of the Amsterdam metropolitan area. The municipality consists of the historical villages of Bovenkerk and Nes aan de Amstel.

Kishio Suga - Cobra Museum, Amstelveen, NL, 2025

Mono-Ha is a Japanese art movement that emerged in response to commercial art of the USA in the 60s. Rejecting the traditional definition of a work of art, the movement embraed natural and industrial materials in a (mostly) unaltered state. Kishio Suga was one of the pioneers of this movement, and the retrospective exhibition of his career at the Cobra Museum had a wide range of his works: sketches, small pieces, full-room installations. Below are some notes I took in response to the exhibition.

similar to Arte Povera (Italian art movement using "poor" materials)

low intervention, leaving objects and presenting them as they are

mono = thing

Mono-ha = School of Things

exploring the relationship of materials to each other

when you introduce a person, it changes the relationship of the materials to the person. The interaction becomes something to perceive

expression is a form of living. finding the way objects want to express themselves

creating space for reflection, an invitation to silence

what boundaries do we impose on objects?

what happens if we just let things be? - ties into

letting materials speak in their own language

meaning is created by the situation in which the object exists, the context which we create for it

using natural materials like wood and stone was a rejection of rapid industrialization and postwar modernity

you can question if the compositions are "too simple" - does it count as art? is it too simple? what does it mean? But I personaly like the piees. They bring me a sense of calm, I find myself lost admiring their natural textures, considering how they relate to each other and flow in their compositions. Is that not enough? Does it need to have a "deeper meaning"? Is how the work makes people feel not enough?

Impressions from MOØDe by Anton Corbijn in the Cobra Museum of Modern Art in Amstelveen, the Netherlands

The exhibition MOØDe shows the fashion world through the lens of Anton Corbijn, in which he explores the crossover between portrait photography and the fashion world.