NAVID NUUR et al.

Terra incognita – Questions for the Earth (group show)
Lantz’sche Park, Dusseldorf
12 June – 21 August 2022

offline
Navid Nuur, Untitled, 1988-2015, installation view: Lantz’sche Park, Dusseldorf, 2022, photo: Tino Kukulies
Navid Nuur, Untitled, 1988-2015, installation view: Lantz’sche Park, Dusseldorf, 2022, photo: Tino Kukulies

Work by Navid Nuur is included in the group exhibition Terra incognita – Questions for the Earth, which will be on view at the Lantz’sche Park in Dusseldorf from 12 June until 21 August 2022.

Terra incognita — Questions for the Earth focuses on the “uncharted spaces” on Earth today. The exhibition in Lantz’sche Park combines sculptures, installations, performances and events, all of which address the specific face of the place, its flora and fauna, as well as its social structure and its function as a place to tarry and recuperate - with an open and inquisitive mind. The artists will “conquer”, “explore” and “occupy” the park for a period of two months, all with the intention of encouraging a remapping of this territory in order for us to redefine our place in and with nature.

This exhibition features two works by Navid Nuur. At first glance, Untitled (1988–2015) looks like a normal boulder. Only on closer inspection do we discover the otherworldly, crystal-like flower growing on its surface. “My experience,” the rock explains in an interview with the artist, “is partly the result of an interaction of forces: immaterial factors in other words.” The flower made up of iron dust on the rock is a product of such invisible forces. Held together by a magnet embedded inside the rock by the artist, it symbolizes an ever-changing present. Nuur himself speaks of a “pure presence” with no beginning and no end. His sensitive, poetic settings underline the finiteness of material conditions, including our own existence.

'' (2015), Navid Nuur’s second work in the exhibition, also consists of a mineral. The inlay-like frieze of gold leaf is located on the rear wall directly above the entrance door of Lantz’sche chapel, which was completed in 1879. It shows five different formations of a sphere. Themes such as light, the passage of time in planetary cycles, and also cosmic orders are addressed. By placing the work in the midst of the magnificent array of mosaics and stained glass inside Lantz’sche Chapel, Nuur draws a link to Christian mythology. The golden circular forms can be interpreted here more clearly than elsewhere as references to the halo. This is a connection very deliberately sought by Nuur, bridging as it does the gap between the cosmic order and spiritual faith.

Projekt Lantz’scher Skulpturenpark

Navid Nuur, Untitled, 1988-2015, installation view: Lantz’sche Park, Dusseldorf, 2022, photo: Tino Kukulies
Navid Nuur, Untitled, 1988-2015, installation view: Lantz’sche Park, Dusseldorf, 2022, photo: Tino Kukulies

Additional:

NAVID NUUR

a large-scale painting commission, now on view, in the new temporary location of the Senate of the Dutch Parliament (Eerste Kamer der Staten-Generaal)

Installation view: Eerste Kamer der Staten-Generaal, The Hague, 2021, photo: Mike Bink, courtesy of the artist
Installation view: Eerste Kamer der Staten-Generaal, The Hague, 2021, photo: Mike Bink, courtesy of the artist

A large-scale painting by Navid Nuur was commissioned by the Dutch Parliament (Eerste Kamer der Staten-Generaal) and is now on view at its temporary location in The Hague.

The Senate

Installation view: Eerste Kamer der Staten-Generaal, The Hague, 2021, photo: Mike Bink, courtesy of the artist
Installation view: Eerste Kamer der Staten-Generaal, The Hague, 2021, photo: Mike Bink, courtesy of the artist

NAVID NUUR et al.

Creatives on Creativity (publication)

The publication Creatives on Creativity documents interviews with 44 artists and designers, including Navid Nuur, which were conducted by Steve Brouwers, Creative Director at SBS. Focused on the topic of creativity, they talk about childhood, creative processes, inspirations and the artists' most memorable achievements.

Order a copy here.