July 9, 2008

Dutch Contemporary Art

Many may be familiar with Amsterdam's bawdy reputation and its smoky coffee shops, but less is known about the Netherlands' contemporary artists. In this issue of Artkrush, we fête Sonsbeek 2008: Grandeur, an international sculpture exhibition in a park in Arnhem, and highlight Lara Schnitger, whose pornographic photo collages and textile sculptures, such as Fun Bags (are those breasts or condoms?), conflate the maternal with the illicit. Artkrush contributing editor Shana Nys Dambrot talks with Marlene Dumas about her survey show at LA's Museum of Contemporary Art, as well as the Dutch art world's unique position on the wings of the international stage. For our media pick, we recommend False Flat: Why Dutch Design Is So Good; and, in a flyby tour of the world's galleries, we look at Tim Lee's photographic revelations about pop culture and musical virtuosity at Houston's Contemporary Art Museum and Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno's Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait, a distillation of one of soccer's most captivating and conflicted figures, screening at daadgalerie in Berlin.