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Paradys

For one hundred days, the Oranjewoud forest will be the setting for a remarkable art exhibition entitled Paradys. In and around former country estates, palatial gardens and wild natural beauty spots, you will discover the work of renowned artists. Where would visual art be more at home than in this wonderful, but also historically sensitive environment?

 

Spectacular art in idyllic Oranjewoud

From all around the world, Paradys brings visual art to Oranjewoud to challenge this idyll. Curator Hans den Hartog commissions top international artists to create new work, inspired by the location and Oranjewoud’s rich history. Anything goes, from critical commentary on the outside world and the power this place has generated, to attempts to make a location like Oranjewoud even more paradisal.

The exhibition consists of work by Marianna Simnett, Charles Avery, Diana Scherer, Erik van Lieshout, Augustas Serapinas, Isa van Lier, Jakob Kudsk Steensen, Kasper Bosmans, CATPC/Athanas Kindendie, Alexandra Pirici, Alicja Kwade, Gregor Schneider, Louis Le Roy and Em’kal Eyongakpa.

Arcadian Oranjewoud

Oranjewoud is a classical idyll, created by the Frisian Nassaus. It is a meticulously proportioned outdoor pleasure dome and a product of the idea that nature can be tamed and paradise manufactured. Precisely because Oranjewoud is not a neutral location, it offers artists the perfect opportunity to push against the world, to question and disrupt it. Some of the artworks in Paradys enhance the location’s beauty and poignancy, others provide a context or a history. Other works ask where all this came from. This means that Paradys deals with major, contemporary issues. Is it still possible nowadays to create an ideal world? For whom is that world intended? And most of all: what does that world look like?

Locations

Paradys will take place in and around the Oranjewoud park landscape near Heerenveen. The country estates surround Hotel Tjaarda will serve as the heart of the exhibition, villages like Knipe and Katlijk form the periphery. The artworks will be on display at a variety of locations spread across this area. The exhibition will take place outdoors as well as indoors, depending on the type of work.

Paradys is made possible with support from Arriva. Arriva makes Arcadia and Paradys as accessible as possible for everyone, by providing sustainable transport. In addition to public transport, Arriva’s new travel app glimble also facilitates transport-sharing, such as bike-sharing, at various events.

Hoofdpartners Paradys

Partners Paradys