press release | 30 May 2023
Three museums celebrate Sieboldyear with imaginative presentation Siebold's Dreams
This summer, work by artist duo Marta Volkova and Slava Shevelenko will be on display in no fewer than three Dutch museums. These are wallhangings and prints from the series Siebold's Dreams, which show fantasies based on the life and collection of German physician Siebold. Museum De Lakenhal, Japan Museum SieboldHuis and Museum de Schat van Simpelveld are working together to introduce this project to the widest possible audience.
Sieboldyear
This year marks exactly two hundred years since German physician Philipp Franz von Siebold (1796-1866) set foot in Japan in the service of the Dutch government. He landed at the Dutch trading settlement of Deshima, at the time the only contact between the Western world and the largely closed Japan. Siebold was tasked with gathering information about the country, its trade and political system. Passionately, he collected everything that seemed of value to him, including maps, utensils, traditional clothing, stuffed animals and prints by Japanese artists. But above all, he brought more than seven hundred Japanese plants to the Netherlands. His collections are now world-famous; a large part is in the current Japanmuseum SieboldHuis in Leiden, where Siebold settled in 1832.
Fascinated by Siebold
The artists Marta Volkova and Slava Shevelenko were born in St. Petersburg, Russia. In the 1980s they were active in the underground scene of St. Petersburg, where they experienced that practicing their artistry in freedom was impossible. So in 1991 they left for the Netherlands, where they rebuilt their lives and careers. They became fascinated by Siebold's biography and collections when they participated in the exhibition Kunst in het Singelpark in Leiden in 2021. They saw a similarity to their own experiences: like him, they began a new life in another country, where they immersed themselves in the local culture. A great constant in Marta & Slava's oeuvre is the concept of mental freedom, in which everything is possible and conceivable.
Narrative Artworks
Marta and Slava translated their fascination with Siebold's life and collection into narrative artworks, in which fact and fiction intermingle. In a series of tapestries and prints, they created dream images that could have sprung from Siebold's mind. As in other installations by the artist couple, collective and personal history intertwine in this work. These works are combined with texts by writer Marente de Moor, so-called dream indications, which add a deepening layer.
Trouble grounding
Siebold's large native plant collection brought much knowledge to the Western world. Today, however, people think differently about the introduction of non-native plants: many invasive plant species threaten native European nature. The project Siebold's Dreams draws a parallel between the fate of alien plant species and that of many people struggling to find common ground with Europe. It is scientific, social and moral issues like these that the artists explore in their work.
Three presentations
The project Siebold's Dreams will be presented at three locations in the Netherlands starting June 1. Museum de Schat van Simpelveld, Museum De Lakenhal and Japanmuseum SieboldHuis are all showing different tapestries and prints belonging to this project. In this way, people can become acquainted with this imaginative art project in several places around the country. The presentation at Museum De Lakenhal will be on view through Sept. 24, 2023.
NOTE FOR PRESS, NOT FOR PUBLICATION
For more information, contact Anne van den Dool, employee PR & Online Communications, at a.van.den.dool@lakenhal.nl or 06-81052747.
