A new exhibition by multimedia artist Volkhardt Müller, ‘The Plantation’, opens at Black Swan Arts in Frome in September.
Volkhardt Müller won the Black Swan Arts Open 2017 prize of a solo show in the Long Gallery for his single channel video work, English Themes After Claude Lorrain, which explored the landscapes of Devon in the context of the picturesque and the sublime.
The resulting exhibition, ‘The Plantation’, includes video, mixed media and print. Its subject matter is plantation forests which are cultivated to maximise a single crop, usually conifers. Unlike the self-sustaining pastoral idyll, the core principle of the plantation is perpetual intervention and repetition. He says: ‘The plantation is needy and connected, fragile and overwhelming. Its effects are all around us, but it is not something we commonly choose to enjoy.’
Müller trained at the Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design. As well as being a maker of objects, installations, print and video work, he works as a collaborator on performance and educational projects. He teaches, presents and facilitates creative work from participatory art in the community to university level. The show runs from 8 September to 6 October, with a preview on Friday 7 September from 6–8pm – everyone is welcome to attend.
If you would like the chance to win a solo show at Black Swan Arts, the closing date for entries to this year’s Open is 14 September. For further information or to submit an entry, please visit www.blackswan.org.uk. The successful entries will be displayed in the Long Gallery at Black Swan Arts from 19 October to 24 November.