Yes Naturally / Ja Natuurlijk

Yes Naturally is an art exhibition at the GEM Museum for Contemporary Art, Photomuseum and Gemeentemuseum Den Haag raising the fundamental question: What is natural? And who or what decides? International artists present new viewpoints, challenge old patterns and encourage sustainable behavior.

The exhibition will offer a thrilling tour of the natural world, including both clichéd images of romantic landscapes with waterfalls and the hard and inescapable facts of environmental degradation. It will wake us up to the reality of oil slicks and genetically modified fish, but suggest that solutions to environmental problems can be found if we are prepared to change our habits: through recycling and new kinds of cooperation we can save the planet. Artists will propose new and unconventional approaches. The exhibition will include work by Francis Alÿs, Jimmie Durham, Olafur Eliasson, Atelier van Lieshout, Zeger Reyers, Superflex, Ai Weiwei and others.

More than 80 artists will use this grand-scale exhibition to present surprising partnerships between humans, nature and technology. The results are both liberating and hilarious: you can design your own pet, fungi turn out to be our best friends, you can harvest the city and seagulls are quite tasty on the barbeque. But also: your smartphone is your memory, Facebook is your habitat, internet the new biotope and nanoparticles have become an integral part of our existence.

Sculptures, films, installations, performances and bioart from Francis Alÿs, Jimmie Durham, Olafur Eliasson, Peter Fend, Fischli & Weiss, Natalie Jeremijenko, Marjetica Potrc, Zeger Reyers, Tinkebell, Superflex and Ai Weiwei, among others, will be on display until the end of August 2013 in the GEM/Gemeentemuseum, in the museum gardens, the duneforest and even further afield.

This expanded art exhibition is not limited to the museum walls. On the contrary. Yes Naturally offers a varied programme throughout the city, including urban wildlife safaris, performances, workshops, lectures and debates in art institutes and film houses. It goes without saying that Yes Naturally is firmly nestled in all kinds of social media and online forums.

Participating artists: Simon Evans, Adam Zaretsky, Antti Laitinen , Jimmie Durham, Ursula Biemann, Hans Scholten, Lucinda Devlin, Matthijs de Bruijne, Aquilizan, Simon Starling, Phylida Barlow, Luuk Wilmering, Persijn Broersen and Margit Lukács, Mark Dion, Peter Fend, Roy Villevoye, Egied Simons, Francis Alÿs, Matt Mullican, Ursula Biemann, Pierre Huyghe, Olivier Darné, Olafur Eliasson, Tinkebell, Erik Kessels, Raul Ortega Ayala, Ton Matton, Marjolijn Dijkman, Michiel Schwarz , Joost Elffers, Maartje Korstanje, Maarten Vanden Eynde, Jim Holyoak en Matt Shane, Hilarius Hofstede, Ai Wei Wei, Tea Mäkipäa, Keith Edmier, Natalie Jeremijenko, Superflex, Fischli en Weiss, Studio DRIFT, Atelier van Lieshout, Egied Simons, Zeger Reyers, Sjaak Langenberg, Tue Greenfort, Sjim Hendrix, Minerva Cuevas, Marjetica Potrč / OOZE, Heath Bunting, Superuse Studios, amongst others.

Artistic Director: Ine Gevers

Ja Natuurlijk