ASHMOLEAN NOW: BETTINA VON ZWEHL

FREE EXHIBITION

18 Oct 2024 – 11 May 2025

Gallery 8

Admission is FREE

The third in the Ashmolean NOW exhibition series, where contemporary artists are invited to create new work inspired by the Ashmolean’s historical collections.

This exhibition will feature photographs by London-based artist, Bettina von Zwehl (b. 1971). Von Zwehl's aim is to rekindle wonder and curiosity as critical tools for exploring new ideas and practices.

During a residency in Oxford from 2022–23, von Zwehl spent time researching the Ashmolean’s founding collections – the wonderfully diverse objects and works of art which were displayed when the Museum first opened in the 17th century. 

The artist's time at the Ashmolean served as inspiration for a unique photographic 'Wunderkammer' installation that moves between portraiture, silhouetted fragments, still-life, monumental and miniature elements, as well as non-art objects and specimens from natural history collections.

thing ten 2023 archival pigment print 76x57cm edition of 8 plust ap 1000pxtall

Thing Ten, Bettina von Zwehl, 2023, archival pigment print © Bettina von Zwehl

Belly button nautilus (Nautilus macromphalus) by Bettina von Zwehl, 2023, archival pigment print - Courtesy of Oxford University Museum of Natural History

Belly Button Nautilus (Nautilus macromphalus), Bettina von Zwehl, 2023, archival pigment print © Bettina von Zwehl. Courtesy of Oxford University Museum of Natural History

Tallulah and Jasmine, a photograph of a girl holding a fish against a black background with staircase on the right by artists Bettina von Zwehl, 2015

Tallulah and Jasmine, Bettina von Zwehl, 2015, c-type print © Bettina von Zwehl

 

 

Header image: Thing Ten (detail) © Bettina von Zwehl

About Ashmolean NOW

For this series of exhibitions in Gallery 8, each artist explores different areas of the Museum’s broad collections from the artists' individual perspectives. The first summer Ashmolean NOW 2023-24 exhibition showed work by Flora Yukhnovich and Daniel Crews-Chubb and was followed by Pio Abad in February 2024, currently on show, with Bettina von Zwehl coming in October 2024.