The Quickening. Kunstverein, Amsterdam Art Week

Both the tulip and the potato have evolved to satisfy humankind’s most basic yearnings. Some provide sustenance for the body, some for the soul. Moreover, what binds them together is the role each played in the shaping of the countries and the cultures our Kunstverein franchise holds a foot in. Respectively, The Netherlands and Ireland. Amidst the ongoing ‘boerenprotesten’—a series of demonstrations by Dutch farmers triggered by a 2019 parliament proposal to halve the country’s livestock in an attempt to limit agricultural pollution in the Netherlands—and a growing divide between the people providing our food and those consuming it, we look at how the food we share shapes our thoughts. By bringing together different voices in the field, this event aims to offer a Dutch version of O’Mahony Sustainment Experiments – which lay at the foundation of her film now shown at Kunstverein – in an attempt (however small) to bridge the gap.

This moment was celebrated with a special serving of a potato-tulip ice cream by Honey Jones-Hughes & Antonio de la Hera (aka buurtijs) and a potato kombucha in cast porcelain potato ceramics made by O’Mahony. For their support to Buurtijs’ new flavour we would also like to thank milk farmer Bas van den Berg and John and Johanna Huiberts, of Huiberts biologische bloembollen.