People pass along. We are in this flow all together. Look at the things we made, do you realize that the grass and the earth upon we walk belong to our same root? Look out with your eyes closed all things growing and changing.

The work of Herman de Vries for the Dutch Pavilion at the 56th edition of the Iternational Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia is a poetic reflection on how nature and culture affect and influence each other. With a backround as an horticulturist and natural scientist, de Vries expresses the diversity and harmony of the world around us, investigating man’s role within it. The sculptures, works on paper photographs, and installations of To Be All Ways To Be claim the participation of visitors’ five senses, in order to grasp a conceptual message that goes beyond the mere rational boundaries. Art, science and philosphy are subtly juxtaposed. De Vries uses organic elements to symbolically tell us something about the spirit and society of a certain civilization, which directly or inderectly left its mark on them. Through To Be All Ways To Be, Herman de Vries aims to reveal that human and natural diversity is, at the same time, a physical and intangible fact, increasing the awareness on what nature represents for us and what is our primary reality.