New Open Air exhibition

Visitors and passers-by will be able to enjoy a new Open Air exhibition at Kunstmuseum Den Haag this summer. Sculptures by Franco-Argentinian artist Pablo Reinoso (b. 1955, Buenos Aires) will be on display along the edge of the water and the front of the museum from 20 April. Reinoso creates benches that grow into twisting sculptures that are meant for sitting on. These works will nicely link the interior and exterior of the building, inviting social interaction and stimulating dialogue between visitors, art and the building itself.

Spaghetti Benches & Harmony Chairs
Two of Reinoso’s most recent ‘Spaghetti Benches’, entitled Talk Right and Talk Left (2023), will be placed beside the water. The steel ‘slats’ of the benches all end in their own unique, entangled, twisting sculpture. The horizontal positioning of the benches will follow the distinctive lines of the museum’s architecture. The presentation will also include three ‘Harmony Chairs’, sculptures inspired by Gerrit Rietveld’s world-famous zig-zag chairs. They extend upwards, and will offer visitors a new perspective on Kunstmuseum Den Haag and the large water feature at the front of the museum.

Installation in the Grand Hall
From June, work by Reinoso will also be on show inside the museum. His sculpture Retour végétal (2015) is to be installed in the Grand Hall. The work consists of a bench whose wooden slats appear to have detached themselves, eliminating the function of the object (as a seat). The slats merge, become tangled and twisted, giving them the appearance of branches or roots. The sculpture is designed to prompt visitors to think about our relationship with other forms of life, particularly in nature[SM1] .

About Pablo Reinoso
Pablo Reinoso is a multidisciplinary artist who has lived and worked in Paris since 1978. He works in sculpture, installation, design, architecture and painting, exploring all possible variations of these media, and always pushing the boundaries. His sculptures, which are often made on site, enter into a profound relationship with the setting for which they were designed. Whether this be a natural or an urban setting, they inspire interaction, conversation and connection. This is particularly true of the ‘Garabatos’ and ‘Spaghetti Benches’ series. In his most recent work, Reinoso responds to current issues, particularly the climate crisis, exploring our relationship with the natural ecosystem.

Since 1973 Reinoso’s work has been shown at institutions and artistic events such as the XII Paris Biennale (1982), the Venice Biennale (1993), MALBA in Buenos Aires (2009) and Château de Chambord (2022). He has produced large public commissions, both in France and in other countries, and his work features in the collections of institutions like MALBA and the Buenos Aires Museum of Modern Art, the Fonds national d'art contemporain in Paris and São Paulo Museum of Modern Art.

Open air exhibitions
A visit to Kunstmuseum Den Haag begins even before you enter the iconic building designed by H.P. Berlage. The gardens also provide a backdrop for art, and since 2022 there has been an open air exhibition every summer highlighting the work of one particular artist. Last year, Theo Jansen’s Strandbeesten spent the summer beside the water in front of the museum. This year, visitors can sit on Pablo Reinoso’s ‘Spaghetti Benches’, looking at his ‘Harmony Chairs’, and perhaps strike up a conversation with another art lover sitting beside them.