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.
 

Bettina von Zwehl in Gallery 8 setting up her Ashmolean Now exhibition, The Flood, looking at her Thing series photographs against the blue wall of the gallery

Bettina von Zwehl at the installation of her exhibition The Flood in Gallery 8. Photo Ellie Atkins / Ashmolean Museum

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

SELECTED ARTWORKS IN THE EXHIBITION

Thing Ten installation photo, Bettina von Zwehl, 2023, archival pigment print © Bettina von Zwehl
Giant tea bag installation with blue splash by artist Bettina von Zwehl
Huge black feather print by artist Bettina von Zwehl
Belly button nautilus (Nautilus macromphalus) by Bettina von Zwehl, 2023, archival pigment print - Courtesy of Oxford University Museum of Natural History
Hercules, dacshund portrait by Bettina von Zwehl, 2017 (one of the artist's dog portrait in a circular cutaway with red background)
Antique rocking cradle in metalwork
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
The Symptoms by Bettina von Zwehl, black and white photography showing a silhouette beetle imposed on a woman's head
Fungi Island (detail), Bettina von Zwehl, 2023
Theatre model black and white photograph called Remember Me, Remember Me!, by artist Bettina von Zwehl collaboration with Robert Ennis Hopkins, 2023
Thing One, Bettina von Zwehl, 2023, archival pigment print © Bettina von Zwehl
Asiatic Elephant molar tooth photography, 2023, by artist Bettina von Zwehl

Exhibition supported by:

Arts Council England
The Patrons of the Ashmolean Museum
Christian Levett
Laura and Jim Duncan
Johannes and Helene Huth
Carlos and Francesca Pinto
and those who wish to remain anonymous

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.