Ashmolean NOW: Bettina von Zwehl – Ashmolean Museum, UK

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 to 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.

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.