Pizza Pond

Pizza Pond, 2016
In: “Process, Performance, Presence”
11 June – 21 August 2016
Kunstverein Braunschweig, Germany

Outdoor installation:
Nasturtiums, soil, styrofoam, plastic, PVC, sand, water; dimensions variable.

Nasturtium Dinner, 21 August, 6pm

Peach Melba, Strawberries & Cream, and Milkmaid — not names one might usually associate with a medicinal herb. But the edible nasturtium, with its brightly-colored flowers, is the central element of Swiss artist Christian Philipp Müller's installation “Pizza Pond” in the Villa Salve Hospes courtyard. Pizza-sized bowls holding the plants float in a pond — trapezoid-shaped like the pattern of the surrounding flagstones — that stretches out in front of the stone steps leading up to the main entrance. Humorous cross-references abound. The title of the work, as well as the names of the various types of nasturtium, conjure up food types much less healthy than this most nutritious plant. Also the very basic construction of the pond and the materials used are not what one might expect to find in front of a classical villa. Instead of delicate water lilies the artist has placed a temporary pond full of gaudy nasturtiums, which will disappear again once the exhibition is over. It can also be read as an ironic comment on well-known Impressionist paintings.

For the duration of the exhibition the miniature the round beds will float and flourish in the water. The bowls — a maximum of 64 in total — each hold a different variety of nasturtium, which the artist will rearrange daily, in smaller or larger groups and according to colour, into swimming "collages." The patterns that emerge from the floating beds will ultimately be decided by chance. So, too, the growth of the plants, which although initially placed neatly into their bowls, are left to themselves to grow rampantly, highlighting the contrast between the controlling act of gardening and the waywardness of natural processes.

But Christian Philipp Müller is also interested in the connection between visual and culinary pleasures. The nasturtium, brought to Europe from the Americas as a medicinal herb, is not only attractive to look at: it tastes peppery, and the oils it contains have antibiotic and antiseptic qualities. "Eat more colours," the artist was once told by a herbal specialist — so just as the doctor ordered, a large nasturtium dinner will be served as the culinary culmination to the "Pizza Pond" installation.