Meet the nominees for the NN Art Award 2025: I Diana Scherer

For the ninth consecutive year, the NN Art Award will be presented in 2025 to a promising artist showcasing their work at Art Rotterdam. This year’s nominees are Diana Scherer (andriesse eyck galerie), Marcos Kueh (Prospects section of the Mondriaan Fund, courtesy of Galerie Ron Mandos), Pris Roos (Mini Galerie) and Bodil Ouédraogo (Prospects section of the Mondriaan Fund). The work of the four nominees will be on view at Kunsthal Rotterdam from 15 March until 11 May 2025.       

Diana Scherer is a pioneer in biotechnological art. Her work is a unique blend of botany, material research, textiles and sculpture, and is essentially a poetic exploration of the relationship between humans and nature — and the human desire to control the natural world. The balance between control and letting go plays a crucial role in her practice. Scherer is renowned for her innovative manipulation of intelligent root networks. In her studio, she creates artificial biotopes where roots are guided underground using templates. The delicate root structures that emerge from this process contain both natural patterns and human-designed motifs. By directing the growth of roots with light, soil and seeds, Scherer creates complex, textile-like structures that she uses for sculptures, installations, textile works and photography. The resulting works highlight the plant’s inherent dynamism and demonstrates how nature often finds its own unpredictable path, despite human intervention.

What sets Scherer’s work apart is her meticulous research process and the intensive collaborations she had in the past with scientists and biologists from institutions such as TU Delft and Radboud University. Her multidisciplinary approach, characterised by elements of science, nature, art, and design, enables her to render the hidden world of roots visible. This has resulted in groundbreaking techniques through which she transforms roots into ‘grown textiles’. Scherer analyses these roots at a microscopic level and she experimented with hundreds of plant species before selecting her favourites: oats, grass, wheat and maize. She likened the structure of grass roots to silk and compared the root system of daisies to wool. The artist is also fascinated by the artisanal nature of textiles and draws inspiration from traditional weaving techniques used by communities that are deeply connected to nature. Sustainability and idealism play a central role in her work.     

Scherer’s practice reflects a deep fascination with what neurobiologists regard as the ‘intelligence center’ or the brain of plants. She explores ways to guide these natural growth processes, for instance by studying xylem vessels, the tissue responsible for water transport within plants. Her work reflects a fascination with hidden processes and hybrid forms, where microscopic botanical structures merge with human-made patterns — ranging from geometric principles found in nature to the imprints of bubble wrap and tire tracks. Scherer also integrates the impact of climate change on cellular tissues, incorporating elements such as burnt wood and mutated plant structures.  

Scherer’s work embodies the human urge to control nature, while simultaneously raising questions about the ethical and ecological implications (and limits) of that control. In doing so, she invites us to reconsider what 'natural' truly means in the age of the Anthropocene.

Diana, could you tell us more about the work you are presenting at Art Rotterdam and in Kunsthal Rotterdam?
At Art Rotterdam, I am showcasing works from my ongoing project ‘Interwoven (Exercises in Root System Domestication)’ (2015–present). In the Intersection section of the fair, a monumental piece measuring 7 by 2.5 meters will be on display, suspended from the ceiling. This work, cultivated from seeds, grass and roots, was originally commissioned by Museum Kranenburgh for my solo exhibition ‘Farming Textiles’, which was presented there last year. Additionally, andriesse eyck galerie will exhibit a selection of my works at the fair.

For Kunsthal Rotterdam, I am preparing a more extensive exhibition featuring around ten larger and smaller works, some of which are intertwined with synthetic fabrics and nets, merging organic growth with human-made materials.

What are your plans for 2025?
In 2025, I will start a collaboration with the TextielLab of the TextielMuseum in Tilburg. Together, we will develop large-scale knitted fabrics and delicate, lace-like coloured nets, which I will then integrate with my root-woven textiles. While I have previously experimented with coloured fabrics, the limited availability of suitable materials has led me to produce them myself. This allows me to determine the colour, size and knitting patterns, while ensuring control over the sourcing of yarn, with the aim of working as sustainably as possible.

I will also be presenting my work in several exhibitions throughout the year. From 11 July, I will take part in ‘More than Human’ at the Design Museum in London. The SeMoCA (Seoul Museum of Craft Art) in South Korea has invited me to participate in ‘Matter Matters: Four Attitudes in the Digital Age’, an exhibition that explores how contemporary craft artists engage with materiality and technology in the digital age. My work will also be featured at the Hangzhou Triennale Fiber Art 2025 in China, while a selection will be on view in Mettingen as part of the Draaiflessen Collection. Finally, my work will be presented at the Fellbach Triennale in Germany.

How did you feel when you heard you were nominated for the NN Art Award?
I was truly surprised — it was completely unexpected. And, of course, absolutely delighted!

If you were to win the award, what project would you pursue immediately?
Winning the award would give me the freedom to focus more on research and experimentation. The further development of my current project requires both time and concentration. Additionally, I would expand my collaboration with the TextielLab of the TextielMuseum, as there are still so many possibilities to explore in combining these two forms of textiles. This year, colour research will also play a significant role in my practice.

Diana Scherer was born in 1971 in Lauingen, Bavaria (Germany) but has lived in the Netherlands for over 25 years. She initially studied fashion design in London but continued her studies at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. She has won several awards, including the prestigious New Material Award (Fellow) from Het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam. Scherer’s work has been exhibited at the Frankfurter Kunstverein, the TextielMuseum, Foam Amsterdam, Manifesta, Museum Kranenburgh, the MIT Museum in Boston, the Himalayas Museum in Shanghai, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Stedelijk Museum, and at the Biennale of Sydney. Currently, her work is on view at the Cobra Museum in Amstelveen and Somerset House in London.

The winner of the NN Art Award 2025 will be announced on Friday 28 March at 20:00 in Kunsthal Rotterdam. During this celebratory evening, all exhibitions, including the NN Art Award exhibition, will be freely accessible to attending guests.

Written by Flor Linckens