The Centraal Museum in Utrecht is organising contemporary art exhibitions in Oud-Amelisweerd, a country house on the outskirts of the city of Utrecht. Since 2022 exhibitions of renowned artists are presented on the first floor of Landhuis Oud-Amelisweerd.
Transmutation is the first comprehensive solo exhibition of the Korean-Dutch artist Sara Sejin Chang (Sara van der Heide). The exhibition presents a selection of works from the past fifteen years and demonstrates the diversity of her artistic practice.
The central theme is the questioning of the colonial and Eurocentric ‘blueprint’ that still has a lasting impact both here in Europe and internationally. For example, in the emergence of a large-scale, transracial adoption industry influenced by colonial power relations. She attempts to undo this way of thinking through her poetic and enchanting installations. Her films and installations stem from years of research, in which historical events and Korean shamanism come together.
Some works– such as Dutch Cabinet, The Garden and Art History – have unfolded over longer periods of time, constituting a critique of Western linear thinking and the concept of progress. They are also ‘meditations’ on the normalisation of the far right, nationalism and the Western dominance of (art) history.
The works hold up a mirror but also invite collective healing. Central to this exhibition is the idea of ‘transmutation’: a spiritual concept in which the historical, political blueprint transforms into ‘Light’. In this way, Chang uses spirituality for the collective, thereby transcending the personal.
Sara Sejin Chang joins the programme of exhibitions of Centraal Museum in Oud-Amelisweerd, following the preceding shows of Amie Dicke, Marijke van Warmerdam, Hannah van Bart, Han Schuil, Ansuya Blom, Rory Pilgrim and the duo exhibition of Evi Vingerling and Katja Mater. This programme is a partner project of Hartwig Art Foundation.