Zèbres-A

Victor Vasarely

Vasarely is the undisputed father of Op art, responsible for transforming the two dimensional planes of art history into fluid, kinetic, mesmerizing works. By the 1970s, his style of optical trickery was everywhere, gracing the covers of David Bowie albums and the bonnets of Renault cars. But in 1938, Vasarely was still a young, unknown member of the Bauhaus school and it was the zebra that gave him his entry into a brave new world of art-making. The monochromatic markings spoke to Vasarely, the undulation of form that contorted perspective offered him a way of thinking about flat planes. His style quickly developed away from the zebras into increasingly complicated, geometric forms of illusion. But here, in the simple fight of equine figures, he laid the foundation of a new dimension.

Sunday 18th October

At the beginning of his Agriculture Course in 1924, given to farmers, doctors and anthroposophists, Rudolf Steiner asked, “Why is it impossible today to eat potatoes like the ones I used to eat in my youth?” More than a hundred years later, his question still resonates as we consider the quality of our food, its nutritional value and what biodynamics describes as its life forces. Industrial agriculture has too often come at a cost to the earth, while the pursuit of yield and shelf life can overshadow flavour and nourishment. As a society, have we also lost some of our appreciation for taste? Organic agriculture, and especially the biodynamic approach, offers a way to renew our relationship with food, nurturing the soil and striving for the highest quality in what we grow. The aim is food rich in flavour, nourishment and, in the biodynamic understanding, the vitality that sustains us.