A week and a half ago, Studio Roosegaarde informed artist Zoro Weigl of a problem: the work they were about to present in it Italian Sculpture Garden Arte Sella Much like his older work. Roosegaarde’s work liquid landscape exists as floating field By Feigl From a liquid-filled plastic cap on which the soil is covered and the grass grows. “It’s a kind of aquatic grass,” says Weigl.

The Amsterdam-born artist made a number of versions of this work, including a permanent version for his own studio in a small village in the province of Antwerp. On videos on his Youtube channel We can see how the grass looks like waving under his feet. Also on the video that Studio Roosegaarde simultaneously with liquid landscape Launched , The grass can be seen flowing as two dancers move on top of it in Debussy moon light.

liquid landscape It was commissioned by the Italian company Arte Sella and developed over three years. Prior to that, Roosegaarde worked with many people in the art world. “Nobody ever dropped the name Zorro in those days,” says Roosegaard. Two weeks ago I suddenly saw his work on a TV broadcast. So I thought I should call Zoro. Since then there has been daily contact.”

Compilation video of both artworks

However, the mutual contact between Roosegaarde and Feigl has not yet led to a rapprochement. In fact, Feigl felt intimidated and pressured by Roosegaarde. He was asked to issue an affidavit stating that he had no objection to this liquid landscape. “A statement I am not happy to make,” Weigl said. Furthermore, Rosegaard was suggesting to Weigl that he modify his work so that the works would not resemble each other.

“I was stunned,” Weigl says. „After the press release of liquid landscape I also got a call from them asking if I wanted to say we were talking and that nothing was wrong. “We are in talks but something is going on,” Weigl said. “I’m not the kind of person who likes to file lawsuits, but we’re talking about a work of art that they could know about. You would think that as a big studio they would do their research thoroughly. And if such a situation happens, you have to handle it in a good way.”

Rosegaard notes that as a creator he “has no interest” in copying and denies the intent: “I can’t say ‘sorry’. I didn’t do anything wrong. I didn’t know and as soon as I knew I took action. That doesn’t change the fact that it’s an unpleasant situation.” The artist acknowledges the similarities between the two works, but also believes that you can’t really claim something like this: “There are other artists in Holland who have worked with bags of water before and this too is just a phenomenon in nature.”

own toe

In 2016, Roosegaarde was twice discredited before for allegedly taking over other people’s business. On a TV show college tour Professor Bob Orssum accused him of flaunting inventions that were not his own Smog free tower. in the same year Criticized by the widow of conceptual artist Geir van Elk Roosegaarde worked at the “DWDD Museum”. Like Van Elk, Roosegaarde hung several seascapes for this purpose, aligned on the horizon. This will be a copy of her late husband’s work.

Roosegaarde is considering outsourcing in consultation with Feigl to resolve the situation. Weigl isn’t yet hoping for a good result: “They sent all those press releases on Tuesday while we were still talking. They ranged in to me a hundred times, so it can never be corrected. I feel like I’ve lost quite a bit already.”