Circularity is a conceptual feature of many of the selected works, which evolve and transform throughout the exhibition. Between the late 1960s and early 1970s Hans Haacke (b. 1936) created Grass Cube, Grass Grows, and Directed Growth as conceptual works of living, renewable art, which were re-presented in the artificial exhibition space. These included a mound of earth laden with seeds and a crop of beans that germinate in the Museum. After becoming covered in green shoots, the plants will wither away, completing their life cycle. When the exhibition closes, the elements that formed each work will be composted. These circular creations will only materialize again in future exhibitions in a new context, when they are presented again

Hans Haacke
Directed Growth, 1970/72
Beans, earth, twine
Dimensions variable
© Hans Haacke / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn.
Courtesy the artist and Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
© Hans Haacke, VEGAP, Bilbao 2025