Insektensekte [Insect Sect]

[early ecological art] Mobile Testing Station

[Amsterdam]: [Insektensekte], [1971]. Sculpture. Approx. 11 3/8 x 13 in. Small crack to glass exterior at left corner, otherwise very good. Item #10572

The original, unique “Mobile Testing Station” sculpture produced by the Dutch artist collective Indsektensekte [Insect Sect], one of the earliest art collectives focused specifically on ecology and environmental protection - and cited explicitly as an influence on the present-day group Extinction Rebellion in 2019.

Emerging from the same artistic milieu as the Dutch Provo, Insektensekte was active in the Magisch Amsterdam scene of the late 1960s and 1970s that transformed Amsterdam into a global capital of counterculture, radical art, and street interventions.Formed by Max Reneman, Hub Mathijsen and Theo Kley, with Cor Jaring as ‘house photographer,’ the group collaborated with figures such as Provo founder Robert Jasper Grootveld, the feminist Dolle Mina, and the psychedelic church Paradiso. The group blended their “Exotic Kitsch” theater with radical environmental activism, their approach consisted of making art objects out of recycled everyday objects, on top of actual environmental interventions, such as testing the quality of river water with eccentric scientific tools (the “Wearable Testing Station for Expertologists,” similar to this example). Famously, Insektensekte reported on environmental disasters by hanging a flag with a golden butterfly at half-mast, and raised awareness for environmental pollution by composing and staging operas whose audiences counted activists as well as artists John Lennon & Yoko Ono.

This Mobile Testing Station consists of a thermostat; glass tubes containing seeds; batteries; and a leaf transformed into an electrical circuit; all held inside a handmade glass fronted mobile case with a handle. The sculpture was used by Insect Sect during a 1971 performance at the opening of the Daniel Spoerri exhibition at Stedelijk Museum; it was then purchased after the performance by the artist and collector Tjeerd Deelstra.

A unique sculpture and a remarkable record of extraordinarily early environmental art.

Price: $4,500.00