TAKAKO SAITO DIES AT THE AGE OF 96

Takako Saito died on 30 September 2025.

Her works can be seen in major museums around the world: delicate, tranquil objects made from the simplest of materials, countless variations on chess sets, or stalls reminiscent of toy shops, the ‘You&Me Shops’, where twigs, stones, leaves, shells and everyday objects are exchanged, combined or incorporated into small collaborative works.
(Today, on 2 October, I picked up the first chestnut in the main square).
Takako Saito attached great importance to interaction with her fellow human beings. Play took centre stage in her work; it was her way of communicating, her language.
We owe her unforgettable moments in Hadersdorf.
The great Fluxus artist was a guest at the ‘Ausstellungshaus Spoerri’ in 2018 and ensured that the museum extended into the park on the main square. The residents of Hadersdorf were invited to participate in three playful performances. After the performances, they said:
‘We all agree: let's do it again anytime!’
We are very sad that it is no longer possible to repeat the event, but we should ensure that Takako's cheerfulness remains in the world.
Barbara Räderscheidt

 

Season 2017: ART TOLD WITH FLOWERS

APRIL 01 – OCTOBER 29, 2017

This magnificent exhibition showed works by Rozbeh Asmani, Rudolf Bonvie, Karoline Bröckel, Katharina Duwen, Werner Henkel, the artificial flower manufactory, Christiane Löhr, Scénocosme, Dieter Seitz, Daniel Spoerri, Golbarg Tavakolian, Barbara Camilla Tucholski, Herman de Vries, Martin Weimar, and from the collections of Admont Abbey and the Watering Can Museum (Giessen). 

Plants in art are much more than still lifes with flowers. Albrecht Dürer's well-known depiction of a piece of grass, a classic study of nature, appears in contemporary art as a piece of grass that has actually been cut out and placed behind glass (Herman de Vries), and at other times as a paper cut out of artificial turf (Werner Henkel). 

The longing of city dwellers for a piece of nature gives plants a social component. Parks are referred to as »social green«. Allotment gardens are also an expression of this longing, as the drawings by Barbara Camilla Tucholski delicately illustrate. 

Plants gain economic importance when they are used as medicines or insecticides because of their ingredients – which Rozbeh Asmani took up as a central theme. 

The fact that plants can also become artistic material was shown in the sculptures made of grass and seeds by Christiane Löhr and in the photographs by Katharina Duwen, who experimented primarily with grass seeds and staged the results in spectacular photographs. Finally, the watering can in all its forms was honored as a symbol of the gardener's labors and duties (Watering Can Museum, Giessen). 

Exhibition period: April 01 – October 29, 2017

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