Outset Netherlands is proud to have supported the exhibition Growing Poetics by Thierry Oussou, presented in 2024 at buitenplaats Kasteel Wijlre. This solo exhibition brought together new and recent works by Oussou, unfolding across the Coach House and the surrounding landscape, and marked an important moment in the artist’s evolving international practice.
Growing Poetics featured paintings, drawings, sculptures, and installations that reflect Oussou’s deep engagement with questions of ecology, labour, and the relationship between humans and the non-human world. Central to the project was Oussou’s belief in an inclusive, non-hierarchical understanding of life, in which materials, plants, objects, and people are imbued with agency and vitality. By connecting works inside the exhibition space to a living, growing work outdoors, the exhibition extended beyond the gallery walls and embedded itself in the rhythms of the estate.
The exhibition also resonated strongly with Kasteel Wijlre’s mission to support emerging artists living and working in the Netherlands who have international significance, while actively enabling the production of new work. Oussou’s practice—rooted in both Benin and the Netherlands—embodies a dialogue between different geographies, histories, and knowledge systems. His poetic use of materials such as branches, paper, cotton, and sound invited visitors to slow down, observe attentively, and reconsider their own relationship to the environment.
By supporting Growing Poetics, Outset Netherlands contributed to the realisation of an ambitious first institutional solo presentation for Oussou that foregrounded artistic research, new production, and long-term thinking. The project reflects Outset Netherlands’ ongoing commitment to supporting contemporary artists and institutions in developing meaningful, critically engaged work that connects artistic practice to broader social and ecological questions.
