Wolfgang Laib's Pollen Art: A Video Portrait by MoMA

A video produced by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York for Wolfgang Laib's 2013 solo exhibition features the German artist discussing his use of pollen as an artistic medium. Laib, born in Metzingen in 1950, personally collects pollen from fields around his studio in a small village in southern Germany, spending months gathering and cataloging it by type in glass jars. This precious dust, symbolizing the beginning of life, is used to create large, luminous color carpets in galleries and museums. In the video, Laib explains that his work with pollen originated during his time as a medical student working in hospitals, where he was constantly confronted with illness and death. He states, "I think that pollen, which symbolizes life, was my response to everything I saw." The video is part of MoMA's documentation of the artist's practice.