The relationship between man, culture and nature is increasingly becoming a subject of (artistic) research within the visual arts – a theme on which herman de vries has been working for decades. For more than 60 years now he has been developing a highly versatile oeuvre in which art, science and philosophy are confronted with the world's, and especially nature's reality. De vries' recent work dominates his presentation in Venice, as it does in the book 'to be all ways to be'. The book's guideline is a dialogue between de vries and Jean-Hubert Martin about the works on show in Venice.

The relationship between man, culture and nature is increasingly becoming a subject of (artistic) research within the visual arts – a theme on which herman de vries has been working for decades. For more than 60 years now he has been developing a highly versatile oeuvre in which art, science and philosophy are confronted with the world's, and especially nature's reality. De vries' recent work dominates his presentation in Venice, as it does in the book 'to be all ways to be'. The book's guideline is a dialogue between de vries and Jean-Hubert Martin about the works on show in Venice.