Joep van Lieshout, with his studio Atelier van Lieshout, will present Funky Bones, a group of 20 benches with drawings of large bones that will together form the shape of an enormous, stylized human skeleton. The work grows out of ideas about native heritage and cultural development, with bones iconically referring to artifacts and remains from previous occupants. The artist, who encountered visitors sitting on rocks and other natural perches on his visit to Indianapolis, wanted to create benches as sites for resting in 100 Acres. Two locations for the installation are under consideration, either in one large grouping in the Park's central meadow, or dispersed in various locations throughout 100 Acres.

Founded in 1995 by Joep Van Lieshout, Atelier Van Lieshout (AVL) is a Rotterdam-based multidisciplinary company and studio group. Atelier Van Lieshout produces design, architecture, furniture, versatile “mobile units,” and large-scale public arenas that accommodate specialty lifestyles. In 2001 in Rotterdam, the group founded an autonomous “Free State” called AVL-Ville—a self-sustaining community with its own flag, currency, and constitution—that was home to the AVL collective for eight months. Joep Van Lieshout was born in 1963 in Ravenstein, Netherlands. Atelier Van Lieshout has exhibited extensively, including solo exhibitions at Museum Folkwang in Essen, Germany, Centre Pompidou in Paris, Art Basel Miami Beach, FIAC at the Grand Palais in Paris, and the Kröller-Müller Museum in the Netherlands.

Slideshow: Artist rendering of Funky Bones, Atelier van Lieshout 2008.