Don Quixote Pavilion and Garden at the Rijksmuseum |Amsterdam

 Don Quixote Pavilion and Garden at the Rijksmuseum |Amsterdam | The Netherlands 

An exceptional donation from the Don Quixote Foundation will enable the Rijksmuseum to enrich the city of Amsterdam with a public sculpture garden of international stature. In this green space with three pavilions, visitors will enjoy sculptures by world-renowned artists such as Alberto Giacometti, Louise Bourgeois, Alexander Calder, Jean Arp, Roni Horn and Henry Moore. The new garden will also host temporary sculpture exhibitions. The Don Quixote Foundation is donating 60 million euros to fund the development of the new site. It is also giving a large number of sculptures on long-term loan to the Rijksmuseum. The museum’s new exhibition space will be known as the Don Quixote Pavilion and Garden at the Rijksmuseum.

 Sculpture garden

The sculpture garden will be situated just a stone’s throw from the Rijksmuseum, at the intersection of Boerenwetering, Ruysdaelkade and Stadhouderskade. Three existing pavilions and their adjoining gardens will be merged with Carel Willinkplantsoen to form a single sculpture garden. The pavilions, built in the Amsterdam School style, will be open to the public for the first time. These buildings will be transformed into sculpture exhibition spaces designed by the London firm Foster + Partners. The garden itself will be designed by the Belgian landscape architect Piet Blanckaert.
Greater biodiversity

In addition to the outstanding sculptures, more space will be made for trees and plants. Twenty-two new mature trees and a wider variety of native flowers and plants will contribute to increased biodiversity in the city.
Free public access

The main entrance to the sculpture garden will be located on Stadhouderskade. Visitors will be able to access the sculpture garden free of charge during the day. Exact opening hours will be determined in consultation with the municipality and local residents.
Don Quixote Foundation

The Don Quixote Foundation is the Rijksmuseum’s largest private benefactor. It has supported the annual sculpture exhibition in the Rijksmuseum Gardens since the museum reopened in 2013, ensuring admission to the exhibitions remains free. Thanks to an additional donation of 12.5 million euros in 2023, the foundation has made it possible to continue staging exhibitions in the Rijksmuseum Gardens. In 2017, the foundation gave the unique flora and fauna albums of Anselmus de Boodt—containing more than 700 16th-century watercolours and drawings – on long-term loan to the museum. The foundation also supported the Rijksmuseum’s 2022 exhibition Crawly Creatures.

>>>  The permit application has been submitted, and the plan is for the sculpture garden to open in autumn 2026.

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The iconic Rijksmuseum in the heart of Amsterdam is one of the things you need to see when you visit the Netherlands. Rijksmuseum moves you through more than 8,000 works of Dutch art and history including masterpieces by Vermeer, Rembrandt, and Van Gogh.

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 Rijksmuseum | Museumstraat 1, Amsterdam

 

 

Ed van der Elsken @ Rijksmuseum and Nederlands Fotomuseum

Rijksmuseum and Nederlands Fotomuseum acquire artistic estate of Ed van der Elsken

Ed van der Elsken, from the Photo Book Een liefdesgeschiedenis in Saint Germain des Prés’ (Love on the Left Bank), before 1956. Gelatin silver print.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Rijksmuseum and the Nederlands Fotomuseum have jointly acquired the artistic estate of the photographer Ed van der Elsken (1925-1990), safeguarding for the nation the largest archive of work by one of the most important Dutch photographers of the 20th century. This acquisition will make it possible, for the first time, to gain a complete understanding of Van der Elsken’s artistic practice over the entire course of his more than 40-year career.

Van der Elsken’s widow Anneke Hilhorst has for 30 years managed her late husband’s artistic legacy, comprising 10,000 objects. The Rijksmuseum is to obtain more than 7,700 prints, while the Nederlands Fotomuseum will add 3,000 contact sheets and 300 photographs to its collection. The Rijksmuseum and the Nederlands Fotomuseum are working together to open up the archive and restore, study and digitise his work so it is accessible to all.

This autumn the Rijksmuseum will partner with the Nederlands Fotomuseum to stage an exhibition of Van der Elsken’s work. This exhibition focusing on the photographer’s methodology will show the artist’s hand at work in the designs for two photobooks, proof prints, book cover designs, photographs featuring the artist’s own descriptions and marks, and contact sheets. It is only through the acquisition of Van der Elsken’s entire artistic legacy that we are able to present his work in such an extensive way.

The collection was for a large part donated by Anneke Hilhorst, and partly purchased with the support of the Mondriaan Fund, the Rembrandt Association (thanks in part to its dedicated Photography and Video Fund and Dura Kunstfonds), BankGiro Lottery players, the Paul Huf Fonds/Rijksmuseum Fonds and the Marque Joosten en Eduard Planting Fonds/Rijksmuseum Fonds. The acquisition was made possible thanks to the mediation of Annet Gelink Gallery Amsterdam.

Anneke Hilhorst, widow of Ed van der Elsken: I have always regarded my ownership of Ed’s work as a great responsibility. I have never considered it to be mine alone; first and foremost, it is historical heritage of the photographic and visual arts in the Netherlands. I have now passed on this responsibility in complete confidence that the work of Ed van der Elsken will be cherished and well looked after by the Rijksmuseum and the Nederlands Fotomuseum. Highly specialised people will now escort his work into a long and beautiful future. For this I can feel only gratitude.

Taco Dibbits, General Director of the Rijksmuseum: Ed van der Elsken makes the everyday extraordinary. He offers us an intimate glimpse into the changes that took place in the second half of the 20th century, and that are still relevant in our lives today. He is one of the great Dutch masters of the 20th century, and Anneke Hilhorst does us a great honour in entrusting his legacy to us. We and the Nederlands Fotomuseum will together ensure that Van der Elsken’s work is made accessible to all, now and in the future.

Birgit Donker, Director of the Nederlands Fotomuseum: Ed van der Elsken’s photographs and contact prints constitute an exceptional addition to our wonderful collection; we maintain the complete archive of Van der Elsken’s negatives and slides. Until now this collection included only a limited number of prints, on two themes. Through this joint acquisition, the Nederlands Fotomuseum collection will now include early work by this important photographer, who is part of our national DNA.

Ed van der Elsken Contact sheet Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Parijs (Love on the Left Bank), 1950-1954.

Artistic legacy
Van der Elsken’s artistic estate contains many surprises, including more than 2,000 vintage prints, multiple prints from a single negative, cover designs, dummy photo book designs (including one for his 1966 masterpiece Sweet Life) and contact sheets. It is a whole of many parts and a source for further scholarly research. The series and sequences of images on the contact prints offer a comprehensive overview of the photographer’s entire oeuvre, with many of them including the descriptions and markings that reveal what was most important to him. The contact sheets therefore form a vital link between the negatives and his prints. There is also evidence of Van der Elsken’s abiding interest in experimentation in the domain of design, particularly in the form of his book dummies. He designed his own magnum opus Sweet Life,  experimenting with sequence, size, juxtaposition and printing techniques. The Sweet Life dummy will have a prominent place in this autumn’s exhibition. 

 Ed van der Elsken
Ed van der Elsken (1925-1990) photographed, amongst others, in the Netherlands, Paris, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Japan, Hong Kong, Mexico, the United States, and Indonesia, and built a body of work that is extraordinarily wide-ranging and rich. His direct and disarming approach was part of what made him the epitome of the ‘people photographer’ – it was this directness that enabled him to capture the human essence of his subjects. Van der Elsken’s used his uniquely raw and individual style to show that photography is about more than just an image; his photographs express a personal vision. Van der Elsken is acknowledged internationally as a pioneer of the subjective viewpoint; of the photographer’s vision and portrayal of people and the world.

Combined efforts and indispensable support
The collection was for a large part donated by Anneke Hilhorst, and partly purchased with the support of the Mondriaan Fund, the Rembrandt Association (thanks in part to its dedicated Photography and Video Fund and Dura Kunstfonds), BankGiro Lottery players, the Paul Huf Fonds/Rijksmuseum Fonds and the Marque Joosten en Eduard Planting Fonds/Rijksmuseum Fonds.

It is thanks to donations and bequests from private individuals, funds, family and other foundations, government and business that museums such as the Rijksmuseum and the Nederlands Fotomuseum can continue to exist and to connect people, art and history. 

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

Postbus 74888
1070 DN Amsterdam
The Netherlands
E-mail: info@rijksmuseum.nl
Telephone: +31 (0) 20 6747 000
Visiting address
Museumstraat 1
1071 XX Amsterdam

Amsterdam Light Festival | Open Call

Call for concepts 2017–2018

Deadline Round 1 (curatorial selection) :  31January  2017, 11am CET
Amsterdam Light Festival is an annual light art festival in the Netherlands that presents the rapidly developing concept of light art in all its forms. After five successful editions, the festival will return to Amsterdam’s city center for the 2017–18 edition. From artists to designers, engineers to architects, and professionals to students, the festival invites creators from around the world to submit their creative interpretations of the theme EXISTENTIAL. Amsterdam’s world-renowned canals and various waterfronts offer visitors a unique way to experience multidisciplinary light artworks.
Amsterdam Light Festival presents two exhibitions, following two routes in Amsterdam’s city center, each with its own unique interpretation of the festival’s theme.
Water Colors boat route
Amsterdam Light Festival champions artworks that connect the essential elements of light and people’s EXISTENTIAL needs and dreams, making people more aware of their existential being. For the Water Colors boat route, we are looking for monumental proposals on, above or in the water that connect with the city, its inhabitants, and its visitors.
Illuminade walking route
For the Illuminade walking route, we hope to see beautiful interpretations and installations that bring the EXISTENTIAL qualities of light back to the basics and provide a stage for natural miracles and occurrences. We are looking for artworks that you can touch, walk through, connect with and react to.
Deadlines & schedule 2017
Tuesday, January 31 (11am CET)
Deadline submission round 1—curatorial selection. Late entries are not accepted.
Friday, February 17
Notification whether the curatorial team has selected your submission for round 2 and presentation to the jury.
Friday, March 17, 2017 (11am CET)
Deadline submission round 2—jury selection.
Tuesday, April 4
Announcement of approximately 30 artists selected by the international jury members.
Tuesday, April 18–Friday, April 21
The artists who are selected by the jury visit Amsterdam for the kickoff meeting and site visit (2 days). These dates are subject to change.

Application form  on www.amsterdamlightfestival.com/cfc to request the artist briefing. 
More info >> cfc@amsterdamlightfestival.com

contacts:
Amsterdam Light Festival
Rapenburgerstraat 123
1011 VL Amsterdam
The Netherlands

Melanie Bonajo with "Night Soil / Economy of Love" @AKINCI gallery |Amsterdam

  Melanie Bonajo Night Soil / Economy of Love, 

2015, still, HD video, 36 min

photo credit : AKINCi gallery and the artists

AKINCI is proud to announce Melanie Bonajo's first solo show, Night Soil / Economy of Love, with a lush and sensuous opening on Saturday 12th of September 5 - 7 pm, followed by a psychedelic concert by Bonajo's music duo Z▲Z▲Z◎Z◎ in OT301 8 pm.

This festive opening will be accompanied by the presentation of Melanie Bonajo's newest book, 'Matrix Botanica, numero 1 - Non-Human Persons,' designed by Experimental Jetset and published by Capricious Publishing, New York.

 

The enticing title Night Soil / Economy of Love refers to Bonajo's (1978, NL) newest film in her trilogy Night Soil. Whereas the first part of the trilogy, Night Soil / Fake Paradise (2014), explores the cultural affect of hallucinogens and human connection to nature, Night Soil / Economy of Love (2015) portrays a Brooklyn-based movement of female sex workers, regarding their work as a way for women to reclaim power in a male-dominated pleasure zone; their mission being to rearrange sexual conventions and ideas about intimacy itself. Vivid imagery is accompanied by a spoken score, revealing Bonajo's vision on contemporary spirituality and expectations surrounding gender roles by playful, sensual, and feminist-driven means. In a world where a swipe to the right on a smartphone can grant access to supermarket sex, where social media tend to create an alternate form of loneliness, and where we are increasingly disconnected from the physical world, Bonajo questions the complex relationships that exist within and without the natural world, challenging the traditional notions that divide nature, people, and technology. She looks to environmental activism and, in particular, how that activism is leveraged illegally against global capitalism.

 

Besides the world premiere of Night Soil / Economy of Love, Bonajo shows an overview of her ever-growing series of photographs based on actions and performance. Some mysteriously endearing, some refreshingly provocative, these photographs depict human's attitude to nature, environmental conditions and transformative power structures. In her work, Bonajo examines the paradoxes inherent to ideas of comfort with a strong sense for community, equality, and body-politics. Through her videos, performances, photographs and installations, she studies subjects related to how technological advances and commodity-based pleasures increase feelings of alienation, removing a sense of belonging in an individual. Captivated by concepts of the divine, Bonajo explores the spiritual emptiness of her generation, examines peoples’ shifting relationship with nature and tries to understand existential questions by reflecting on our domestic situation, ideas around classification, concepts of home, gender and attitudes towards value.

  Melanie Bonajo  Dream Station Space, 2013, installtion and performance

 photo credit : AKINCi gallery and the artists

 

Bonajo's work has been exhibited and performed in international art institutions, such as De Appel Arts Centre, Amsterdam; Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw; the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; The Moscow Biennale; National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, and PPOW Gallery, New York. Her films have been screened at festivals such as the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) and the Berlinale. In 2012 she initiated the collective Genital International, which tackles subjects around feminism, participation, equality, our Earth, ‘Politics beyond Polarity’ and ‘Revolution through Relaxation.' Bonajo has contributed to several art magazines, was creative editor of Capricious Magazine, and curated various shows, such as the QQC Performance Festival about pop music in visual arts at the Paradiso, Amsterdam. She published several books, including: Modern Life of the Soul, I Have a Room with Everything, Spheres and Furniture Bondage. In 2013 she released an album with her band Z▲Z▲Z◎Z◎ called Inua. Bonajo studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy and completed residencies at a.o. ISCP in New York (2014) and the  Rijksakademie voor Beeldende Kunst in Amsterdam (2009-10). She lives and works in Amsterdam and New York.
 

LIJNBAANSGRACHT 317 • NL–1017 WZ AMSTERDAM • T +31(0)20 6380480 • INFO@AKINCI.NL • WWW.AKINCI.NL