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Double Infinity

Shanghai 30/04 – 23/05/2010

Double Infinity is an artistic project jointly organised by the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven and Arthub Asia, in collaboration with the Dutch China Arts Foundation. The project will open on 30 April 2010 in the Dutch Culture Centre in Shanghai, China, during the World Expo 2010 Shanghai. Double Infinity comprises of an exhibition, a book and a series of performances and lectures.

Three new presentations of the collection Lissitzky

19/09/2009 - 02/09/2012
opening: Sat. 19 September 2009, 17:00

The Van Abbemuseum hosts one of the world’s biggest and most important collections of work by the Russian artist El Lissitzky (1890-1941). His work, his ideas and his artistic objectives correspond closely with the museum’s own engagement with experimentation, radical creativity and public participation.

The Lissitzky+ project is comprised of three successive exhibitions, each taking a specific theme, which over the coming three years will shed new light on Lissitzky’s oeuvre. An entire floor of the museum’s new building will each year be rearranged for these new presentations.

Gravediggers sculpture in pond of the Van Abbemuseum

Meters high sculpture in pond of Van Abbemuseum

On Thursday 27 August 2009 the sculpture Gravediggers has been placed in the pond of the Van Abbemuseum. This statue is made according to a design of El Lissitzky from 1923. It is more than 8 meters high and produced in original metals like bronze, aluminium and corten steal. The Gravediggers statue has been realised with support of MCB Nederland.

It is the first time that this design by Lissitzky is realised in 3D. The statue is part of the project Lissitzky + that sheds new light on the oeuvre of this painter, grafic designer and architect.

Lissitzky+ consists of three consecutive new presentations over a period of three years. Part 1, Victory over the Sun, is now on view in the museum.

Watch the You Tube movie of the placement of the statue...

Sanja Iveković

Lady Rosa of Luxembourg

After the successfull two-part solo exhibition by Sanja Iveković, from 18 April until 2 August 2009 at the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven and at BAK, basis voor actuele kunst in Utrecht, the meters high, free standing sculpture Lady Rosa of Luxembourg is currently still on view in the tower of the museum.

GGzE and the Van Abbemuseum

: Photo Boudewijn Bollmann

This year the GGzE and the Van Abbemuseum began a project researching ideas about cultural and sexual identity. In 2010 there are twelve meetings planned in different cultural and social institutions around the theme, Sexual health(care) and culture. The common objective in these meetings is to explore images and perceptions of sexual identity for people of all age groups.

A painting by Karel Appel has been donated to the Van Abbemuseum

Portrait of Rudi Fuchs

A portrait painted by Karel Appel of the former museum director Rudi Fuchs joins the collection of the Van Abbemuseum. Karel Appel (1921-2006) painted the Portrait of Rudi Fuchs in 2005, towards the end of his life, a period in which he experimented with the use of neon tubes. It was Karel Appel’s last wish that the painting would, in consultation with Rudi Fuchs, go to an appropriate museum. It was decided that this would be the Van Abbemuseum, where Fuchs had been director from 1975 to 1987, and where a reconstruction of his 1983 collection display is on view at this moment.

Charles Esche and Rudi Fuchs were present at the installation of the portrait of Fuchs in the exhibition Strange and Close, part of Play Van Abbe. The painting, which has not been exhibited before, can be seen there up to 21 March 2010.

Play Van Abbe, part 1: The Game and the Players

28/11/2009 - 21/03/2010

Play Van Abbe ia an 18-month programme consisting of exhibitions, projects, performances, lectures and discussions, taking the collection of the Van Abbemuseum as a starting point. Play Van Abbe is subdivided into four parts, each with its own theme.

Part 1, The Game and the Players, begins on Saturday 28 November 2009 and runs until March 2010.In this first part of the 18-month programme Play Van Abbe, the museum focuses on the stories of artists and exhibition makers.

The Game and the Players consists of three exhibitions: Repetition: Summer Display 1983, Strange and Close and Rien ne va plus. Part 1 of Play Van Abbe will be closed in March 2010 with the project If I Can’t Dance... Edition III - Masquerade.

Repetition: Summer Display 1983

28/11/2009 - 07/03/2010

Repetition: Summer Display 1983 is a reconstruction of Zomeropstelling van de eigen collectie (Summer Display of the Museum’s Collection), a collection presentation in 1983 which was curated by Rudi Fuchs, the director of the Van Abbemuseum at that time, and his curators.

The reconstructed exhibition raises questions such as: Which story did the original curators want to tell and how do we perceive this part of history in our time? Does the presentation in this new context become a new exhibition or a copy of an exhibition?

Strange and Close

28/11/2009 - 21/03/2010
opening Saturday 28 November 2009 at 16:00

Parallel to Repetition: Summer Display 1983, current director Charles Esche curated Strange and Close, a presentation of recent acquisitions by the museum and other works from the collection.

Strange and Close is a counterpart to Repetition: Summer Display 1983, thus showing how much broader the geographical area that modern art covers has become. Moreover, Strange and Close signals a shift in collecting: from the autonomous art work towards an entangled variety of objects, archives, (documentary) sources and stories.

The exhibition features works by (amongst others) Hüseyin Alptekin, Yael Bartana, Harun Farocki, Dan Flavin, Gülsün Karamustafa, Dan Peterman and Nedko Solakov.

Rien ne va plus

28/11/2009 - 21/03/2010

The presentation Rien ne va plus exhibits a number of installations and projects from the collection of the museum during the period from 1966 to the present by artists who tackle social issues in an explicit dialogue with the museum

The exhibition contains works by (amongst others) Marcel Broodthaers, Chto Delat, Tino Sehgal, Maria Eichhorn, Lily van der Stokker, and Franz Erhard Walther.

If I Can't Dance... Edition III - Masquerade: From Dusk Till Dawn

08/03/2010 - 21/03/2010

From 8 until 21 March 2010, the curatorial platform If I Can’t Dance, I Don’t Want To Be Part of Your Revolution will perform the closing act of Play Van Abbe - Part 1 at the Van Abbemuseum with the project Edition III - Masquerade.

Edition III - Masquerade interrupts the exhibitions regime with a series of new performances and projects by Keren Cytter, Jon Mikel Euba, Olivier Foulon, Suchan Kinoshita, Joachim Koester and Sarah Pierce.

Edition III - Masquerade will culminate in a performance event between Friday evening 19 March (5pm) until Saturday morning 20 March 2010 (11am). During this event, If I Can’t Dance... temporarily takes control of the museum.

Brian Holmes

Escape the Overcode: Activist Art in the Control Society

new publication

With texts and essays by writer Brian Holmes.

Conversations in the museum

At the Van Abbemuseum we like a good conversation. An interesting exchange generally begins with a simple question or comment, which opens the way to further exploration of the topic. So do not hesitate to approach one of our staff for a chat about art; we would love to talk to you.

Play Van Abbe

Play Van Abbe has been realised in part by contributions by BankGiro Loterij, Mondriaan Foundation, The Province of Noord-Brabant and VSBfonds.

Q&A Play Van Abbe

In the following weeks, director Charles Esche will answer questions about Play Van Abbe, via short movies on the Van Abbemuseum YouTube-channel.

You can watch the first answers here. You can also send a question to Charles Esche here.

Plug In to Play

This book shows the experimental journey that has lead the museum from Plug In and Living Archive to the new 18-month project Play Van Abbe.

The publication contains an overview of the Plug In and Living Archive presentations with images, short informative texts, discussions with the makers and a look into the future.

Are you an artist?

Are you between six and ten years old? Do you enjoy looking at art works and especially making a few of your own? Come to the Van Abbemuseum on Saturdays for the Children's Art Club!