Opening Lemmens & Stommels Study Centre and book launch The LS Collection
Nov 13, 2026 from 1:30 PM to 6:00 PM
Bibliotheek
On the 13th of November 2026, the Van Abbemuseum will open the Lemmens & Stommels Study Centre in the library of the museum. Emilia Kabakov will be present at this event. This opening will be a festive conclusion to a donation of a collection consisting of more than 17,000 books about artists with a relationship to the Russian linguistic region, assembled by Albert Lemmens (1948–2022) and Serge Stommels (1967). On this day, we will also present the publication The LS Collection: Books by and About Artists Touched by a Life In, Out Of, and Through Russia, as well as open the new library exhibition Constellations of Collectivity, which presents works from the LS Collection.
We will celebrate this occasion by looking back on the major undertaking this substantial collection presented to the museum, both in describing it and making it accessible. Afterwards, a panel of authors who contributed to the publication will share more about their research.
Programme
13:30 – 14:00 walk-ins
14:00 – 14:30 introduction and welcome by Defne Ayas and Steven ten Thije
14:30 – 15:30 conversation with authors Ellen Rutten, Anna Tchitcherine, Katerina Sidorova and Robbie Schweiger
15:30 – 16:00 conversation with Serge-Aljosja Stommels and Emilia Kabakov
16:00 – 16:30 introduction exhibition Anna Tchitcherine
16:30 – 17:30 visit exhibition and drinks
The LS Collection is a rich collection of publications on art and culture related to the Russophone region. For the Van Abbemuseum, it’s an exceptional addition that makes it possible to better place and understand its two important subcollections surrounding the artists El Lissitzky (1890 – 1941) and Ilya (1933 – 2023) and Emilia (1945) Kabakov. In 1968, after a long negotiation, the museum acquired a large collection of works by Lissitzky. In doing so, the museum became a knowledge centre for the work of this important Soviet avant-garde artist. In 2012, it was this collection that inspired Ilya and Emilia Kabakov to create the exhibition Utopia and Reality (2012–13), in which their work was presented together with the work of Lissitzky. The LS Collection, which became known to us at this time, contains unique publications from the early Soviet avant-garde, as well as a large collection of children’s literature, which includes all the children’s books illustrated by Ilya Kabakov; the starting point of his career as an artist.
The LS Collection brings together a large collection of works by artists active in the Soviet Union; artists who migrated from Russia; and artists who represent the cultural development of the Soviet Union and Russia, as well as the broader region of countries surrounding Russia which was established after the collapse of the Soviet Union. With this, the collection provides insight into the meaningful and complex role the Soviet Union and Russia play and continue to play in the (art) history of the twentieth century.
As the LS Collection was being processed, the war in Ukraine began. This caused a drastic change in the relationship between Russia and Europe. As a result of this war, the collection is now being seen in a different light. However, it does remain important to continue making this collection accessible, to be able to continue thinking about the interconnectedness and differences between the art and cultures of Europe and Russia. It’s even more important to continue to make space for individual artists who express resistance through their work or are simply trying to flee today’s Russia to be able to make their work free of political coercion.
The opening of the study centre takes place one day after the unveiling of the artwork The Acrobat by Ilya and Emilia Kabakov in the museum gardens. The Acrobat is an intervention with which the importance of the Kabakovs’ work for the museum and the city manifests clearly in public space. Together, these events once again underline the Van Abbemuseum’s long-term commitment to its important collection of works by El Lissitzky and Ilya and Emilia Kabakov. In this way, the experimental approach to the Soviet avant-garde and Kabakov’s conceptual artistic practice are brought into dialogue with one another, across generations.
Serge-Aljosja Stommels (1967) completed degrees in Social Geography (1991) and Art History (1992) at Radboud University in Nijmegen. He wrote his thesis in Art History on Boris Grigoriev; it became the first biography of this Russian immigrant in the West. Together with Albert Lemmens (1948–2022), he started the LS Collection of Russian book art in 1992, which was donated to the Van Abbemuseum in 2013. With their thesis ‘Russian Artists and the Children’s Book 1890–1992’, they earned their doctorates from the Radboud University together, as part of a joint doctoral programme. In 2013, both of them received the prestigious Likhachev award for their work in promoting Russia’s historical and cultural heritage. He is also the author of many books and articles on Russian book art.
Ellen Rutten is founder and owner of AMS: Academy-Museum Synergies – a one-woman company that helps museums and heritage institutions team up more actively with universities. As Amsterdam University’s former Professor of Slavic Literature (2012-2025) and co-director of the academic solidarity network The University of New Europe, Rutten builds on ample experience in cultural/academic leadership, scholarship, and fundraising. Her publications include Imperfections: Studies in Mistakes, Flaws, and Failures (ed., with Caleb Kelly and Jacco Kemper, Bloomsbury, 2022) and Sincerity after Communism: A Cultural History (Yale University Press, 2017).
Katerina Sidorova is a visual artist and researcher working across installation, sculpture, and text. Her practice examines mortality and necropolitics, death beyond human-centrism, representations of state power, and the performativity of non-democratic regimes. Working at the intersection of sculpture and scenography, she creates immersive environments for performance, curation, experimentation, and collaboration. Sidorova holds an MA from the Glasgow School of Art and a PhD in Philosophy from Yaroslavl State Pedagogical University. She was a Research Fellow at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam in 2024. Her work has been exhibited internationally, and her writing published by Stedelijk Studies, Museum Catharijneconvent, Tubelight, and Kunstlicht.
Robbie Schweiger is an art historian, Slavicist, and independent curator. As researcher at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, he approaches the art collection, archive, and library as dynamic constellations that can continually be read and activated anew. In collaboration with artists, curators, and researchers from the post-Soviet context, he questions dominant narratives of cultural imperialism, researching the colonial dimensions of Soviet modernity. Next to this, Schweiger is also the founder and curator of GELIJK IS ONGELIJK, a project space for contemporary art and heritage on the former island of Marken.
Anna Tchitcherine is an arts researcher, writer, and editor based in Amsterdam. As coordinator of the Lemmens-Stommels Collection, they helped set up the LS Study Centre and created library exhibitions with the collection, including Transponans: The Magazine as Experiment (19 October 2024 – 9 October 2025) and Constellations of Collectivity (23 September 2026 – 28 May 2027). Tchitcherine also co-edited the publication The LS Collection: Books by and About Artists Touched by a Life In, Out Of, and Through Russia (2026). In their research, they specialise in artists’ books and publications, materiality, and developing methods to complicate grand art historical narratives.