Highlights 2018
Since 2017, on a yearly basis three international main exhibitions have formed the backbone of our programme. Thanks to the support of the Droom & Daad Foundation, the Kunsthal is able to realise this strategy that secures a constant stream of visitors and contributes to the international profile of the Kunsthal. In 2018, the highlights were the three main exhibitions, Hyperrealism Sculpture, Viktor&Rolf: Fashion Artists 25 Years and Action<>Reaction, 100 Years of Kinetic Art. Two of these exhibitions were produced in collaboration with renowned international partners: Hyperrealism Sculpture with the Institut für Kulturaustausch in Tübingen and Action<>Reaction with the Grand Palais in Paris and the renowned French guest curator Serge Lemoine (former Président of Musée d’Orsay and Professor emeritus at Sorbonne University, Paris) and Marianne Le Pommeré (Historian of Art). Both these exhibitions, as well as the Viktor&Rolf exhibition, showed works from the collections of leading national and international museums and private collectors. These exhibitions also attracted a lot of foreign visitors and generated a lot of attention in the international media.
The first part of the year got off to an exciting start with many visitors coming to admire the lifelike human figures in Hyperrealism Sculpture.
Also, the needs of fashion and design aficionados were catered to with an impressive retrospective of 25 years of the work of Viktor&Rolf in Viktor&Rolf Fashion Artists 25 Years The exhibition Action<->Reaction. 100 Years of Kinetic Art, about light and movement in art, offered both young and old visitors an experience with art that appealed to the different senses. And the penetrating portraits in the exhibition Surf Tribe by Stephan Vanfleteren managed to mobilise many lovers of photography as well as surfing.
KUNSTHAL BEYOND ITS WALLS
The Kunsthal actively ventured beyond its walls in order to liven up the Museumpark and involve new audiences in its programme. For instance, in All you can Art, a unique multi-annual project in collaboration with Instituto Buena Bista Curaçao. For six weeks, artists worked on involving various social groups in the process of making art. With a Summer School, open studios, ThinkTanks, an exhibition and a mobile studio in the shape of a former ‘SRV’ supermarket-van driving through the city, this project managed to realise many special meetings.
WINNING AWARDS: &AWARD AND MARKETING AWARD ROTTERDAM
During the ‘Beeld&Storm’ conference, the Kunsthal Rotterdam, together with Instituto Buena Bista (IBB) Curaçao, received the very first &Award for involving and connecting people through art in the project All you can Art. This award, which included an amount of € 25,000, is an amazing boost for All you can Art 2019 for which the Kunsthal and IBB and all their partners will again be inspiring Rotterdam and the rest of the Netherlands through making art together on location and in the mobile studio. We are extremely pleased with this &Award and the recognition for All you can Art, a project that for three editions has been taking place both inside and outside the Kunsthal; as an exhibition, a Summer School and an open studio.
Receiving the Marketing Award Rotterdam 2018, from the municipality of Rotterdam, was an amazing testament to our efforts this year. “Moreover, the Kunsthal manages to forge connections with major players on the world stage: Jean Paul Gaultier, Viktor&Rolf, Peter Lindbergh and Daan Roosegaarde. They are all fans of the Kunsthal, its team and its location. And as such they have become ambassadors of Rotterdam,” the jury said. It also praised the Kunsthal for the fact that it continues to innovate and surprise and, in doing so, manages to keep attracting many, often new visitors to Rotterdam. According to the expert jury, through its extraordinary achievements, the Kunsthal succeeded in putting Rotterdam on the national and international map in the best way possible way in 2018.