The 12th Edition of Amsterdam Art Week is set to showcase the very best in contemporary art. For five days, the capital city will transform into a dynamic hub featuring work from over 300 artists across more than 70 galleries, museums and project spaces. There’s a lot to look forward to in this year’s programme. Today, we are bringing you the highlights, from the largest ever survey of Marina Abramović’s work at Stedelijk Museum to The Future is Equal, an exhibition that champions artwork created by women.
Marco Brambilla | NXT Museum | Until 2 June
Journey through cosmic history with Creation (2012) and Heaven’s Gate (2022) by filmmaker and visual artist Marco Brambilla. Both installations are part of Marco Brambilla’s Megaplex series. These large-scale video works are created by combining hundreds of well-known film fragments and turning them into new stories and landscapes. Digitally composed scenes whisk us into a hyper-realistic world with clouds, meadows and burning cities. Brambilla immerses the viewer in an abundance of visual stimuli, responding to the way we produce and consume images in societies overwhelmed by a constant stream of media.
Marina Abramović | Stedelijk Museum | Until 14 July
Immerse yourself in the world of the legendary conceptual artist Marina Abramović, in the largest retrospective of her work ever held in the Netherlands. This is a sprawling exhibition that contains more than 60 key pieces spanning five decades of the Serbian practitioner’s celebrated career. Attendees will see how the pioneer of performance art has developed over the years. We go from her early work, created in former Yugoslavia and in Amsterdam, all the way to the pioneering performances with her former partner Ulay. This is also an occasion to see artwork from her solo practice – in which she is still active today.
The Future is Equal | Capital C | Until 12 September
In April, the Institute for Arts, Culture and Related Policy at the Boekman Foundation found that women earned drastically less than male artists – a shocking 20% less. Female creatives are also less visible and are less frequently acquired by museums. The conclusion is clear: more should be written about female artists, their work should be exhibited more frequently and systematically and there should be a renewed focus on acquiring their work. The Young Collectors now matches words with actions by curating an all-female group exhibition at Capital C, with work from Shani Leseman, Sarah Mei Herman, and Hedy Tjin.
Wallrafen & Osepa: Saw a Breath, Heard a Light | CBK Zuidoost | Until 30 June
Acclaimed photographer Hannes Wallrafen is lauded for creating carefully staged scenes that tell a story. In spring 2004, the lens-based practitioner became blind and has since been discovering the world through sound. Visual artist Kevin Osepa also works on the boundary between imagination, reality, spirituality and time. The young artist has made a name for himself by visualising his identity(s) with motifs from his birthplace, Curaçao. This show places archival material from Wallrafen in conversation with Osepa’s latest installation, which is inspired by the sounds Wallrafen recorded in Curaçao the year he lost his sight.
Nomin Zezegmaa: ᠴᠢᠨᠠᠳᠤ ᠰᠠᠯᠬ (The Wind on the Other Side) | Galerie Bart | Until 27 July
Multidisciplinary artist Nomin Zezegmaa interweaves narratives inspired by deep time and the spiritual realms of Mongol cosmogony. The Wind on the Other Side celebrates the intertwined dance of all living beings and asks the question: what mysteries lie within our understanding of the natural world? The pieces on display connect the physical and the unseen, encouraging attendees to become attuned to the deep connections between ourselves and the elements that surround us. Here, the artist reveals the intertwined relationship we have with the very heart of the Earth – such as the water, the soil and all life on the planet.
Amsterdam Art Week, 29 May – 2 June
Image Credits:
- M’a wak un rosea, m’a skucha un lus, Kevin Osepa & Hannes Wallrafen.
- Heaven’s Gate, Marco Brambilla, 2021, high-definition 3D video (loop), colour, sound, on view at Nxt Museum, Amsterdam.
- Marina Abramović, The Hero, 2001. Courtesy of the Marina Abramović Archives. © Marina Abramović.
- The Future is Equal, Saffron Pape Photography, Young Collectors Circle.
- M’a wak un rosea, m’a skucha un lus, Kevin Osepa & Hannes Wallrafen.
- Nomin-Zezegmaa. Photo by Nima Khibkhenov.
