(Nelly&) Theo van Doesburg Foundation and Sara Janssen, daughter of performance artist Servie Janssen, invited a handful of carefully selected Amsterdam-based opinion makers, property developers, press and other stakeholders of our foundation to a one-day exhibition and salon conversation called News from Nowhere. The activity programme took place during the Open Monuments Days in Amsterdam.

From historic townhouse to construction site, News from Nowhere is a one-day group show in a private home bringing together alumni of Dutch art academies and works of private art collections as it relates to agrarian society, biology, class mobility, liquidity and water management. The series is named after a publication of the arts & crafts movement; news from nowhere (an epoch of rest). This soft science fiction shows how socialism not only leads to the abolition of private property but also take away the divisions between art, life, and work thus making it a conversation piece and reference point for the exhibition series. In the novel, the narrator falls asleep after returning from a meeting of the socialist league and awakes to find himself in a future society based on common ownership and democratic control of the means of production.

The selected works in the exhibition are grouped by topic and materiality, reimagining the interior with duo presentations spread over different rooms creating an utopic household. After a viewing of the art works in the historic Amsterdam townhouse we will sit down for a concentrated group talk on the development of yet to be realized public art works by upcoming artists and the foundation. Participating artists include Negiste Yesside Johnson, Agustina Woodgate, Martin Toloku, Annee Grøtte Viken, Kitty Maria van Eekeren and Elise Ehry. The 2025 edition of News from Nowhere took place at the home of Sara Janssen in Amsterdam East, featuring works from her father the performance artist Servie Janssen and other works from her collection.

News from Nowhere 2025 is the fourth in a series of exhibitions in private spaces curated by Nadine van den Boscha and Jules van den Langenberg. Previous editions included collectors Philippa van Loon, Casper van der Kruk and amongst other artists Josse Pyl, Wouter Paijmans, Carly Rose Bedford, Bin Koh, Maria Roosen, Vanessa Beecroft, Barbara Visser and Job Koelewijn. For the News from Nowhere exhibition a private home sets the stage for pairings of works from the art collectors’ collection and emerging artists. (Nelly&)Theo van Doesburg Foundation looks forward to working with these artists in public spaces.

Photos by Sander van Wettum.

During a two-day event in front of industrial paint producer AkzoNobel’s art space, the history of allotments gardens and agricultural fields upon which the current Zuidas of Amsterdam is built resurfaced.

In September 2025 curator Jules van den Langenberg and artist Annee Grøtte Viken shared their research and plans for a new type of public artwork: A site-specific work that is based on a plant to paint to public principle.

Curious neighbours, experts and nature lovers joined the transformation of an original 1960’s Friso Kramer Street lantern by ‘woodgraining‘, a traditional painting technique for imitating wood using natural pigments, water and linseed oil.

The goal? To bring back a sense of site-specific production to the streets and public spaces of the Dutch capital.

The project is part of a longer-term goal of the artist and curator in collaboration with the (Nelly&)Theo van Doesburg Foundation, to find a permanent destination for a series of circles used for cultivating flax in a neighborhood currently under construction. During sowing and harvesting, the circles become sites for social gatherings and seasonal harvest feasts. Once the flax is matured it is processed into linseed oil, traditionally used as a base for paint. Together with locally sourced pigments, an all-natural paint is then applied to benches, lanterns, and bins in public spaces, using age-old techniques of marble and wood imitation. This gives these everyday objects a monumental presence.

The plant to paint to public performance in the public space of Amsterdam’s Zuidas is an early prototype of this vision: a vintage street lantern, repainted with linseed oil paint and transformed into a vessel of stories, community, and craft.

To learn more about the plant to paint to public research in 2025 have a read in the article below by Laurens Otto.

ARTICLE
Progressive Conservation

Flax, one of the oldest cultivated plants, has served as animal fodder, and soil improvement through its deep roots, preparing fields for gardening. Its fibers served as linen canvas for painting, while its seeds yielded linseed oil, elemental in oil paint and varnish. However, it has now almost completely disappeared from industrial processes, especially paint making.

 On 15 September 2025, participants with a direct interest in material culture[*] joined together at industrial paint and coating producer AkzoNobel’s headquarters in Amsterdam to discuss Annee Grøtte Viken’s proposal for a public artwork that integrates flax into the urban fabric. What follows is an amalgamation of that discussion.

Since 2021, Viken and curator Jules van den Langenberg have been collaborating with the (Nelly&)Theo van Doesburg Foundation to realize a public artwork that starts with a plot for flax to provide linseed oil and pigments as varnish and coating for various site-specific applications. In the long process of bringing this project to fruition, the Municipality of Amsterdam has now allotted a plot of land for the flax to grow for the duration of one year – as a proof of concept. The urgent question at hand thus is: how to create a scenario of flax fields integrated in neighborhoods, with the processes of sowing, caring, and harvesting, becoming a shared routine? How to entice new residents to live and work in an environment with the vibrant colors and patinas of linseed oil, that although slightly more unstable than chemical products, can provide a couleur locale?

In reviving flax, the goal should not be to sow in a demarcated aestheticized zone, but to fully integrate it in existing industrial or even pre-industrial practices. Bringing this process into public view would be a first step. Counter-intuitively, the few places where such a shift can happen are Amsterdam’s new high-rise Manhattanized neighborhoods, like Sluisbuurt and Zuidas. Right when new inhabitants move in, such a communal project could be adopted. The problem remains how to integrate such a sympathetic practice in the real economy. It’s possible to do small-scale experiments as an artistic practice, but it’s almost impossible to scale it up. The shift to natural materials would first need a cultural shift that redefines what counts as “good” and “sustainable”. There needs to be more space for deviations to allow for non-standardized processes and more unstable surfaces, linked to a general re-appraisal of craft and the knowledge embedded in these historic practices.

If conceptual recalibrations of craft, labor, industry, and production processes are hard to materialize in policy changes and direct action through an artistic project, this open-ended initiative has to rely on the totem of a finalized work. So far, and almost as a prop, the artist has transformed an original 1960’s Friso Kramer Street lantern through ‘woodgraining,’ a traditional painting technique for imitating wood using natural pigments, water, and linseed oil. And from there, by experiencing the sensorial qualities of that natural varnish – smell, touch – key stakeholders should be disposed to better see its urgency, to see examples of its application as a gentle push to start reverse-engineering the proposal and starting to implement flax again more broadly in our urban fabric.

The idea of maintenance, today so far removed from public view, could be the vector to implement this flax-work. Precisely the act of care and maintenance can in fact open up multiple new entry points; the act of caring for what’s already present could have more agency than to sail under the flag of an artistic project. In an ever more heated and unlivable planet, the question what can be maintained will be highly contested. To be able to conserve what is left will soon become a most viable form of progressive politics.

[*]Participants included: Hester Alberdingk Thijm (director, AkzoNobel Art Foundation), Wijnand Bruinsma (director, sustainability at AkzoNobel), Niek Hendrix (artist), Geertje Jacobs (director, European Ceramic Workcentre EKWC), Jippe Kreuning (miller at de Bonte Hen and advisor of the union De Hollandsche Molen), and Prof. Ann-Sophie Lehmann (Chair of Art History & Material Culture, Groningen University), moderated by Annee Grøtte Viken and Jules van den Langenberg.

THANKS
The two day presentation and research ‘Plant to Paint to Public’ was made possible thanks to the generous support of (Nelly&)Theo van Doesburg Foundation, Gemeente Amsterdam Zuid, Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst and Akzo Nobel Art Foundation. Thanks to all neighbors, experts and collaborators involved, especially Marjo van Baar, Sandberg Instituut, Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Hester Alberdingk Thijm, Augusto Pereira Silva, Boetie Zijlstra, Zaansche Molen, Geertje Jacobs, Paco Bunnik, Rosita Roosblad, Laurens Otto, Nieuw Zwanenburg, Sander van Wettum and Our Polite Society.

(Nelly&) Theo van Doesburg Foundation and private art collectors Annelies van der Pauw and Martin de Koning invited a handful of carefully selected Amsterdam-based opinion makers, property developers from Sluisbuurt and Zuidas, press and other stakeholders of our foundation to a one-day exhibition and salon conversation called News from Nowhere. The activity programme takes place during the Open Monuments Days in Amsterdam.

From historic townhouse to construction site, News from Nowhere is a one-day group show in a private home bringing together alumni of Dutch art academies and works of private art collections as it relates to agrarian society, biology, class mobility, liquidity and water management. The series is named after a publication of the arts & crafts movement; news from nowhere (an epoch of rest). This soft science fiction shows how socialism not only leads to the abolition of private property but also take away the divisions between art, life, and work thus making it a conversation piece and reference point for the exhibition series. In the novel, the narrator falls asleep after returning from a meeting of the socialist league and awakes to find himself in a future society based on common ownership and democratic control of the means of production.

News from Nowhere 2024 is the third in a series of exhibitions in private spaces curated by Jules van den Langenberg. Previous editions included collectors Philippa van Loon, Casper van der Kruk and amongst other artists Josse Pyl, Wouter Paijmans, Carly Rose Bedford, Bin Koh, Maria Roosen, Vanessa Beecroft, Barbara Visser and Job Koelewijn. For the News from Nowhere exhibition a private home sets the stage for pairings of works from the art collectors’ collection and emerging artists. (Nelly&)Theo van Doesburg Foundation looks forward to working with these artists in public spaces.

The selected works in the exhibition are grouped by topic and materiality, reimagining the interior with duo presentations spread over different rooms creating an utopic household. After a viewing of the art works in the historic Amsterdam townhouse we will sit down for a concentrated group talk on the development of yet to be realized public art works by upcoming artists and the foundation. Participating artists include Annee Grøtte Viken, Kitty Maria van Eekeren and Elise Ehry, Ryo Kinoshita, Maurice van Tellingen, Gijs Frieling, Niek Hendrix, Claudia Martínez Garay. To get an even better idea of what the foundation strive for, have a read in the in the article belof on the 2024 edition of News from Nowhere by writer and curator Laurens Otto:

Gentle Persuasion

Each year the (Nelly&) Theo van Doesburg Foundation organises News from Nowhere, a moment bringing together various stakeholders around plans for artworks to be realized in public space. On Saturday 14 September 2024, during Open Heritage Day, artists Annee Grøtte Viken, Kitty Maria van Eekeren and Elise Ehry presented their ideas to art critics, collectors, other artists, project developers and members of Stadscuratorium Amsterdam. Whereas other projects that the (Nelly&) Theo van Doesburg Foundation takes under its wing are advanced or even already realised, these artists present proposals that have yet to find their form.

The foundation also organises Construction Site Conversations on location in areas still under development, but this afternoon takes place in a stately canal house in the middle of Amsterdam, in the home of two collectors. The setting imbues the discussions with a certain weight, concentration, and goodwill. The conversation is followed by a tour along specific works from the collection, which for the occasion are coupled with interventions by artists with whom the foundation works. What to make of this format? The discussion is slightly staged because the guests are deliberately invited and purposefully allocated across three different sessions. The foundation’s president Jules van den Langenberg animates the discussion and leads the group around the one-day exhibition. This makes it more like a Paris Salon than a classic exhibition setup: as a social moment, there’s an interesting tension inherent in the confusion that within this setting art is both pretext, context, and goal.

In its role as initiator and mediator, the foundation’s mission is to find moral, financial, and organisational support for proposals by alumni of Amsterdam art academies. This is a long process because these proposals are in principle unsolicited: the necessary expertise, partners and financial resources must be secured along the way. The focus lies primarily on neighbourhoods where the most development is taking place, particularly the Zuidas and the Sluisbuurt, where 5,500 homes in mainly high-rise buildings are presently being built. As for all projects in public space, the mix of flexibility and persistence must be just right, but these conditions make diplomacy even more crucial.

Annee Grøtte Viken plans to sow several circles of oil flax in the Sluisbuurt. The annual harvest would provide the linseed to make pigment for in-situ painting. The municipal landscape architect has already inscribed the crop circles into the park planning of the entrance area of the new neighbourhood. What remains to be orchestrated is the necessary labour for seeding, maintaining the fields, making the paint, and finally realising the paintings. Viken, who also has a background as a decorative painter, is particularly interested in creating painting patterns of bird’s-eye maple wood, which is typically used for bourgeois furniture. The amount of paint will vary depending on the season’s harvest.

Kitty Maria van Eekeren and Elise Ehry have now been working together as a duo for ten years in a project that draws from the figure of an (unemployed) flight attendant to question high-performance culture. They propose to provide handmade shovels and a cabin for resident groups to introduce a tradition for a collective non-productive activity: shovelling sand. The main concern that arises is how something can become embedded as a custom or even a tradition. An existing body like an Owners’ Association is a logical entry point, but still, the question remains how to keep this alive – especially when residents will change often. One respondent aptly notes that not only the shovel, but especially the context should be provided. This is a context that everyone knows and instantly associates with non-productivity: the sandbox.

To understand how the world is formatted, you need to listen to the language used. On this afternoon, I hear mostly cinematic words: scenario, script, directing. Traditional terms like sculpture, production and permanence are hardly applicable in a world wedded to flexibility and temporality. Which artworks and thought processes does this new language produce and what negotiations are needed to actualise them?

Given the long haul that these projects require, I look with compassion at the artists involved: not only the leap of faith but also the boundless energy required to realise such projects. Isn’t it asking too much of the artists to be involved in all these formal and informal negotiations? Then I realise that precisely in this force field, where post-Fordist ideas clash with Amsterdam’s hyper-capitalist concrete, it is exactly there that artist and foundation are both learning this game in tandem: the art of persuasion. 

Photos by Sander van Wettum.

On the second Wednesday of May we gathered for our seventh Construction Site Conversations gathering where about thirty experts, artist and curious neighbours met and discussed the development of two unsolicited proposals for public art works in the capital of The Netherlands. The board of the foundation and artists Annee Grøtte Viken and Aaro Murphy felt supported and motivated by everyone present in the gathering that took place inside Amsterdam’s newest Broedplaats, Baggerbeest.

The Construction Site Conversation was moderated by art historian and head of public art in the city of Dortmund, Jacques Heinrich Toussaint and Curator Jules van den Langenberg. Panel speakers included amongst others urbanist and supervisor of Amsterdam’s Sluisbuurt Burton Hamfelt, flax expert Ellen van der Vlugt, the Lead urban designer of the Department of urban planning and sustainability of the City of Amsterdam Paco Bunnik, advisor art and culture Amsterdam Zuid Rosita Roosblad, director or Research of the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and Sandberg Instituut Ruby Hoette, and chairman of ASKO Schools Steven Tan.

Processual artworks finding form: commissioning open-endedness

On 15 May 2024, the (Nelly&) Theo van Doesburg Foundation gathered the artists Aaro Murphy and Annee Grøtte Viken around different partners involved in the planned high-density, high-rise Sluisbuurt neighbourhood on Zeeburgereiland in Amsterdam. During such Construction Site Conversations, the Foundation connects emerging artists with various key players of a particular community. These projects are two of the most advanced plans of the Foundation’s growing index of unsolicited proposals for public artworks in Amsterdam-neighbourhoods that are still under development.

The artist Aaro Murphy proposed a work in which different scents anchor the passage of time – a non-visual clock of sorts for pupils of a planned primary school in the Sluisbuurt. Both the director of the school and the head of its larger consortium support the project and are engaged to find the necessary funding and production means for the work. The artist Annee Grøtte Viken proposed to plant circles of linseed in the Sluisbuurt that will provide the pigment for a site-specific painting. Annee Grøtte Viken has not yet found a partner to realise the work, but presented her project with a flax specialist to offer an in-depth perspective.

The Foundation positions itself as a collaborative partner that brings together alumni of Amsterdam based academies (notably the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and the Sandberg Instituut) with third parties to develop relevant long-term artistic projects in the city of Amsterdam. This model deviates from the more usual role of a project office that would commission artists to realise a work in public space. According to the Foundation’s chairman Jules van den Langenberg, the soon-to-be-developed Sluisbuurt has their particular focus as neighbourhoods that are still being planned can integrate more integral artistic projects. Inviting artists to conversations with builders and architects are the most effective in these instances.

In connecting emerging artists with partners such as future inhabitants, property developers, architects and public institutions, the (Nelly&) Theo van Doesburg Foundation responds to an increased waning of expertise of art in public space in Amsterdam that was heralded by the financial crisis of 2007-2008. Notably in 2012, the Amsterdam-based national organisation for art in public space (SKOR) disappeared, and with it its savoir-faire. Construction activity boomed again after the financial crisis, but the automatism of the self-reflexive commissioning of art in public space was not revived to the same degree. In this context, the (Nelly&) Theo van Doesburg Foundation aims to reframe what it means to commission (emerging) artists in a realm where private and public interests are becoming increasingly entangled.

If the church and the state have been the traditional commissioners for art in public space, today new alliances must be forged. The commissioning process has become more pluriform: the work needs to exist in more fluid timescales (what in vague terms is called ‘semi-permanent’) and with the involvement of a multitude of partners, also the financing becomes less straightforward. The result is that the ensuing artworks will be less sculptural monoliths, and more processual artworks. As Ruby Hoette, director of the Sandberg Instituut, explained during this Construction Site Conversation: “There is an urgency to see creative practice as something that is embedded in social structures. This means that the artist facilitates processes that do not have a finished outcome.”

With their multifaceted long-term projects, both artists respond to a reality where the artistic agency and commissioning process, but also the use and planned duration of the artwork are becoming ever more complex. If this open-endedness is an astute response to a neo-liberal reality that thrives on flexibility, it will still be necessary to hammer down what the exact commitment, agency, and responsibility of the artist and the community will be over the duration of such long-term projects. The Foundation aims to create a network of people and organisations that want to stick with the work in the future, understanding that it would need to become embedded within a community for it to function. As the needed care for such processual artworks can simply not be left to chance, orchestrating this will be the main challenge for the coming years.

Article by writer and curator Laurens Otto on the Construction Site Conversations gathering by (Nelly&)Theo van Doesburg Foundation.

About Construction Site Conversations
Artists thorben grobel (spazio cura), Annee Grøtte Viken, kitty maria van ekeren, elise ehry, franziska goralski, carly rose bedford, aaro murphy and philip coyne collaborate with the (nelly&)theo van doesburg foundation on their unsolicited ideas for cultural development for the yet to be built neighbourhood in the capital of the netherlands.

each directed towards a different organisation, company or property developer, the proposals tackle six different sites and topics. the (nelly&)theo van doesburg foundation seeks investment for further development and production of these public art works. the process is curated by jules van den langenberg and upcoming guest curators.

the (nelly&) theo van doesburg foundation and private art collector philippa van loon invited a group of property developers, experts, collectors and press to a one day exhibition format titled news from nowhere during the open monuments days in amsterdam on sunday afternoon 10th of september 2023.

news from nowhere is an impromptu group show in a private home bringing together alumni of amsterdam art education and works of a private art collection that relate to ideas about public and private space, agrarian society, biology, class mobility and water management. news from nowhere is the second in a series of exhibitions in private spaces curated by jules van den langenberg and guest curator diego diez.

The ornamented family home sets the stage for pairings of works from the art collectors collection and emerging artists. works are associated by topic and materiality, reimagining the interior with duo presentations inhabiting different rooms. spread over several spaces, a temporary utopic household is accumulated with participating artists s*an d. henry-smith, carly rose bedford, maria nolla mateos, vytautas kumža, timo demollin and works from the contemporary art collection of philippa van loon by vanessa beecroft, maria roosen, barbara visser, irene fortuyn and rineke dijkstra.

Every second Wednesday of the month of May the (Nelly&)Theo van Doesburg Foundation organizes their activity programme Construction Site Conversations,

upon request and for special occasions the show and tell format around proposals for new public art works in the City of Amsterdam is organized on other moments. As such, in February 2023 a Construction Site Conversation where about thirty experts, artist and curious neighbours met and discussed the development of an unsolicited proposal for a public art work in the capital of the netherlands. the board of the foundation and artist Carly Rose Bedford teamed up with the Art & Public Space (LAPS)/The City lectorate and the Research department of Gerrit Rietveld Academie and Sandberg Instituut to discuss ideas around plot thinking and an idea for a landmark at the new ferry stop of Sluisbuurt in Amsterdam made out of glass blown with locally found sand.

The construction site conversation was opened by a keynote of Patricia de Vries, and moderated by boardmembers Nadine van den Bosch, Marjo van Baar and Jules van den Langenberg. The gathering was complimented by an activation of a recently finished public art work, a barbecue table by artist Bin Koh.

about construction site conversations
artists thorben grobel (spazio cura), annee grøtte viken, kitty maria van ekeren, elise ehry, franziska goralski, carly rose bedford, aaro murphy and philip coyne collaborate with the (nelly&)theo van doesburg foundation on their unsolicited ideas for cultural development for the yet to be built neighbourhood in the capital of the netherlands.

each directed towards a different organisation, company or property developer, the proposals tackle six different sites and topics. the (nelly&)theo van doesburg foundation seeks investment for further development and production of these public art works. the process is curated by jules van den langenberg and upcoming guest curators.

mural public art work proposal
(nelly&)theo van doesburg foundation and artist philip coyne propose a public art work in which the artist and inhabitants of the first self build group (cpo) initiative “de nieuwe uitleg” in the new neighbourhood sluisbuurt collaborate on the content and possibly even production of a mural together. the dialogue between coyne and inhabitants is to start with discussing about life as a force, as a reproductive practice and as a fundamentally collective phenomenon. Download the public art work proposal and get in touch via nadine@theovandoesburgstichting.nl to join the development or sponsor the further realisation of the work.

Introducing (nelly&)theo van doesburg foundations’ publicart work programme
Since 1987 the theo van doesburg foundation strives to realise visual art projects and initiate formats that generate positions and commissions for emerging- and early career artists that studied or resided in amsterdam. based on the placemaking terrain of sluisbuurt in amsterdam since 2011, the foundation collaborates with artists to develop scenarios for different public art works in the neighbourhood currently still under construction. parallel to the building process a public programme introduces neighbours, property developers, investors and other stakeholders with ideas on six themes that are key to the identity of the new neighbourhood sluisbuurt.

construction site conversations
artists thorben grobel (spazio cura), Annee Grøtte Viken, kitty maria van ekeren, elise ehry, franziska goralski, carly rose bedford, aaro murphy and philip coyne collaborate with the (nelly&)theo van doesburg foundation on their unsolicited ideas for cultural development for the yet to be built neighbourhood in the capital of the netherlands.

each directed towards a different organisation, company or property developer, the proposals tackle six different sites and topics. the (nelly&)theo van doesburg foundation seeks investment for further development and production of these public art works. the process is curated by project space reneenee and jules van den langenberg.

Every second Wednesday of the month of May the (Nelly&)Theo van Doesburg Foundation organizes their activity programme Construction Site Conversations,

upon request and for special occasions the show and tell format around proposals for new public art works in the City of Amsterdam is organized on other moments. As such, in November 2022 a Construction Site Conversation where about thirty experts, artist and curious neighbours met and discussed the development of an unsolicited proposal for a public art work in the capital of the netherlands. the board of the foundation and artists Phil Coyne, Carly Rose Bedford and Kitty Maria van Ekeren teamed up to discuss ideas for a new commoners' garden for a residential tower in Sluisbuurt, a landmark at the new ferry stop of the neighbourhood made out of glass blown with locally found sand and a mural made collective by a self building group in the newest living are of the city.

The construction site conversation was moderated by boardmember Marjo van Baar and curators Kristoffer Zeiner and Kim Wawer. The gathering was complimented by an activation of a site specific prototype for a ground oven by artist Elia Castino.

about construction site conversations
artists thorben grobel (spazio cura), annee grøtte viken, kitty maria van ekeren, elise ehry, franziska goralski, carly rose bedford, aaro murphy and philip coyne collaborate with the (nelly&)theo van doesburg foundation on their unsolicited ideas for cultural development for the yet to be built neighbourhood in the capital of the netherlands.

each directed towards a different organisation, company or property developer, the proposals tackle six different sites and topics. the (nelly&)theo van doesburg foundation seeks investment for further development and production of these public art works. the process is curated by jules van den langenberg and upcoming guest curators.

Underground River public art work proposal
(nelly&)theo van doesburg foundation and artist carly rose bedford reintroduce how built environments are related to water, and tap into their potential to inform cultural meaning-making and contemporary mythology. the public art work proposal “underground river” proposes a glass sculpture made from the grains of sand drilled from the many layers of the amsterdam’s sluisbuurt soil, marking the temporary ferry stop that takes people from central amsterdam to the sluisbuurt area. Download the public art work proposal and get in touch via nadine@theovandoesburgstichting.nl to join the development or sponsor the further realisation of the work.

Introducing (nelly&)theo van doesburg foundations’ publicart work programme
Since 1987 the theo van doesburg foundation strives to realise visual art projects and initiate formats that generate positions and commissions for emerging- and early career artists that studied or resided in amsterdam. based on the placemaking terrain of sluisbuurt in amsterdam since 2011, the foundation collaborates with artists to develop scenarios for different public art works in the neighbourhood currently still under construction. parallel to the building process a public programme introduces neighbours, property developers, investors and other stakeholders with ideas on six themes that are key to the identity of the new neighbourhood sluisbuurt.

construction site conversations
artists thorben grobel (spazio cura), annee grote viken, kitty maria van ekeren, elise ehry, franziska goralski, carly rose bedford, aaro murphy and philip coyne collaborate with the (nelly&)theo van doesburg foundation on their unsolicited ideas for cultural development for the yet to be built neighbourhood in the capital of the netherlands.

each directed towards a different organisation, company or property developer, the proposals tackle six different sites and topics. the (nelly&)theo van doesburg foundation seeks investment for further development and production of these public art works. the process is curated by project space reneenee and jules van den langenberg.

(Nelly&) Theo van Doesburg Foundation and private art collector Casper van der Kruk invited a group of property developers, experts, collectors and press to one day exhibition titled News from Nowhere on Saturday afternoon 10th of September 2022.

News from Nowhere is a one day group show in a private home bringing together alumni of Dutch art academies and works of the private art collection of Casper van der Kruk relating to agrarian society, biology, class mobility, liquidity and water management. News from Nowhere is the first in a series of exhibitions in private spaces curated by Jules van den Langenberg.

The series is named after a publication of the arts&crafts publication News from Nowhere (an epoch of rest). This soft science fiction points out how socialism will entail not only the abolition of private property but also of the divisions between art, life, and work. Making it a conversation piece and reference point for the exhibition series. In the novel, the narrator falls asleep after returning from a meeting of the socialist league and awakes to find himself in a future society based on common ownership and democratic control of the means of production. For the News from Nowhere exhibition a bespoke interior in the Byzantium building, one of Rem Koolhaas’ first realised OMA projects, sets the stage for pairings of works from the art collectors collection and emerging artists. Works are associated by topic and materiality, reimagining the interior with duo presentations inhabiting different rooms. Spread over several spaces, an utopic household is accumulated. 

News from Nowhere’s internal programme aims to network the artists involved and a public programme engages invited guests to tour the exhibition and meet the artists. Amongst others works of Josefina Anjou, Sven Kroner, Machteld Rullens, Erik van Lieshout, Maaike Fransen, Folkert de Jong, Wouter Paijmans, Amie Dicke, Jing He, Job Koelewijn, Bin Koh, Florian & Michael Quistrebert, Antonin Giroud, Maria Roosen, Josse Pyl. 

News from Nowhere takes place on Saturday 10 September during Open Monuments Day in The Netherlands and takes place on the top floor of the Byzantium, a building designed by Rem Koolhaas, Kees Christiaanse and Ron Steiner in the first ten years of OMA’s architectural production. "I want it urban; you want it suburban. I want a round window; you make it square Why the hell did you hire me?” screams a cartoon figure Koolhaas in the publication S, M, L, XL (1995) where Koolhaas’ son illustrates the troublesome process between property developer and architect. The Byzantium is located at a prominent spot in the city center of Amsterdam in between the central park Vondelpark and metropolitan streets, the design tries to do justice to both conditions by using the metropolitan scale to screen the idyll. The building is characterised by a gold coloured element sticking out on the top floor, somewhere in between an airport control tower and castle. For the News from Nowhere exhibition this space is programmed and shows a publication about the building process.

Interested in supporting a group show or public art work in the City of Amsterdam with the (Nelly&)Theo van Doesburg Foundation? Email info@theovandoesburgstichting.nl.

The artist Bin Koh created a public artwork in Amsterdam’s newest neighbourhood, Zeeburgereiland. It is located on Eef Kamerbeekstraat, between three high-rise buildings by the architects Arons & Gelauff. The work is revealed in the summer of 2022 and intended to last at least ten years. 

Entitled Table of Contents, the artwork is a tiled, concrete barbecue table that combines grotesque elements with a cosy, familial spirit. The inhabitants of the three surrounding WOON& buildings, are invited to write their favourite recipes which are integrated on a web platform by the artist. Following its completion, Koh will organise multiple events around the work with her gastronomy collective Comfort Ball, notably on the fetishisation and alienation of Asian women in Western culture. 

Bin Koh: “When I was a child, my mother would put whiteboard markers next to the glass dining table so that we could draw whatever came into our minds, directly on to the table. I’m not a product designer or an architect, but this childhood memory of eating, drinking, digesting and sharing experiences with specific objects kept flooding back to me when I was considering a public art project for WOON&.”

The work invites inhabitants to contemplate savoured memories of cooking and to share a table. People can sit together, put charcoal in the middle of the table, grill food and enjoy their meal. Inspired by the difficulty of breaking set hierarchies in Korean culture, Bin Koh considers the potential of a common table to influence social codes. In essence, the artwork is asking: what makes for an intimate setting with neighbours? What creates intimacy between people? What enables people to speak out?

The integration of a public artwork into a given place ultimately depends on the response of its users. Unlike artistic interventions that are not context-specific or have only a single function, Bin Koh has opted for a remarkably open approach. While she is inviting the inhabitants of Eef Kamerbeekstraat to participate — inviting them to write down recipes, organising future events — she is also keeping things open: the artwork is an open-ended proposal addressed to all.

The public art work is developed in the context of a collaboration between Sandberg Instituut, (Nelly&)Theo van Doesburg Foundation and BPD property development that aim to position artists and their works in the public space of Amsterdam. 

Table of Contents is a public art work in Amsterdam’s Zeeburgereiland, resulting from a public programme in which seven invited artists, the municipality, property developer, researchers and other guests took part. Other artists involved are Fabian Reichle, Niels Albers, Franziska Goralski, Kitty Maria van Ekeren, Elise Ehry, Cindy Wegner, Willem Schenk.

Interested in developing or supporting a public art work in the City of Amsterdam with the (Nelly&)Theo van Doesburg Foundation? Email info@theovandoesburgstichting.nl.

Olfactory public art work proposal
(nelly&)theo van doesburg foundation and artist aaro murphy proposes a public art work in which the smell of a given place can act as an anchor, a tool for grounding the body in a particular place and time. engaging the students, staff and neighbours of the primary school asko, planned to open in the sluisbuurt neighbourhood in 2023 and waste management builders marimetic through scent of an olfactory installation in or around the school. Download the public art work proposal and get in touch via nadine@theovandoesburgstichting.nl to join the development or sponsor the further realisation of the work.

Introducing (nelly&)theo van doesburg foundations’ publicart work programme
Since 1987 the theo van doesburg foundation strives to realise visual art projects and initiate formats that generate positions and commissions for emerging- and early career artists that studied or resided in amsterdam. based on the placemaking terrain of sluisbuurt in amsterdam since 2011, the foundation collaborates with artists to develop scenarios for different public art works in the neighbourhood currently still under construction. parallel to the building process a public programme introduces neighbours, property developers, investors and other stakeholders with ideas on six themes that are key to the identity of the new neighbourhood sluisbuurt.

construction site conversations
artists thorben grobel (spazio cura), Annee Grøtte Viken, kitty maria van ekeren, elise ehry, franziska goralski, carly rose bedford, aaro murphy and philip coyne collaborate with the (nelly&)theo van doesburg foundation on their unsolicited ideas for cultural development for the yet to be built neighbourhood in the capital of the netherlands.

each directed towards a different organisation, company or property developer, the proposals tackle six different sites and topics. the (nelly&)theo van doesburg foundation seeks investment for further development and production of these public art works. the process is curated by project space reneenee and jules van den langenberg.

A workshop space on the Placemaking terrain of Sluisbuurt, located directly next to the construction site of Amsterdam’s new neighbourhood, is developed and realised by artist and food performer Elia Castino upon invitation of the (Nelly&)Theo van Doesburg Foundation. The workshop space is activated throughout the year by Castino and the Foundation during their Public Art Work Development public programme. 

Interested in booking a workshop session or have a team meeting at The Kitchen Workshop? Contact info@theovandoesburgstichting.nl

Polder Triennale shows, discusses, and unpacks ideas about the changing relationships between cities and the countryside. (nelly&)theo van doesburg foundation and polder triennale foundation collabroate to introduce three Amsterdam based artists and three regional organizations to develop contemporary meanings of heritage, gastronomy, and well-being together. Read more in the Polder Triennale publication.

Artist Natasha Papadopoulou collaborated with Museum Schokland on a participatory performance, Artist Duo Kitty Maria van Ekeren en Elise Ehry worked with Flowerparade Sint Jansklooster on their first flower covered float, artists Bin Koh worked with chefkok Peter Lute on an alternative potato dishes tasting.

De Polder Triënnale is supported by Floriade B.V., Land Art Flevoland, Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, Cultuurfonds Almere, Creative Industries Fund NL

linseed oil schoolyard public art work proposal
(nelly&)theo van doesburg foundation and artist annee grøtte viken propose the linseed oil schoolyard, a garden and a site-specific artwork for the inner courtyard of the new building of hogeschool inholland in sluisbuurt. the garden will provide the materials for the artwork. it will grow flax to produce linseed oil and plants to produce pigments, (these plants will also be suitable to eat or refine into other products.) the flax plant will also provide tools that will be used for painting. the extracted material will be used to paint objects, furniture or interior elements of the courtyard itself or extend into other parts of the building such as the student dorms or hallways. the painting will be made in response to the process and the materials that is extracted from the schoolyard. Download the public art work proposal and get in touch via nadine@theovandoesburgstichting.nl to join the development or sponsor the further realisation of the work.

Introducing (nelly&)theo van doesburg foundations’ publicart work programme
Since 1987 the theo van doesburg foundation strives to realise visual art projects and initiate formats that generate positions and commissions for emerging- and early career artists that studied or resided in amsterdam. based on the placemaking terrain of sluisbuurt in amsterdam since 2011, the foundation collaborates with artists to develop scenarios for different public art works in the neighbourhood currently still under construction. parallel to the building process a public programme introduces neighbours, property developers, investors and other stakeholders with ideas on six themes that are key to the identity of the new neighbourhood sluisbuurt.

construction site conversations
artists thorben grobel (spazio cura), Annee Grøtte Viken, kitty maria van ekeren, elise ehry, franziska goralski, carly rose bedford, aaro murphy and philip coyne collaborate with the (nelly&)theo van doesburg foundation on their unsolicited ideas for cultural development for the yet to be built neighbourhood in the capital of the netherlands.

each directed towards a different organisation, company or property developer, the proposals tackle six different sites and topics. the (nelly&)theo van doesburg foundation seeks investment for further development and production of these public art works. the process is curated by project space reneenee and jules van den langenberg.

hosting soil as a gift public art work proposal
(nelly&)theo van doesburg foundation and artists elise ehry, kitty maria and franziska goralski think of the first group of inhabitants of the sluisbuurt and how to arrive in a community. The public art work proposal "hosting soil as a gift" offers a new perspective on the welcoming gift, and encompasses a ritual that refers back to the soil on which the houses are built and with which the buildings are possibly heated. “hosting soil” is an invitation and at the same time a gift that could be seen as a precious moment for grounding, connection and creativity. it is an act of care and offers space for expression and activation of impact for new inhabitants of the first residential building of sluisbuurt, saref. Download the public art work proposal and get in touch via nadine@theovandoesburgstichting.nl to join the development or sponsor the further realisation of the work.

Introducing (nelly&)theo van doesburg foundations’ publicart work programme
Since 1987 the theo van doesburg foundation strives to realise visual art projects and initiate formats that generate positions and commissions for emerging- and early career artists that studied or resided in amsterdam. based on the placemaking terrain of sluisbuurt in amsterdam since 2011, the foundation collaborates with artists to develop scenarios for different public art works in the neighbourhood currently still under construction. parallel to the building process a public programme introduces neighbours, property developers, investors and other stakeholders with ideas on six themes that are key to the identity of the new neighbourhood sluisbuurt.

construction site conversations
artists thorben grobel (spazio cura), Annee Grøtte Viken, kitty maria van ekeren, elise ehry, franziska goralski, carly rose bedford, aaro murphy and philip coyne collaborate with the (nelly&)theo van doesburg foundation on their unsolicited ideas for cultural development for the yet to be built neighbourhood in the capital of the netherlands.

each directed towards a different organisation, company or property developer, the proposals tackle six different sites and topics. the (nelly&)theo van doesburg foundation seeks investment for further development and production of these public art works. the process is curated by project space reneenee and jules van den langenberg.

reed field public art work proposal
(nelly&)theo van doesburg foundation and spatial practioner Spazio Cura imagine tools for nature maintenance and place-specific tourism for people and animals on the inside and outside of the dikes of the sluisbuurt in the public art work proposal “reed field” . the goal of the project is to gain the necessary knowledge and experience to create an extensive space of reed that is harvested and made into objects, sculptures and architecture during the first decade of the neighbourhoods’ existence, together with the national ecological network and municipality of amsterdam. Download the public art work proposal and get in touch via nadine@theovandoesburgstichting.nl to join the development or sponsor the further realisation of the work.

Introducing (nelly&)theo van doesburg foundations’ publicart work programme
Since 1987 the theo van doesburg foundation strives to realise visual art projects and initiate formats that generate positions and commissions for emerging- and early career artists that studied or resided in amsterdam. based on the placemaking terrain of sluisbuurt in amsterdam since 2011, the foundation collaborates with artists to develop scenarios for different public art works in the neighbourhood currently still under construction. parallel to the building process a public programme introduces neighbours, property developers, investors and other stakeholders with ideas on six themes that are key to the identity of the new neighbourhood sluisbuurt.

construction site conversations
artists thorben grobel (spazio cura), Annee Grøtte Viken, kitty maria van ekeren, elise ehry, franziska goralski, carly rose bedford, aaro murphy and philip coyne collaborate with the (nelly&)theo van doesburg foundation on their unsolicited ideas for cultural development for the yet to be built neighbourhood in the capital of the netherlands.

each directed towards a different organisation, company or property developer, the proposals tackle six different sites and topics. the (nelly&)theo van doesburg foundation seeks investment for further development and production of these public art works. the process is curated by project space reneenee and jules van den langenberg.

The two-year Fashion Matters master’s programme, Fashion Matters, is a research-based course that ran from 2015-2017 at Sandberg Instituut, Masters of Gerrit Rietveld Academy. Theo van Doesburg Foundation supported the programme through investments by Amsterdam based denim fashion company G-Star. Fashion Council NL and Meesteropleiding Coupeur Master in Craft also contributed to the programme. The programma focussed on how designers can deal with the current and future fashion system in an ever-changing world and come up with innovative ways of designing, producing, promoting, financing, selling and eventually consuming. The two-year programme led students along the path from in depth research and experimentation to development and production. Artist Christophe Coppens led the programme with coordinator Martine Zoeteman, Tutors and guests were amongst others Walter van Beierendonck, Elisa van Jolen, Viktor & Rolf, Paulina van dongen, Anne Marie Commandeur, Liesbeth in ’t Hout. The alumni include Maaike Fransen, Sanne Karssenberg, Rafael Kouto, Duran Lantink, Fieneke Ploeger, Vera de Pont, Gerda Postma, Karime Salame Sainz, Mona Maria Steinhäußer, Gerrit Jan Vos, Timna Weber and Margret Wibmer. For more information visit https://sandberg.nl/temporary-programme-fashion-matters.

Interested in collaborating with the (Nelly&)Theo van Doesburg Foundation as well? Email info@theovandoesburgstichting.nl.

The Kunstvlaai, founded by Jos Houweling and the (nelly&)theo van doesburg foundation, is an alternative Dutch art fair, which took place at the Westergasfabriek in Amsterdam from 1997-2010. At this well-attended fair, art institutions, self-organized artists' initiatives and art schools presented work by young artists who debuted here, formed collaborations or sold work. Artists such as Hamid El Kanbouhi, Jonas Staal, Sachi Miyachi, tinkebell and Aukje Dekker presented themselves here at the beginning of their professional practice. Later, three more editions followed in the old St. Nicolaas Lyceum (2012), the Amstelpark (2014) and the Stadsschouwburg (2017) with a more educational character led by a curator.

Interested in supporting a group show with the (Nelly&)Theo van Doesburg Foundation? Email info@theovandoesburgstichting.nl.

The One Minutes is a global a platform for experimental video art working closely with various art education institutions internationally. The One Minutes was originally initiated by students of Sandberg Instituut (Masters programma of Gerrit Rietveld Academie) in 1998 under the direction of Jos Houweling, founder and first chairman of the (nelly&)theo van Doesburg Foundation. The foundation played a key role in the development and realisation of The One Minutes. The One Minutes is an independent non profit since 2017 and led by director and curator Julia van Mourik. For more information and content visit http://theoneminutes.org.