Highlights 2017
The exhibition ‘Robert Mapplethorpe. A Perfectionist’, which attracted a large number of visitors over the summer months, deserves a special mention in 2017. This exhibition was made possible in collaboration with the J.P. Getty Museum, the LACMA and the Mapplethorpe Foundation. Also particularly noteworthy was the exhibition ‘Conny Janssen Danst 25’, which was created in collaboration with Conny Janssen and her dance company on the occasion of its 25th anniversary. Never before has a dance company been so intensely and tangibly present in a museum setting.
During the summer, there was a second edition of the exhibition, studio and summer school ‘All you can Art’. The success of the first edition had left us wanting more. This time, the Kunsthal and the Instituto Buena Bista (IBB) Curaçao collaborated with three Rotterdam partners, Stichting Laurens, Antes and the Zuiderpark College, in order to attract and engage special target groups. ‘All you can Art 2’ was a follow-up on other projects in which the Kunsthal examined new ways of presenting and encouraging audience participation and talent development. Earlier projects were ‘do it. Kunsthal Rotterdam’, ‘Kunsthal CoCreate’ and ‘All you can Art 1’.
In collaboration with the Mondriaan Fund, the Kunsthal presented new work by the four nominees – Melanie Bonajo, Rana Hamadeh, Saskia Noor van Imhoff and Katarina Zdjelar – for the ‘Prix de Rome, Visual Arts 2017’. On 15 December, this most prestigious of Dutch art awards was presented to Rana Hamadeh by Ingrid van Engelshoven, Minister of Education, Culture and Science.
In 2017, we also invested a lot of time and effort in increasing the appeal of the Museum Park, for instance with a pilot edition of Summer Sundays. In February 2018, we received the wonderful news that our request for funding had been approved by the BankGiro Lottery for the coming three summers, 2018, 2019 and 2020.‘Kunsthal LIVE ON SUNDAY’ is made possible thanks to the participants of the BankGiro Lottery and was kicked-off this summer in a spectacular way.