Art Rotterdam Unveils Program

Berlin // Sunday, Jan. 14, 2018

The nineteenth edition of Art Rotterdam forms the hub of Art Rotterdam Week, an annual festival of contemporary art, design and architecture. Presenting both young and renowned galleries, Art Rotterdam takes over the historic coffee and tobacco factories of Van Nelle. In the Main Section, all Dutch top galleries are represented, as well as a selection of international galleries exhibiting at the fair this year.

Anne de Vries: ‘Face Freedom’. Placed at entrance of Art Rotterdam, presented by Galerie Martin van Zomeren

Art Rotterdam is introducing the ‘Commonities’ section this year, designed by Lorenzo Benedetti, curator of Contemporary Art at Kunstmuseum St. Gallen. This well-known Dutch exhibition maker forms combinations of artists who have similarities in terms of materials or themes: “The artistic practice nowadays is to develop more connections through analysis, and to apply different techniques and media,” he explains. “That is why it is especially interesting to find the second layer and see what artists have in common.”

Art Rotterdam’s ‘Projections’ will show video works in a 700m2, darkened space. ‘Projections’ is unique addition to the fair, according to the curator from Paris, Martha Kirszenbaum: “It happens rarely that an art fair reserves so much room for moving images.” Particular highlights are the latest works by Turner-Prize winner Laure Prouvost and the British artist Juliette Blightman.

Juliette Blightman // Courtesy of the artist, Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi, Berlin, Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam

‘Open Air’, curated by Niekolaas Lekkerkerk, shows large-scale, sometimes poetic works of art. One highlight will be the 8m high fairytale tree, ‘Face Freedom’, by the young artist Anne de Vries. This tree, inspired by the world of the internet and produced with the latest techniques, occupies a prominent place at the entrance of Art Rotterdam. Another impressive contribution is the work of Yair Callender, who has constructed a monumental stage for the setting sun, a project that is both cinematic, poetic and sculptural in nature and acts as an ode to the heroic conditions of the universe, according to the curator.