Kunsthal Rotterdam will be joining forces with VBCN (Vereniging Bedrijfscollecties Nederland, i.e. the Netherlands Association of Corporate Art Collections) for the exhibition Blue Zone. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of VBCN – a network of 51 companies that together own over 100,000 artworks – the Kunsthal is presenting over 70 artworks in which the colour blue plays a central role. In the exhibition, paintings, sculptures, light artworks, photography, and video artworks from corporate collections will enter into unexpected dialogues with each other.
Blue is not only a colour that has been inspiring artists for centuries, but also one that is frequently used in designs for corporate visual identities. Blue Zone invites visitors to experience the power of this colour in all its manifestations: from tranquil compositions to dynamic sculptures, and from abstraction to recognisable figures. The exhibition features a varied selection from a range of corporate collections and includes work by Armando, Rudi Beerens, Eugenie Boon, Rineke Dijkstra, Esiri Erheriene-Essi, Natasja Kensmil, Henri Matisse, Tamara Muller, Terry O’Neill, Rob Scholte, Nadine Stijns, Peim van der Sloot, and Co Westerik.
Mystical symbol
Koen Vermeule translated his subdued style of painting into a monumental, hand-knotted tapestry featuring a freshly ploughed landscape with an elongated horizon and blue sky to express tranquillity and vastness. Mother Floats (2018) by Katherine Bradford shows a mother suspended in bright blue water; stuck between floating and sinking. In some of the works the colour blue explicitly plays a central role, for instance in the Curaçaoan photographer Kevin Osepa’s Blou Blous (2019), a penetrating expression of Afro-Caribbean spirituality. Here blue functions as a mystical symbol, intertwined with rituals and culture. In New Dutch Views #1 (2018) the artist Marwan Bassiouni contrasts the lively colours of a mosque with the straightforward lines of the architecture in a Dutch residential area, thereby emphasising the presence of Islam in the European landscape.
About VBCN
The Netherlands Association of Corporate Art Collections (in Dutch Vereniging Bedrijfscollecties Nederland, or VBCN) is an independent network of over fifty Dutch companies and (semi-)public institutions that have their own art collection. Its members are dedicated to making art accessible to employees, visitors, and society at large, among other things through exhibitions, debates, research, art commissions, and public programming. The exhibition Blue Zone at the Kunsthal ties in with one of the VBCN’s core values: the mobility and visibility of the artworks.
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