We have received a news-letter from this little gem of a museum.
The cultural sector is struggling more than ever. We hear that on the news every day, and that also applies to Museum Rijswijk. Nevertheless, we are still brave, we occasionally win a prestigious award (see later in this article) and we are busy with the preparations of the remaining exhibitions for 2020. Due to the imposed closure until 20th May, the heritage exhibitions that would have taken place now are postponed to 2021. But we still hope that we can offer our visitors a few more weeks to enjoy Precious Paradise which will remain open until 15th June, when hopefully the measures are relaxed soon.
The opening of the Paper Biennale 2020 is planned for 28th June. We can hardly wait for this beautiful edition with the theme – coincidence does not exist – HOME! Social distancing, safe routing, et cetera; we will of course do our utmost to make your visit to Museum Rijswijk safe. On our social media there are videos of the participants of Precious Paradise so that you can still get something from this beautiful exhibition. Ian Berry has come up with a nice promotion that fits in with his solo exhibition that opens this November. And we regularly do a give away campaign on Facebook. We miss cooperation with each other in real time, but we especially miss our visitors. We hope to keep in touch with everyone with this newsletter and our online communication channels. And we hope that you will be back in good health as soon as we reopen.
And the Agnes van den Brandeler Museum Prize 2020 goes to… Museum Rijswijk!
Museum Rijswijk is the proud winner of the Agnes van den Brandeler Museum Prize 2020. The prize, worth € 50,000, is awarded annually to a small to medium-sized Dutch museum. This year, the jury unanimously chose the exhibition proposal from our curator Diana Wind. In 2021 she will make an extensive solo exhibition of the work of the Dutch artist Jasper de Beijer (1973). De Beijer will make a large, new installation in the new wing of the museum.The other spaces will be decorated with earlier work by the artist. Damsel Agnes van den Brandeler (1918-2002) was a Dutch artist. During her life she exhibited regularly – and funny detail: for the first time in Museum Rijswijk. The Agnes van den Brandeler Foundation, founded by herself and her husband, is responsible for her artistic legacy and keeps the memory of this special, very energetic artist alive,
partly through the institution of the above prize.
Paper Biennial HOME – 28th June 28 – 15th November 2020
When we established HOME as the theme for the Paper Biennale 2020, we could not know that it would become such an important item so soon. It was already topical, but the international lockdown that made us work at home, teach at home, entertain ourselves at home and gave it a whole new dimension that has never been more discussed than now. HOME is a topic that everyone in the world is now occupied with, not just the homeless, the fugitives and the stateless. More than ever, everyone now needs a safe home.The Paper Biennale 2020 shows the many interpretations and meanings of the term HOME that artists give to it in their work. They are personal views that deal with domestic circumstances that can be easily felt by everyone. The artists participating in the exhibition are socially committed and/or provide insight into their work as a world citizen. The sum of the visions on the HOME theme are testimonies of the universality that everyone clings to love and security.
Ian Berry stays behind closed doors
British artist Ian Berry (1984) conquers the art world with his virtuoso collages that he makes from denim. From 28th November 2020 to 4th April 2021, Museum Rijswijk will show his work in a large solo exhibition. Just like you, the museum and everyone around us, the corona pandemic has a huge impact on his daily life. Berry makes a worldwide appeal to capture this special period at home with a photo.
He already worked on a project called Behind Closed Doors and changed it to Stay Behind Closed Doors. During the exhibition – which hopefully won’t take place behind closed doors – a selection of the submitted photos will be on display at Museum Rijswijk. Are you participating? More info here.
Teddy Scholten: A postponement only
Due to the corona-crisis many countries around the world went into lock-down. The museums in the Netherlands closed in March. In April it was announced that the Eurovision Song Contest was also cancelled. Museum Rijswijk had no options but to cancel the exhibition ‘Teddy Scholten, winner of the Eurovision Song Contest and national star’ that was due to start in April.
Teddy Scholten was already a well known artist in The Netherlands when asked to participate in the National Song Contest in 1959. Unexpectedly she won and she repeated this feat a few weeks later in Cannes at the Eurovision Song Contest. Her return to The Netherlands became a triumph and turned Teddy Scholten into a national star. The exhibition is part of a series called ‘Icons of Rijswijk’. Photographs, radio and televisionrecordings bring back to live the career of Teddy Scholten and the entertainment industry in the fifties and sixties. The exhibition is now scheduled for Spring 2021.
Spring has arrived at the museum garden
The last weeks Spring announced itself with high temperatures and lots of sunshine. The museum garden is a green explosion. Bare trees became green within days, the ferns are busy making new leaves whilst those of last year haven’t even died away yet. And everywhere seedlings are popping up and will give a riot of colour during the coming months. Diana and Ernst worked very hard to get rid of died away plants, dead branches and copious amounts of weeds. So now there’s plenty of space for the plants we do want to grow because of their greens and colourful flowering.
Herbs and tomatoes in containers are new elements in the garden. Visitors to the museum cafe are free to pick and choose and add to their beverages and dishes.
