Kunsthal Rotterdam

Experience a comprehensive overview of the work of Helen Levitt (1913–2009) at Kunsthal Rotterdam, one of the most important street photographers of the twentieth century. With over 220 photographs, a film and colour slides, drawn for the first time from her complete archive, City at Play brings more than fifty years of work together in one exhibition. Throughout her career, Levitt photographed life on the streets of New York: children playing under an open fire hydrant, women whispering in a doorway, a couple in the subway. Never posed or sensational, but full of subtle humour, tenderness and an eye for the everyday.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

For the first time in the Netherlands, this exhibition offers a comprehensive cultural-historical overview of the flower, with over two hundred objects from the fields of art, design, fashion, and science. Flowers Forever shows how flowers evolved from mythical and religious icons into status symbols, commodities, and vital links in our global ecosystem.

The exhibition Mr. Goodman: The Kiteman presents a fascinating overview of kites from around the world. The selection of more than 300 kites comes from the collection of British collector Malcolm Goodman. He managed to acquire more than 500 examples during his travels to some fifty countries. The exhibition is presented in collaboration with The Kite Club.

Kunsthal Rotterdam presents a retrospective of work by the Rotterdam artist Woody van Amen (1936). Marking his ninetieth birthday, the exhibition pays tribute to one of the most influential Dutch artists of the post-war avantgarde.

More than a hundred helium-filled baby penguins will take over the Kunsthal! Cute, packed together, and aimless, they drift with the slightest movement of air. The exhibition When the wind blows brings together two works by Danish artist Benedikte Bjerre (1987): the penguin installation The Birds (2017) and Getting Warmer (2026), developed specially for the Kunsthal. Humour is her starting point; the undertone is more serious.

From Friday 13 February, Kunsthal Rotterdam will be showcasing an intervention to its building by Rotterdam artist and designer Sabine Marcelis (1985). On the characteristic ramp traversing the building, as well as in HALL 6, the Kunsthal’s display window, Marcelis will be presenting her site-specific work Continuum. The project is part of the Kunsthal’s programme component Kunsthal Inside/Out, which invites designers to develop a new work that is visible both inside and outside of the Kunsthal. The building’s architecture, designed by Rem Koolhaas (OMA), serves as its point of departure.