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.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The must-see exhibition of this autumn! From 24 October, experience an impressive overview of Paul Signac (1863–1935), the master of Neo-Impressionism, at Kunsthal Rotterdam. At the end of the nineteenth century, building on the work of Georges Seurat, Signac developed Pointillism: a painting technique in which dots and short brushstrokes come together to form a rhythmic symphony of colour. This exhibition offers an in-depth introduction to Signac’s work, presented on a scale rarely seen in the Netherlands. At the same time, Symphony of Colours reveals how his influence resonates in the painting of his contemporaries.

Chairs as you’ve never seen them before: in A Chair and You, these everyday objects become the stars of an immersive performance. This fall, Kunsthal Rotterdam presents an exhibition built around one of the world’s most significant private collections of chairs, assembled by collector Thierry Barbier-Mueller (1960–2023).

In the vicinity of the southern Spanish tourist resorts along the Almería coastline, around 3.5 billion kilos of vegetables and fruit are grown each year. What does the world behind this largest greenhouse complex in Europe look like? This autumn at Kunsthal Rotterdam, the photographer Rob Hornstra and the author Arnold van Bruggen will show how countless migrants who have no legal residency status have to work under abominable circumstances to produce food for European markets. Their photographs and stories are part of the large-scale project The Europeans, in which Hornstra and Van Bruggen set out to capture contemporary Europe.

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.