The first museum in the world that presents migration through contemporary art will open in Rotterdam: FENIX. We will have to be patient for a visit, as the museum will open in the first half of 2025.
On a museum surface of 16,000 square metres, FENIX will soon offer two monumental installations in addition to the changing international art collection: a suitcase maze and the Family of Migrants photo exhibition. Plein, a covered, lively city square for everyone, will be located on the ground floor. The eye-catcher and largest work of art is the Tornado, an architectural masterpiece by Ma Yansong of MAD Architects that swirls up from the building.
FENIX is located on the Maas. Visitors will soon look out from the museum through the monumental windows over the former headquarters of the Holland-America Line and the river. From the end of the nineteenth century, more than three million people left these quays for destinations in the United States and Canada. FENIX is located in the original San Francisco warehouse from 1923, designed by architect C.N. van Goor and was the largest warehouse in the world at the time. The warehouse is located in Katendrecht, the Rotterdam district where countless new Rotterdammers arrived from China, Greece, Cape Verde and many other destinations.
The warehouse is carefully restored and transformed into a spectacular museum building. The Tornado forms the heart of FENIX: the futuristic, double-twisted staircase construction connects the different floors with the 24-metre-high platform. The theme of migration is also reflected here: on the way to the viewpoint, visitors can change stairs halfway and thus determine their way up, just as people are faced with choices during a journey. An experience where visitors are treated to new perspectives and a breathtaking panorama of the river and the city, the Maas and Rotterdam.
The museum will not open its doors until 2025, but at the time of writing more than two hundred works of art have already been purchased by artists from all over the world, including Francis Alÿs, Rineke Dijkstra, Bill Viola, Grayson Perry, Shilpa Gupta and Kimsooja .
FENIX also commissioned seven artists to create new work for the museum. Beya Gille Gacha, Efrat Zehavi, Cha Eun Rhee, Raquel van Haver and Hugo McCloud, among others, are currently working on exclusive assignments, each with their own perspective on migration. The collection also consists of a selection of historical objects that provide interpretation and context to the history of migration. Rotterdam is the starting point. The permanent art collection will soon be on display on a robust, uninterrupted daylight floor measuring 172 metres in length.
Plein will also open in FENIX. This will be a publicly accessible space of over 2,000 square metres that functions as a covered city square for everyone. Programme makers from the neighbourhood and the world organize constantly changing activities. This makes Plein different every day: from a location for events to a stage and kitchen for the city and the neighbourhood. Plein moves with the continuously changing city, nourished by its many cultures and people.
Put it in your agenda! For more information, visit fenix.nl.