SANDRA MUJINGA – SKIN TO SKIN

13 September 2025 until 11 January 2026

Sandra Mujinga is one to watch: groundbreaking and radically contemporary. She is an artist, DJ, and musician. Her interdisciplinary practice includes performances, sculptures, installations, film, and sound, through which she creates alternative realities that question our view of the world. With her most ambitious work to date, Mujinga transforms the Stedelijk’s lower-level gallery into a stark, otherworldly realm where 55 identical figures occupy the space. Do they represent different stages in a single body’s life, a hidden society, or even an entirely new species? Inspired by science fiction,Black Studies and posthumanism, Mujinga explores what happens when our identities are copied and scattered across digital space. At the same time, her installation challenges how Black bodies are perceived in society. In Skin to Skin, Mujinga’s otherworldly space vibrates to the artist’s compositions of light and sound. With an Artist Talk on 14 September.  

Supported by the Office for Contemporary Art Norway, Mondriaan Fund, benefactors of the Stedelijk Museum Fund, made possible in part by ABN AMRO, with the support of Kvadrat.
Organized by the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and Belvedere, Vienna. Curated by Melanie Bühler (Stedelijk) and Axel Köhne (Belvedere).  

THE BEST DUTCH BOOK DESIGNS 2024

8 November 2025 until 4 January 2026 

Every year, the Stedelijk Museum and the Stichting De Best Verzorgde Boeken present entries selected by a jury, submitted by publishers of their previous year’s publications. The Netherlands has a rich tradition of exceptional book design, known for innovative design, lithography, printing, and bookbinding. This selection celebrates the best of Dutch graphic design. 

Curated by Stichting De Best Verzorgde Boeken and Thomas Castro, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. 

IN SITU #2: FARIDA SEDOC

9 November 2025 – 2 July 2026

For IN SITU, the Stedelijk annually invites one artist to explore the possibilities of experimentation in the mezzanine of the new building. Farida Sedoc fills one of the museum’s largest open spaces with Social Capital (working title), a multimedia triptych that combines photography, screen printing, textiles, and graphic design. In it, she explores the meaning of being in community with others and the value of this exchange. Sedoc reflects on the dynamics of communities in a metropolitan context. She also refers to the sense of connection, social support, and collective action that diverse communities foster. The work Social Capital is a conscious attempt to reveal this complex, multifaceted process.

Curated by Mirelva Berghout, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. 

ERWIN OLAF – FREEDOM

11 October 2025 until 1 March 2026  

Erwin Olaf is internationally acclaimed and celebrated for his characteristic staging, unique lighting, perfectionism, and controversial subjects. This first museum retrospective since his unexpected death two years ago pays tribute to the versatile and multifaceted artist that he was. Erwin Olaf was a freethinker, and the pursuit of personal freedom drove everything he did—he was a fervent champion of identity, sexuality, and gender, the human body in all its forms, nightlife, and equal rights for all. Throughout this thematically structured, yet loosely chronological, exhibition, Olaf’s activism is a recurring motif. The exhibition charts a course through Erwin Olaf’s rich body of work, starting with his candid journalistic black-and-white reportages from the early 1980s to his famous, often provocative series, and the compositionally and technically perfected more contemplative late work. Besides iconic art works and series, the presentation also features lesser-known work, including videos and sculptures, his commercial photography, and personal archive material. The exhibition culminates with his last work, For Life.  

Curated by Charl Landvreugd, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, in collaboration with Studio Erwin Olaf and Marcel Schmalgemeijer. The exhibition is supported by Fonds 21 and the VandenEnde Foundation. 

PRIX DE ROME

29 November 2025 until 15 March 2026

The Prix de Rome Visual Arts is an incentive award for emerging artists from the Netherlands and the Caribbean part of the Kingdom, organized and funded by the Mondriaan Fund since 2012. The aim is to stimulate the development of highly talented visual artists. Fiona Lutjenhuis, Kevin Osepa, Thierry Oussou and Buhlebezwe Siwani have been nominated for the Prix de Rome Visual Arts 2025. The jury notes that all four nominees are united by their unique visual language and convincing vision within what is still, for most, a developing oeuvre. The nominees will receive a production budget to create new work in the coming months, which will go on display at the Stedelijk Museum. Based on this new work, the ultimate winner will be selected by the jury and will receive a cash award of € 60,000 to support their artistic practice. With an Artist Talk on 14 December.

Organized and funded by the Mondriaan Fund. 

BLUE DOTS  

29 November 2025 – 15 March 2026

In 1951, in the shadow of the Cold War, the Dutch government introduced a system requiring museums to categorize their collections for evacuation in times of war. Through ‘evacuation dots’ it was determined which works should be saved first: red stood for ‘very important’, white for ‘important’, and blue for ‘less important’. This exhibition in the IMC gallery focuses on the forgotten blue dots. What does it say about a work of art—and about us—when a work was once labeled as “less important”? With works by renowned 19th-century artists like Jozef Israëls and Thérèse Schwartze, as well as lesser-known names like José Maria Rodriguez-Acosta and Marie de Roode-Heijermans, or a once almost forgotten, but today celebrated name as Nola Hatterman.

Curated by Nadia Abdelkaui, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam.

DANH VO

14 February until 2 August 2026

The Stedelijk Museum hosts a solo exhibition by conceptual artist Danh Vo (born 1975, Vietnam; lives in Mexico City, and on his farm Güldenhof situated north of Berlin). Over the past two decades Vo gained critical acclaim for his exhibitions that share a unique sense of space and choreography. The artist often takes contexts from life and exhibits them. He likes to consider the formation and dissolution of power structures, from individuals to empires. Rather than tell binary tales of perpetrators and victims, he surfaces the ways that power enacts itself on the subject, through pleasure and pain, seduction and assimilation. Vo’s installations explore how our lives and self-image are shaped by both collective history and personal experiences, embodying the shifting nature of contemporary life. For his exhibition at the Stedelijk, Vo develops new work that furthers his interest in the workings of history, religion, freedom, and eroticism. The collection of the Stedelijk holds two works by the artist and in 2008 the museum presented one of Vo’s first institutional exhibitions.  

Curated by Rein Wolfs and Claire van Els, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. 

ABN AMRO ART AWARD 2025 – IVNA ESAJAS

7 March until 7 June 2026 

Ivna Esajas is the winner of the ABN AMRO Art Award 2025 and will present a solo exhibition at the Stedelijk. Her work is rich and poetic, marked by a powerful sense of stillness. In a world saturated with noise, Esajas creates images that slow us down, encourage connection, and invite quiet reflection. She is developing a distinctive visual language at the intersection of drawing and painting, where stories and perspectives gently unfold in nuanced, layered compositions.

Organized and initiated by ABN AMRO. 

KHO LIANG IE

4 April until 20 September 2026

First extensive museum retrospective of Kho Liang Ie, who held a central position in Dutch design from the end of 1950s to the mid 1970s with his designs for furniture, presentation booths, and interiors. Living in Amsterdam, descending from a Chinese family that had lived in Indonesia for generations, he connected different styles from the US, Japan, the Netherlands, and Italy, among others. By approaching functionalism with his poetic touch and great sensitivity to materials, his designs never appeared overly austere. He combined a timeless quality in what is now called “mid-century modern” with an open attitude. He collaborated with Gerrit Rietveld, Wim Crouwel, and Sheila Hicks, amongst others, and had just started a project with Norman Foster, when he passed away in 1975. As art director he introduced international designers like Pierre Paulin to the Netherlands. Several designs by Kho Liang Ie are still (or again) in production, such as furniture (Artifort), wall tiles (Mosa) and a slatted ceiling (Hunter Douglas), that has been in use at Schiphol Airport since the interior design by Kho from 1967.

Curated by Ingeborg de Roode, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam in collaboration with Eng Bo Kho. Exhibition design by Doepel Strijkers Architects.

MANOSPHERE – MASCULINITY NOW

18 April until 2 August 2026  

What does it mean to be a man today? This question has become increasingly urgent with the rise of the ‘manosphere’, a loose network of online spaces where a brash, misogynistic masculinity is asserted that, to many, feels threatening. Fueled by the spread of Trumpism, this brand of masculinity has become increasingly mainstream. Providing a counterpoint to such developments, this exhibition departs from the notion of the manosphere and reads it against the grain, asking: If we were to imagine masculinity itself as a ‘sphere’, what would we see inside of it? Through selected works from the collection of the Stedelijk Museum, loans, and new commissions, Manosphere critically reflects on images, ideas, and narratives that orbit masculinity. It reveals masculinity to be a performance of power as well as a lived reality that can be conflicting, banal and tender. With works by Lucy McKenzie, Eduardo Paolozzi, Melle, Sands Murray-Wassink, Salman Toor, and Bruno Zhu, among others.

In collaboration with Kunstmuseum St. Gallen. Curated by Melanie Bühler, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. 

YAYOI KUSAMA

12 September 2026 until 17 January 2027

Landmark retrospective of the renowned artist Yayoi Kusama, organized in close collaboration with the artist and her studio. The exhibition will take up two floors of the Stedelijk Museum and will offer a complete overview of Kusama’s more than seven-decade career. Alongside some of her most iconic artworks, early works never seen in Europe before will be featured, as well as new productions, including a new Infinity Mirror Room. Kusama, one of contemporary art’s superstars, has achieved cult status with her exploration of repetitive patterns and structures, notably her characteristic polka dots and mirror rooms, which carry viewers away into worlds that seem to expand without limits. The exhibition will highlight the wealth of artistic media Kusama has worked with over the years, among them painting, sculpture, installations, drawing, collage, happenings, live performances, fashion and literature – from her early works in Matsumoto, Japan, to her innovative creations in New York, and her most recent productions from Tokyo. The exhibition is organized in collaboration with Fondation Beyeler in Basel and Museum Ludwig in Cologne.

An exhibition by: Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, Museum Ludwig, Cologne. Curated by Leontine Coelewij, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. 

ADAM PENDLETON

September 2026 — January 2027

Adam Pendleton’s exhibition will highlight his unique contributions to contemporary painting as well as his concept of Black Dada—a metaphor for the relationship between Blackness, abstraction, and the historical avant-garde. His paintings and drawings trace moments of spontaneity and control, layering gesture, fragment, and form into works that balance conceptual rigor with expressive intensity. At the Stedelijk, Pendleton will stage his exhibition in the central spaces of the historic building, engaging the iconic architecture of one of the first “white cubes” in the world.

Curated by Rein Wolfs, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam

COLLABORATIVE ARTISTIC PRACTICES – PROPOSALS FOR THE MUSEUM COLLECTION 

Mid October 2026 until end of March 2027

Every two years, the Stedelijk organizes a major group exhibition from a discipline or current theme, serving as a platform for new collection acquisitions. The 2026 edition is dedicated to collaborative artistic practices. How does collective work generate new artistic forms, visual languages, methodologies and vocabularies, and create new relations between makers, and between makers and non-makers? Its forms can vary from artworks to (social) design, from manifestos to printed matter, and from archival work to workshops. The Stedelijk is interested in collective working methods, outlooks and attitudes that (re)shape the arts, and to explore how institutions can (re)present such practices that often want to move away from or critique the institutional apparatus. The Open Call for artists will be published in Fall 2025.

Made possible with the generous support of the Municipality of Amsterdam. Curated by Claire van Els and Thomas Castro, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. 

THE BEST DUTCH BOOK DESIGNS 2025

Fall 2026

Every year, the Stedelijk Museum and the Stichting De Best Verzorgde Boeken present entries selected by a jury, submitted by publishers of their previous year’s publications. The Netherlands has a rich tradition of exceptional book design, known for innovative design, lithography, printing, and bookbinding. This selection celebrates the best of Dutch graphic design. 

Curated by Stichting De Best Verzorgde Boeken and Thomas Castro, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam.

MARC CHAGALL  

Mid May until end of August 2027

For the first time since 1956 the Stedelijk Museum organizes a monographic exhibition of the work of Marc Chagall (1887-1985). His work is beloved for its vibrant colors, supernatural depictions, and universal themes such as love, hope, and human connection. The Stedelijk Museum holds a premium Chagall collection, one of the most extensive in Western Europe, with over 40 works, including paintings and large gouaches, and will shed new light on that oeuvre.

The exhibition is a cooperation with Centre Pompidou and GrandPalaisRmn, and is being curated by Nadia Abdelkaui, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. 

UPCOMING MANIFESTATIONS 

• Manifestation #52: To Be Determined with Dion Rosina, Thato Toeba, Razia Barsatie and Sarojini Lewis, 28 August — 23 October 2025 

• Feminist Sci-Fi Reading Group with Müge Yılmaz and Anna Hoetjes on 25 October 

• Manifestation #78: Levens Compensatie Loterij with Suzie van Staaveren and Robbie Schweiger, 6 September 2025, Volgermeerpolder 

• Manifestation #79: Museumnacht with Ndayé Kouagou, 1 November 2025 

• The last manifestation in Buro Stedelijk’s Central Space will open on 20 November 2025: The Belly of Momo with Kevin Osepa (a solo that is not a solo, Kevin Osepa in collaboration with many others) 

• Manifestation #85: Buro Stedelijk’s Publication Book Launch + Buro Stedelijk X Garage Noord X Sichuan Territory After Party with Juny Martina, Bram Owusu (BK Owusu) and more on 27 November 2025.  

For more info, see: www.burostedelijk.nl 

Curated by Rita Ouédraogo. Buro Stedelijk is developed in close collaboration with the Rijksakademie en De Ateliers, Amsterdam and generously supported by Ammodo and Fonds 21.

THE 1000 POSTERS BOOK FROM THE STEDELIJK MUSEUM AMSTERDAM

End of November 2025

The Stedelijk Museum houses an impressive collection of over 20,000 posters. This book is a visual statement, featuring a selection of 1,000 posters from the museum’s extensive graphic collection. From protest posters to exhibition posters, from the early twentieth century to the present, from stencils to digital prints, this publication offers a unique insight into the evolution of graphic design in the Netherlands and far beyond. In addition to an introduction by Rein Wolfs, the book includes interviews designer and curator Thomas Castro conducted with five graphic designers: Lies Ros, Marinus Augustijn, Serana Angelista, Cengiz Mengüç, and Kylièn Bergh. Published by Hannibal Books, appr. 512 pages, price: € 79.95.
 

PERFORMANCE: NORA TURATO, POOL7

29 August, 4.30PM

The Stedelijk Museum is proud to present Nora Turato’s new performance, pool7. The work was developed over the past year while her site-specific video and sound installation I HEAR YOU, I HEAR YOU is on view as part of the museum’s IN SITU series. In pool7, Turato turns inward, working entirely with self-written material that is fragile, personal, angry, and deeply embodied. Here, language emerges through the body—through convulsions, tremors, sighs, and other movements. Though the piece is scripted, its performance is not; Turato surrenders control and allows herself to be carried through deep emotional states. Stripped down and raw, pool7 resists reproduction: no recordings or documentation will be permitted.

ADE: LIVE SOUND PERFORMANCE SANDRA MUJINGA

24 and 25 October 2025

As part of the Amsterdam Dance Event Arts & Culture program, Sandra Mujinga invites the public into her unique universe. In a live sound performance at the Stedelijk Museum, she brings her exhibition Skin to Skin to life. With this performance, she explores how sound alters your awareness of your body and the space around you. Sound plays a central role in her work and serves as a means for her to explore themes such as presence, disappearance, and identity. For tickets, click here.

DONATION FONS WELTERS – THINGS I’VE NEVER SEEN BEFORE

until 19 October 2025

Showcase of a selection from the donation by gallerist and collector Fons Welters, who closed his Amsterdam gallery after forty years of dedication to contemporary art this summer. The donation comprises works by Olga Balema, Thomas Houseago, Saskia Noor van Imhoff, Gabriel Lester, Aernout Mik, Matthew Monahan, Maria Roosen, Berend Strik, Jennifer Tee, Evelyn Taocheng Wang, and Joep van Lieshout, among others. His donation to the Stedelijk is a valuable addition to the museum's collection and highlights the significance of Fons Welters to the city’s cultural life.  

Curated by Melanie Bühler, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. 

POST/NO/BILLS #6
HEDY TJIN — UNIVERSAL COLOR

until 6 April 2026

The series Post/No/Bills showcases new creations by emerging graphic artists. This time Hedy Tjin adorned the space surrounding the historic staircase of the Stedelijk with her vibrant murals. For Tjin, solidarity serves as a significant source of inspiration. Her work pays homage to communal experiences: from the exuberant atmosphere of King's Day to the remembrance during Keti Koti, from cheering during the World Cup to a protest march. In her murals, Tjin brings these encounters to life through an energetic visual language. She navigates between abstraction and figuration, rendering her images layered and open to personal interpretation. Often drawing from everyday, personal experiences, she translates them into visuals with universal resonance.  

Curated by Thomas Castro, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. 

EXPERIMENTAL JETSET – CIRCUITS

until 8 February 2026

Amsterdam design studio Experimental Jetset, founded in 1997, specially designed the installation Circuits for the space area at the top of the museum’s historic staircase. It shows how information once had a physical form: sound, image, and other data were stored on physical carriers. Sixteen wall paintings, each mounted in the round frames (rosettes) surrounding the staircase, depict (almost) extinct types of mediums such as the 35mm film reel, the LaserDisc, cassette tapes, and the CD. With Circuits, Experimental Jetset investigates how shape and content, carriers and memory, are intertwined.

Curated by Thomas Castro, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam.

IN SITU #1: Nora Turato – I HEAR YOU, I HEAR YOU.

until 31 August 2025

The Stedelijk has launched IN SITU, a new series in the mezzanine of the new building. A new generation of artists has been commissioned to create experimental works for one of the museum's largest intermediate spaces. Nora Turato has inaugurated the series with a video and sound installation that examines how we use language and how language influences our identity, expression and ways of communicating. Nora Turato is the guest during the Artist Talk on 31 August, 2PM.

Generously supported by Ammodo, Mondriaan Fund and Stichting Niemeijer Fonds. Curated by Vincent van Velsen. 

KAREL MARTENS – UNBOUND

until 26 October 2025

First major retrospective of the work of Karel Martens, one of the Netherlands’ most influential post-war graphic designers, renowned for his inventiveness, and for his playful and experimental approach. With over 1200 works, the exhibition is a journey of discovery through the oeuvre that he created over 65 years—from his adventurous lettering on buildings, to books, typography, postage stamps, telephone cards, and wallpaper. The exhibition layout also offers an impression of Martens’ studio, with a wall of collected objects and pictures revealing his inspirations, and display units containing his many designs. For the first time, countless sketches from Martens’ archive offer visitors a glimpse of his research and design process. Martens trained and inspired younger generations of designers in the Netherlands and internationally. They are featured in a film in the exhibition, in which one can also see the designer at work. Karel Martens is the guest during the Artist Talk on 7 September, 2PM.

Supported by Cultuurfonds. Curated by Thomas Castro, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, together with Klaartje Martens. 

WAEL SHAWKY – DRAMA 1882

until 26 October 2025

Wael Shawky’s work often addresses themes of power, historiography, and representation. His video installation Drama 1882 centers on the Urabi Revolution (1879–1882), a military-led uprising against foreign interference in Egypt. In 1882, the revolution was suppressed by the British, who subsequently maintained control over Egypt until 1956. By blending fact, speculation, and fiction, Shawky reimagines history through a unique artistic lens—offering an alternative perspective. For this mesmerizing visual opera Shawky composed the music and wrote the libretto himself. 

Drama 1882 was jointly acquired last year by the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Bonnefanten Maastricht, and Centraal Museum Utrecht. The work received international acclaim as one of the highlights of the 60th Venice Biennale, where it was shown in the Egyptian Pavilion.

Sculpture Hall and video wall

ongoing, free entrance

The Don Quixote Sculpture Hall in the entrance of the museum features both early modern classics and contemporary icons, including works by Henry Moore, Jean Arp, Alexander Calder, Willem de Kooning, Niki de Saint Phalle, and Paulina Olowska, as well as a recent acquisition by Anne Imhof and an iconic loan from Damien Hirst.

The large LED screen in the entrance hall offers a new program of video art from the collection: a mix of work by renowned artists and emerging contemporary creators. In just one hour, you can enjoy works by artists such as Marinus Boezem, Ed van der Elsken, Richard Serra, Joan Jonas, Marina Abramovic, Stefani Jemmison, Sadik Alfraji, and Christine Sun Kim.

Collection display

ongoing

The Stedelijk offers a comprehensive collection presentation, in three parts:

• Tomorrow Is a Different Day, featuring art and design from 1980 to the present, in which artists critically examine the world and recent developments. More than 99 new acquisitions have recently been added to the presentation
• Everyday, Someday and Other Stories, which showcases developments in art and design from the 1950s to the 1980s. A time of new possibilities and progress, of mass culture, pop culture, and consumption, but also of critique of the established order.
• Yesterday Today, featuring art and design from approximately 1880 to 1950, with over three hundred works, demonstrates that there is not one single art history, but rather multiple perspectives. Well-known artistic movements are explored, such as the Amsterdam School, Functionalism, De Stijl, Bauhaus, CoBrA, and the avant-garde around Kazimir Malevich and Olga Rozanova.