Collection as Cosmos

Anniversary

In spring 2026, the Van Abbemuseum will celebrate its 90th anniversary with a renewed collection presentation. Rather than following a conventional chronological path, this new presentation invites visitors to explore time as a fluid concept.

Shifting perspectives

By doing so, the museum aims to transform from an institution presenting a single truth on a linear timeline to a place where multiple times and stories can coexist. Artworks, ideas, and stories transcend a linear framework, opening shifting perspectives and fostering wonder and a living dialogue with time.

Four approaches to time

Instead of organising the exhibition into art movements which sequentially replace one another, Collection as Cosmos is set up around four approaches to time:

Unchronological Time

Developed with the Johannesburg working group of Another Roadmap Africa Cluster (ARAC), a network of artists and researchers. ARAC adapted their unchronological timeline tool to connect personally donated objects — and the memories they carry — to artworks in the collection.

Regenerative Time

Developed with artist and death researcher G, draws on her large-scale sculptures exploring grief, loss, and transformation, translating principles of life cycles and mourning into the museum context.

Public Time

Inspired by Ima-Abasi Okon’s recent solo exhibition at the Van Abbemuseum, where the artist subverted how time is measured in road running. For the collection display, we will draw on temporalities that exist outside conventional museum norms.

Cosmic Times

Developed with Nolan Oswald Dennis, and draws of their Black Liberation Zodiac series and links the night sky — particularly via the star cluster Pleiades or Seven Sisters — to the land, highlighting cycles of planting and harvest and connecting celestial and earthly rhythms.