Press release
Leiden, June 1st 2017
De Stijl in Leiden, one large Open Air Museum
With the opening of the Open Air Museum De Lakenhal today on Pieterskerkhof, Leiden celebrates the foundation of De Stijl in Leiden 100 years ago by Theo van Doesburg. This summer Leiden is one large open air museum with exhibitions inspired by De Stijl with four different locations.
Open Air Museum De Lakenhal
One hundred years after the birth of De Stijl movement, Museum De Lakenhal is taking stock of what has been achieved. Thursday the exposition ‘100 years after de Stijl’ of Museum De Lakenhal was opened. Twenty artists of varying national origin created mural paintings at the invitation of Museum De Lakenhal. The wall paintings are built on the ideas of Theo van Doesburg, who launched his De Stijl magazine here in Leiden exactly 100 years ago. The exhibition is the work of guest curators Iemke van Dijk and Guido Winkler. The exposition can be visited free of entrance on the Pieterskerkhof from Friday June 2nd till August 27th.
Maison d’Artiste
In the same period at the nearby situated Gerecht (the Court) the prototype of Maison d’Artiste designed by style architect Theo van Doesburg and Cor van Eesteren in 1923 is presented. The innovative design is still an inspiration for architects abroad and national. The presented prototype (1:5) is a reconstruction realized by professor Mick Eekhout in calloboration with TU Delft students. It was created in 2003 and is now for the first time exposed outside the area of TU Delft fort he exposition of Open Air Museum De Lakenhal. Colour was essential and the base for architecture according to Theo van Doesburg. With Maison d’Artiste only the primary colours red, yellow, blue and ‘non colours’ black, white and grey are used. As the original colouring palet was not exactly known, it is now presented as a possible interpretation of the colouring composition. The audience is invited to share their own interpretation of the colours of the Maison via Instagram. See: lakenhal.nl/Instagram.
Minke Schat, Head of public affairs: ‘Museum De Lakenhal connects the present and the past. 100 years after the birth of De Stijl movement, the museum is taking stock of what has been achieved. The exposition shows that De Stijl is still ‘alive and kicking’ as an inspiration for artists nowadays.
Artists:
Linda Arts (NL), Justin Andrews (AUS), Alain Biltereyst (B), Bob Bonies (NL), Sanne Bruggink (NL), Sigrid Calon (NL), Matthew Deleget (USA), Jasper van der Graaf (NL), Terry Haggerty (UK), Brent Hallard (AUS), Gilbert Hsiao (USA), Henriëtte van ’t Hoog (NL), Gracia Khouw (NL), Zora Kreuzer (D), Guido Nieuwendijk (NZ), Rob de Oude (NL), Jan van der Ploeg (NL), Thomas Raat (NL), Marije Vermeulen (NL) Zedz (NL).
Maison d’Artiste: prof. Mick Eekhout in cooperation with TU Delft students.
Beelden in Leiden
The open air exhibition of Beelden in Leiden (Sculptures in Leiden) ‘Raakvlakken’ opened already before on three other locations in the city. These exhibitions are curated as well by Iemke van Dijk & Guido Winkler. The exhibitions can be visited freely on the Hooglandse Kerkgracht, in and around LUMC and in the Achmea building.
Leiden celebrates De Stijl
The city of Leiden celebrates De Stijl. Besides the art programming, more and more colours of the Stijl can be seen in the inner city where retailers are participating in De Stijl window dressing as well as some other important buildings. Mincke Pijpers, brand marketer of Leiden Marketing: “Leiden celebrates De Stijl! This summer Leiden is one large open air museum and this upcoming weekend will be the kick off, now the entire programming is complete. In the same time, the Signature Festival, a cultural festival with De Stijl elements takes place this weekend. Overall, this theme year is contributing to the national and international branding of Leiden as a city of knowledge and culture.”
More information of the programming of De Stijl and the Signature Festival
Editorial note
For more information and/or images: Leiden Marketing, Mincke Pijpers via mincke@leidenmarketing.nl or + 31 71-5160997 Minke Schat, Museum De Lakenhal via m.schat@lakenhal.nl or +31 6 11 01 88 31.
Leiden Marketing
Leiden Marketing is the organisation to position Leiden on a regional and (inter)national scale as a City of Discoveries where Culture and Knowledge are the main ingredients. Leiden is targeting different groups like citizens, students, visitors (national and international) and organisations. leiden.nl
Museum De Lakenhal
Museum De Lakenhal is the museum for art, art craft and art history of the city of Leiden. The highlights of the collection consists of works of old masters like Lucas van Leyden, Rembrandt van Rijn and Jan Steen, but also modern work like artists as Theo van Doesburg, Jan Wolkers and Erwin Olaf. Museum De Lakenhal produces high standard presentations of (inter) national importance based on Leiden sources. The museum positions itself as an innovative network museum that connects the current with the past by inspiring visitors with former and new insights. lakenhal.nl/destijl
Leiden, birthplace of De Stijl
Leiden is the birthplace of De Stijl. It is where Theo van Doesburg (1883-1931) started the magazine to which the international movement owes its name in 1917. In those years, Leiden was a city bursting with art and science, where world-famous scientists like Albert Einstein and Paul Ehrenfest rubbed shoulders with artists like Theo van Doesburg. With his enormous commitment to De Stijl, Theo shaped a revolutionary new world: that of modern life in the twentieth century. In 2017, Leiden has remained an international meeting place for talent, knowledge, and innovation. The ‘Mondriaan to Dutch Design year’ is an initiative of the Netherlands Bureau of Tourism & Conventions (NBTC). Museum De Lakenhal and Leiden Marketing do participate in this theme year. Together with the Cultural Fund of Leiden and cultural sector an interesting programming was realized that can be found on leiden.nl/destijl. The national programming can be visited via: http://www.holland.com/be_nl/toerisme/holland-stories/mondriaan-tot-dutch-design.htm
