Beyond TEFAF – the shows to see while in Maastricht this month

From the June 2022 issue of Apollo. Preview and subscribe here.

Outside the walls of the MECC there is much more to see in Maastricht this month. The collector and dealer Guus Röell hosts his annual Fine Art Open House (with his nightly collectors’ dinners available to book) from his home on the Tongerstraat, while at St Jan’s Church you can find the Maastricht Antiquarian Book & Print Fair (24–26 June). 

Barbara Hepworth
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
3 June–23 October

This is a rare opportunity to see some of Barbara Hepworth’s best-known sculptures in a new context, in the Rijksmuseum Gardens. Pieces such as Monolith (Empyrean) (1953) and Construction (Crucifixion) (1966–67), usually on display at Kenwood House and Salisbury Cathedral respectively, are united here in the gardens of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam for the ninth edition of its annual summer sculpture exhibition. Other highlights include Hepworth’s last major multi-part sculpture, Conversation with Magic Stones (1973). 

Hepworth with the plaster prototype for Single Form (Memorial) in March 1962. Photo: Studio St Ives

Wiebke Siem: Hot Skillet Mama
Kunstmuseum den Haag
11 June–30 October

Born in 1954, the German artist Wiebke Siem makes installations, sculpture and fashion objects out of everything from walking sticks to chopping boards and rolling pins – frequently passing wry comment on the nature of domesticity and the inequalities faced by women in the art world, while also nodding to a wide range of references drawn from the history of art and design – among them children’s dolls, puppets, European folk costumes, traditional African sculptures and furniture. This is her first solo show in the Netherlands. 

Untitled (2000), Wiebke Siem

Claude Cahun: Under the Skin
Kunsthal Rotterdam
Until 28 August

As Surrealism experiences a revival across the worlds of art and fashion, now is the perfect time to revisit the work of French artist, writer and activist Claude Cahun (1894–1954). Perhaps best known for challenging gender roles in her art and daily life, Cahun has been a significant influence on artists such as Cindy Sherman, Nan Goldin and David Bowie. This exhibition at the Kunsthal Rotterdam will present some of her most famous photographs as well as lesser-known publications and archival material, highlighting her role in avant-garde theatrical companies and the French Resistance. 

Untitled (1920), Claude Cahun, Marcel Moore

Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam

In 2019, the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam closed its doors for an extensive rebuilding and renovation project. The collection it housed remains accessible, however, thanks to the Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen, which the museum describes as the ‘world’s first publicly accessible art storage facility’. More than 150,000 objects are on view, allowing visitors to view the entire collection across 14 specially designed storage units, and to catch a glimpse of the restoration and conservation work that usually goes on behind the scenes. 

Inside one of the storage units at Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam Photo: Lotte Stekelenburg / Courtesy Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York

Vivian Maier
Bozar, Brussels
8 June–21 July

In Brussels, Bozar presents an exhibition of the photographs of Vivian Maier, whose work was unknown until 120,000 of her negatives came to light in 2007. Maier is now celebrated as a pioneering street photographer; this exhibition will focus on her rare self-portraits – often captured in the reflections of shop windows, or in the form of her shadow on the pavement.

Self-Portrait, New York, NY (1953), Vivian Maier. Photo: Courtesy Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York; © Vivian Maier/Maloof Collection

From Pattern to Polygon
Centraal Museum, Utrecht
Until 19 June

At Utrecht’s Centraal Museum, fashion collective Studio PMS (Puck Martens, Merle Kroezen and Suzanne Mulder) blur the boundaries of the real and the virtual worlds. From Pattern to Polygon sees them reconstructing and manipulating pieces from the museum’s textiles collection to ask if digital techniques can breathe ‘new life’ into ancient crafts. 

Two-piece gown consisting of bodice and skirt (ca. 1892), Mme. H. van der Taelen A 19th century gown by Mme. H. van der Taelen Photo: Adriaan van Dam; © Centraal Museum

Camille Henrot: Wet Job
Middelheim Museum, Antwerp
11 June–16 October

In 2013, Camille Henrot was awarded the Silver Lion at the Venice Biennale for her groundbreaking film Grosse Fatigue; since then, her work has been shown all over the world. This retrospective at the Middelheim Museum in Antwerp focuses instead on her sculpture; in particular, it looks at works that explore the act of care such as nursing and breast-pumping. It takes its title from Wet Job, a series of paintings and sculptures commissioned for the Liverpool Biennial 2021, which together shine a light on feelings of alienation experienced by new mothers, symbolised above all in the motif of the breast pump.  

3,2,1 (2021), Camille Henrot Photo: Annik Wetter; courtesy the artist and Kunstgiesserei St. Gallen; © Camille Henrot

Sean Scully: Song of Colours
Langen Foundation, Düsseldorf
Until 7 August

Entitled Song of Colours, this exhibition of Sean Scully’s work at the Tadao Ando-designed Langen Foundation explores the abstract artist’s relationship to music, focusing on the repetitive rhythms he listens to in the studio, and the motifs that emerge in his paintings and works on paper. The Foundation will also show three monumental sculptures by Scully in its impressive grounds – located on a former NATO base – which echo the artist’s fascination with what he describes as ‘the unrelenting power and melancholy of Irish music’.

Untitled (Zinc Tanks) (2021), Sean Scully Photo: Sebastian Drüen; © Sean Scully

Melati Suryodarmo: I Am a Ghost in My Own House
Bonnefantenmuseum Maastricht
12 June–30 October

Not far from TEFAF, the Bonnefanten museum in Maastricht presents a video by the winner of this year’s Bonnefanten Award for Contemporary Art, Melati Suryodarmo. Originally from Indonesia, Suryodarmo is known for her durational performances; the work of 2012 that gives this display its title saw the artist crushing charcoal briquettes for 12 hours straight. Suryodarmo trained at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig in Germany and also studied the Japanese tradition of butoh dance theatre before taking classes with Marina Abramović. 

Transaction of Hollows (2016), Melati Suryodarmo.

From the June 2022 issue of Apollo. Preview and subscribe here.