Kunsthal Rotterdam aims to be an accessible and inspiring place where art and audiences, in all their diversity, come together. A place that surprises visitors with a rich and contrasting programme that sparks curiosity and offers new perspectives. In 2025, this ambition once again came to life through a diverse range of exhibitions, events, educational projects and collaborations. Explore some of the highlights of 2025 and download the colourful Kunsthal annual report!

The Kunsthal in 2025

Record-breaking exhibitions, a rich diversity in both our programme and audience, and the intensive work behind the scenes that makes it all possible. Above all, we close 2025 with gratitude and a fantastic result: over 372,000 visitors and an average visitor rating of 8,2.

Skip carousel
Iris van Herpen. Sculpting the Senses - One of the year's highlights was the spectacular retrospective of world-renowned fashion designer Iris van Herpen. Sculpting the Senses offered a journey through Van Herpen’s universe and presented an immersive overview in which fashion, contemporary art, design, and science come together.
Iris van Herpen. Sculpting the Senses - The Kunsthal presented more than one hundred iconic creations in which Van Herpen continually pushes the boundaries of haute couture. In addition to a record number of visitors and unprecedented media attention, the exhibition received a 9.2 rating from visitors.
Iris van Herpen. Sculpting the Senses - The VIP preview and opening night of the exhibition Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses brought together a large number of national and international guests from the art and fashion worlds.
Red carpet opening - The festive red-carpet opening, in collaboration with Vogue NL, saw many VIPs walk the red carpet together with the designer, wearing creations by Iris van Herpen, giving the exhibition a prominent launch.
Red carpet opening - The festive red carpet opening in collaboration with Vogue NL, saw many VIPs walk the red carpet together with the designer, wearing creations by Iris van Herpen, giving the exhibition a prominent launch.
NN Podcast Het geheim van Iris van Herpen - Collaborations further expanded the reach of the programme. Main partner Nationale-Nederlanden developed the successful podcast series 'Het geheim van Iris van Herpen', making haute couture accessible to a wide audience and remaining in the top 10 of Art & Culture podcast.

Facts & Figures

The Kunsthal in 2025 in a few figures. Download the annual report for more information.

Facts & figures
2025●
Visitors Kunsthal372.118
Visitors younger than 26 years70.532
New visitors32%
Visitors Kunsthal website1.438.449

Programme

The various programme components – including talent development, major international exhibitions in collaboration with renowned global partners, as well as Rotterdam-based initiatives – allow us to cover a wide range of content with an intentional focus on artists with migration or non-western backgrounds, women artists, and multivocal perspectives. This resulted in a varied programme covering everything from intimate presentations to impressive, largescale exhibitions. Swipe through the images for an impression of last year’s exhibitions, and explore the Kunsthal annual report for a complete overview of all exhibitions and activities.

Skip carousel
Haegue Yang. Leap Year - From spring onwards, the Kunsthal presented a solo exhibition by South Korean artist Haegue Yang, in line with its ongoing commitment to giving more visibility to female artists in its main halls.
Haegue Yang. Leap Year - Leap Year showcased her multifaceted practice spanning thirty years, including installations, sculptures, video, text, and sound.
Alessandra Sanguinetti - In spring, the imaginative and deeply moving portraits of Magnum photographer Alessandra Sanguinetti were on view. The Adventures of Guille and Belinda presented, through nearly fifty photographs, a poetic and intimate portrait of growing up in the countryside.
Max Pechstein. Expression of Harmony - More than fifty paintings by German Expressionist painter Max Pechstein were shown in HALL1. His work reflects a search for harmony between humanity and nature, while also responding to a period of profound change in Europe.
Max Pechstein. Expression of Harmony - With his dynamic, colourful compositions, Pechstein left a lasting mark on Expressionism.
Stephan Balkenhol. Something is Happening - With the Kunsthal production Something is Happening, figurative wooden sculptures and reliefs by internationally renowned sculptor Stephan Balkenhol were presented.
Stephan Balkenhol. Something is Happening - With carving and cutting, he frees ordinary people, animals, and hybrid figures from tree trunks, as if they had always been hidden within them.
Adam Rouhana. Before Freedom - Before Freedom presents photographs by Palestinian-American photographer Adam Rouhana (1991). Rouhana grew up in the United States and visits his family in Palestine every year. The everyday life he experiences there stands in sharp contrast to the image in Western media.
Adam Rouhana. Before Freedom -Through raw but also dreamlike images, Rouhana focuses on life beyond the news cycle, with attention to community, care, and everyday moments of happiness, and questions the role of photojournalism.
CUTE - The summer was dedicated to the exhibition CUTE, in which cuteness was explored as a cultural and visual phenomenon.
CUTE - The exhibition showed how cute can comfort, manipulate, and challenge in a world full of rapid online stimuli.
CUTE- With work by both established and emerging international artists, the exhibition showed how ‘cute’ can also refer to themes such as identity, consumer culture, and technology.
CUTE - The Rotterdam duo Supertoys Supertoys enriched the exhibition with both their own work and an innovative exhibition design, in which their vision of radical cuteness came to life.se duo Supertoys Supertoys verrijkte de tentoonstelling met zowel eigen werk als een innovatief tentoonstellingsontwerp, waarin hun visie op radical cuteness tot leven kwam.
Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses - Sculpting the Senses offered a journey through the universe of world-renowned fashion designer and artist Iris van Herpen. The exhibition presented an immersive overview in which fashion, contemporary art, design, and science come together.
Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses - Through nine themes, a 21st-century cabinet of curiosities, and a replica of her Amsterdam studio, her creations were brought to life.
Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses - Van Herpen is regarded as one of the most avant-garde couturiers of her generation. Through her pioneering use of innovative techniques within her field, Van Herpen breaks with fashion conventions while simultaneously embracing the traditional craftsmanship of haute couture.
Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses -In a dazzling exhibition design, visitors of all ages were taken through thematic, immersive spaces, accompanied by a sensory soundscape by artist Salvador Breed.
Boris Acket. Spaces between lines - Audiovisual artist and composer Boris Acket realised an intervention at the Kunsthal building. His new site-specific work Spaces Between Lines was presented on the building’s characteristic ramp cutting through the Kunsthal and in Hall 6, the Kunsthal’s display window.
DIVA - At the start of the year, the striking exhibition DIVA celebrated the power and feminine creativity of iconic performers.
DIVA - DIVA took visitors into the universe of opera goddesses from the nineteenth century through to today’s pop and rock ’n’ roll culture of global superstars. The exhibition focused on the meaning of the term diva, which originally means goddess.
Thomas J Price. Matter of Place - At the same time, we presented the work of British artist Thomas J Price, known for his widely discussed sculpture Moments Contained at Rotterdam Central Station.
Thomas J Price. Matter of Place - Through subtle yet powerful works in sculpture, performance, photography, and animation, Price continuously pushes the boundaries of material, scale, and presentation. His work explores themes such as representation, identity, and the impact of power structures in society.
Toy Stories. Designing Intimacy - Toy Stories. Designing Intimacy highlighted the revolutionary development of sex toy design in the 21st century.
Anansi de spin - In the exhibition Anansi the Spider, families and children discovered the stories and rich history of Anansi through the colourful illustrations of the collective Moldybyrd Studio and creative activities.llectief Moldybyrd Studio én creatieve opdrachten, de verhalen en rijke geschiedenis van Anansi.
NN Art Award 2025 - The work of the four nominees for the NN Art Award 2025—Diana Scherer, Marcos Kueh, Bodil Ouédraogo, and winner Pris Roos—was on view at the Kunsthal for several months.
Fashion Army - The exhibition Fashion Army presented more than fifty remarkable photographs from the archives of the United States Army. The series was discovered in 2022 by French visual researcher Matthieu Nicol.
Martin Roemers. Homo Mobilis - For the project Homo Mobilis, photographer Martin Roemers spent years portraying people with their vehicles—from small city cars to roaring trucks, from tuk-tuks to motor scooters.
Getekend: Rotterdam! Mijn stad, onze vrijheid - What does freedom mean in a city like Rotterdam, eighty years after liberation? In the exhibition Drawn: Rotterdam! My City, Our Freedom, city sketchers Amber Rahantoknam, Minne Ponsen, and Christine Saalfeld each offer their personal interpretation of the theme of freedom.
Kudzanai-Violet Hwami - They Have Always Been Here is the first solo exhibition in the Netherlands by Zimbabwean artist Kudzanai-Violet Hwami (1993). For the Kunsthal, Hwami created new work, including layered paintings, digitally altered photographs, and her very first bronze sculptures.
All you can Art x Reakt - All You Can Art artists Elvis Chen, Shardenia Felicia, and Goretti Pombo each worked for three months at different locations of care organisation Reakt (Rotterdam, The Hague, and Voorburg), supported in terms of content and organisation by initiators David Bade and Tirzo Martha.
Blue Zone - In collaboration with the Association of Corporate Collections in the Netherlands, the Kunsthal presented an exhibition bringing together more than seventy artworks from corporate collections on the theme of blue—from painting to photography and light art.
ANGENIET BERKERS. LEBENSBORN - To mark 80 years of freedom in the Netherlands, the Kunsthal presented Lebensborn by documentary photographer Angeniet Berkers. In this exhibition, Berkers examines the Nazi Lebensborn programme, which aimed to increase the number of ‘Aryan’ offspring.
David Shrigley. What the Hell Was I Thinking? - David Shrigley. What the Hell Was I Thinking?
David Shrigley. What the Hell Was I Thinking? - In What the Hell Was I Thinking?, Shrigley turns that gaze onto himself for the first time, giving visitors a glimpse inside his mind. He adds commentary to the exhibition, with witty observations in which he critically examines both society and his own work.
The success was clear in the appreciation, the visibility, and the engagement of the audience and our partners

Marianne SplintExecutive director Kunsthal Rotterdam

Rotterdam makers in the spotlight

With Friday Night LIVE, the Kunsthal offers space for cultural collaboration, talent development, and audience expansion, strengthening its role as a connecting cultural institution in Rotterdam. In 2025, thanks to the support of the VriendenLoterij and together with many wonderful Rotterdam partners, we realised nine successful editions of Friday Night LIVE.  

Skip carousel
Friday Night LIVE x Hiphop In Je Smoel - On Friday 17 January, together with Hiphop In Je Smoel, we celebrated the richness and impact of hiphop culture during an inspiring programme around the exhibition Thomas J Price. Matter of Place..
Friday Night LIVE x LAB-Z - Lab-Z, the development platform of Theater Zuidplein, provided a stage for young theatre makers on Friday 21 February, in connection with the exhibition DIVA, and introduced emerging talent to a wide audience.
Friday Night LIVE x Yardbird - On Friday 21 March, Yardbird brought a huge dose of energy and created an evening that brought a true club feeling to the Kunsthal.
Friday Night LIVE x HipSick - With engaging performances on 18 April, HipSick challenged visitors to question their own perception and expectations.
Friday Night LIVE x De Parade - On Friday 16 May, theatre festival De Parade presented an evening full of surprising previews of the summer programme.
Friday Night LIVE x Onni Rotterdam - Onni Rotterdam developed a programme on 20 June around Asian identity, Korean culture, and the connecting power of community.
Friday Night LIVE x Filmfestival Camera Japan - Together with Camera Japan Film Festival, visitors explored the cute world of cuteness on 17 October, and its less innocent sides.
Friday Night LIVE x Pretty Girls Like Trap Music - On 21 November, Pretty Girls Like Trap Music delivered a spectacular all-gender edition and proved that ‘pretty girls like to karaoke.’
Friday Night LIVE x De Wasserij - De Wasserij closed the series on 19 December 2025 with an inspiring evening in which fashion, experimentation, and talent development were central.

Activating Summer Programme

For a large and activating summer programme, the Kunsthal invited Rotterdam-based design duo Kwannie Tang & Man-Yee Mok of Studio MAKY. The brief: design an interactive and playful installation on the stairs of the Auditorium, in the heart of the Kunsthal. The result? The Grand Summer Art Croquet: a fantastical croquet course in which art and play come together.

Skip carousel
The Grand Summer Art Croquet - The installation gives a twist to the classic game of croquet and transforms it into a visually stimulating experience.
The grand summer art croquet - Participants of all ages made their way through six artistic gates with a brightly coloured mallet.
The grand summer art croquet - Visitors could compete with friends and family and discover the game together as it had never been played before.
The grand summer art croquet - Whoever completes the course in the fewest strokes wins!

Education & public activities

Education and public activities bring the Kunsthal programme to life; visitors are activated, invited to learn, and introduced to other perspectives. In 2025, this focus was realised through guided tours, Artist Talks. Look&Do tours for children, and activities for families in the pop-up KunsthalLAB, a space where experimentation and playful learning are central. 

Skip carousel
Artist Talk: Haegue Yang - In June, an Artist Talk took place with South Korean artist Haegue Yang, on the occasion of her first major retrospective in the Netherlands.
Artist Talk: Haegue Yang - The talk was organised in collaboration with the Piet Zwart Institute and moderated by Danny Giles, course director of the Master of Fine Art programme.
Max Drawing Studio - In the Max Drawing Studio in the exhibition of Expressionist Max Pechstein, visitors were encouraged to be inspired by nature, just as Pechstein was – in this case the nature of the Museumpark.
Drag Story Hour - In February, the Kunsthal hosted an edition of Drag Story Hour. Ma’MaQueen read from inclusive children’s books. Afterwards, children and parents experimented with make-up and wigs during a drag workshop, and presented their own diva look on the catwalk.
Artist Talk: David Shrigley - On the opening day of David Shrigley. What the Hell Was I Thinking, Shrigley himself gave an Artist Talk offering a humorous yet critical reflection on his work, life, and the art world.
Kijk&Doe-tocht - The Look&Do tours in the exhibitions of Thomas J Price, Haegue Yang, and David Shrigley actively connect young visitors with the artworks.
Rondleidingen - Guided tours are an important part of the Kunsthal programme. From introductory tours, ArtHopping, and special tours led by people with a personal connection to the subject, to sign language tours and family tours.
Artist Talk: Iris van Herpen - On the opening day of the exhibition Sculpting the Senses, an Artist Talk took place with world-renowned fashion designer Iris van Herpen. The talk was moderated by journalist and writer Dana Thomas.
See you later, Illustrator! - During this family event, children create a unique visual story together with poet Wessel and illustrator Yara. The young audience actively contributes ideas and drawings, while Yara brings the children’s imagination to life on paper on the spot.
KunstKoppels - The Kunsthal LIVE event KunstKoppels takes place several times a year. Encounter and connection between visitors are at the heart of the programme.
Naked Nights - Since 2017, the Kunsthal has organised an annual Naked Night. In 2025, the 13th edition took place. Nearly 200 enthusiasts visited the exhibition DIVA, among others, that evening.

Expected in 2026

In 2026, the Kunsthal will once again present a diverse programme in which contrast and diversity take centre stage, with room for different disciplines, makers, and stories. We offer a mix of emerging and established talent, with both local and international perspectives.

  • Flowers Forever opens this spring. Featuring more than two hundred objects from art, design, fashion, and science, the exhibition presents the first extensive cultural-historical overview of the flower in the Netherlands.

  • Around the same time, the Kunsthal presents the work of the nominees of the tenth edition of the NN Art Award, followed by a retrospective exhibition of Rotterdam-based artist Woody van Amen, who turns ninety in 2026.

  • From late May onwards, a major retrospective of American photographer Helen Levitt takes centre stage. City at Play, featuring her intuitive photographs of everyday street life in New York, complemented by films and colour projections, is one of the most comprehensive presentations of her work to date.

  • From September, the Kunsthal presents an exhibition by theatre maker and artist Robert Wilson, who passed away in 2025: A Chair and You, a total installation in which chairs from all over the world are presented in a theatrical way, as only the master scenographer could do.

  • The autumn season is marked by an extensive overview of Paul Signac (1863–1935), the master of Neo-Impressionism. At the end of the nineteenth century, building on the work of Georges Seurat, he developed a painting technique in which dots and short brushstrokes form a rhythmic symphony of colour: Pointillism. The exhibition Signac. Symphony of Colours offers an in-depth introduction to Signac’s work, in a scale rarely seen in the Netherlands. In addition, Symphony of Colours highlights how Signac’s influence resonates in the painting of his contemporaries.

Download annual report

Read the Annual Report 2025 here in PDF.

The WNT accountability report for the management board is available here in Dutch as a separate PDF document.