Archives: Tentoonstellingen

Sylvie Zijlmans & Hewald Jongenelis win Cobra Art Prize Amstelveen 2024

Museum Cobra is proud to announce that the Cobra Art Prize Amstelveen 2024 has been awarded to the renowned artist duo Sylvie Zijlmans & Hewald Jongenelis! The Cobra Art Prize Amstelveen honors artists who, like the Cobra movement, focus on creative experimentation and social commitment. In addition to the award of a cash prize of 15,000 euros, the prize also includes a solo exhibition of current work in Museum Cobra.

About the artist duo
The art of Sylvie Zijlmans & Hewald Jongenelis shows how creativity can inspire, connect and offer new perspectives. The jury, consisting of Roos Gortzak (director Vleeshal, Middelburg), Melchior Jaspers (art advisor to the Chief Government Architect and exhibition maker), and Sjarel Ex (art historian), chose Zijlmans & Jongenelis as the winner because of their playful, experimental and collective art practice – three traits that are directly connected to the legacy of Cobra. The duo is known for their socially engaged art, which often explores dystopian themes, yet always contains a hint of optimism and togetherness. Their work is a unique blend of performance, sculpture and interactive installations, focusing on the role of the human being. Sylvie Zijlmans & Hewald Jongenelis not only create artworks, but bring people together to participate in their visionary worlds.

About the Prize
The Cobra Art Prize Amstelveen has been awarded since 2005 and is intended for visual artists who are in the middle of their careers and whose oeuvre is related to the ideas and engaged art practice of the Cobra movement. The core of this movement is formed by experimental, playful and a radical approach to art. The prize consists of a cash prize of 15,000 euros and a solo exhibition in Museum Cobra. With the Cobra Art Prize Amstelveen, Museum Cobra together with the municipality of Amstelveen creates attention for how the values of the Cobra movement play a role in contemporary art today. Previous winners include Joost Conijn (2005), Johannes Schwartz (2007), Gijs Frieling (2009), Nathaniel Mellors (2011), Metahaven (2013), Jennifer Tee (2015), Christian Friedrich (2017) and Guido van der Werve (2021). The Cobra Art Prize Amstelveen is made possible by the Municipality of Amstelveen.

About the exhibition
The exhibition Voices From a Simmering City is on view from November 14, 2024 through February 9, 2025 at Museum Cobra and features several installations.

Recall of Infinity

Recall of Infinity follows the exhibition Endless Imagination and showcases the work of forty-one artists who have been nominated for the Special Award 2023-2024, a support program and visual arts competition for artists with disabilities. A selection of three works from each artist is featured in the exhibition.

Courage and Experimentation
The jury, comprised of artists Lisa Couwenbergh, Jacobien de Rooij, Roland Berning, and Paul Klemann, was deeply impressed by the boldness and experimentation with which these artists express their perspective on the world, each in a truly individual way.

What stands out is the enormous diversity of the works included in the exhibition, each defined by its own quality and character. The significant differences in subject matter, material use, and technique reflect the wide range of ages, interests, and experience of the participating artists. One common aspect is the profound passion evident in every piece—art created not for fame or fortune, but motivated purely by an inner drive.

The exhibition is divided into four themes: Inner Worlds, Interactions, Observations, and Fantasy Worlds. From surreal scenes and personal fascinations to dreamy biotopes and social commentary, these works collectively offer a unique insight into the creative world of artists with disabilities.

Special Award
The Special Award is an initiative by Special Arts, a national foundation dedicated to promoting arts and cultural participation among artists with disabilities. Through a wide range of activities, Special Arts aims to encourage and inspire these artists, along with others, to engage in the arts. The jury will select the winner of the Special Award 2024 from the artists featured in the exhibition. In addition, the public will have the opportunity to vote for the audience choice award.

Jessica Magnin, Onzichtbare amfibie

The Cobra Children’s Museum is a unique exhibition that shows how children express their ideas around their own chosen theme. A celebration of boundless imagination!

After a number of preparatory lessons at school, at elementary school Het Palet and de Bloeiwijzer in Amstelveen, children themselves chose a theme for this second edition of the Children’s Museum. Based on this theme, over 35 children, together with accompanying artists, Annet Breure and Julia dos Santos Baptista, set to work creatively to visualize their ideas around this theme. Each time they were taught a new visual technique and they learned to give words to what they made and their ideas about it. The accompanying artists listened to their stories, creating a wonderful audio tour to accompany this exhibition.

Cobra Children’s Museum
The Cobra Children’s Museum is a placewhere children have a say in what can be seen and experienced in a museum. Their own place to realize that. The children are introduced to Museum Cobra, the Cobra philosophy, the design process of their own museum and finally the creative execution of it in the form of a real exhibition in the museum. The Cobra Children’s Museum will be built, festively opened and the children themselves will give a tour of their own museum.

This is the second edition of the Cobra Children’s Museum. Start of this second edition were preparatory lessons at school, in which questions such as “What is a museum?” and “What should a museum be about?” were central. Through an intensive, 4-day workshop, the children were taken through a creative making process that culminated in this exhibition with its own audio tour.

This second edition of the Cobra Children’s Museum was also developed and supervised by artist and visual teacher Júlia dos Santos Baptista and Annet Breure, story collector and storyteller. For more information, see www.plantenverhalen.nl/florafantastica

Partners:
Elja, VSB, Plantenverhalen, MAM, De Bloeiwijzer, Het Palet, Buurtkamer

Amstelveen En Plein Air

AmstellandKunst is organising a festive outdoor event in collaboration with the Cobra Museum and Museum JAN!

Something unique is going to happen in Amstelveen: around the Stadshart Amstelveen, the Oude Dorp and in the Broersepark, a large number of artists will create a new work of art in the open air! Ranging from drawings to paintings and from collages to 3-dimensional work. During this creative process, residents of Amstelveen (and beyond) can follow artistic progress in real time! Moreover, the work created will be exhibited in the Cobra Museum the following two days (the Whitsun weekend). Both during the creation on Saturday and during the exhibition on Sunday and Monday, there will be an opportunity to buy a new work of art created during this weekend. Amstelveen En Plein Air will take place on Saturday 18 May (the creation day), Sunday 19 and Monday 20 May (Whitsun weekend) between 10 am and 5 pm.

Saturday 18 May
On this day, artists choose an outdoor spot within a designated area and set to work to create their unique artwork within one day. Should the weather be disappointing, arrangements have been made to work indoors (at Platform C and in Stadshart Amstelveen).

Sunday 19 and Monday 20 May (Pentecost weekend)
On these days, the works created will be exhibited in the recital hall of the Cobra Museum. This sales exhibition can be visited for FREE and there is an opportunity to buy work by the artists. The Cobra Museum is open from 10am to 5pm at Sandbergplein 1, Amstelveen.

Amsteleevn En Plein Air Map

Art from the collection 

Museum Cobra has an own art collection since the founding in 1995. This collection has now grown to over 2000 objects. The vast majority of this collection is in the depot, an art storage facility not open to the public where it is preserved under optimal conditions. The Open depot presents parts of the extensive collection on display here. It is not a permanent exhibition but a rotating, dynamic presentation. In addition to making the collection accessible, it also offers a look behind the scenes. New acquisitions and collaborations will be given space to be shown here.    

The museum’s collection policy is based on Cobra art. Besides the official Cobra members, there is also an emphasis on the artists who collaborated with them or were influenced by them. They can also be seen in this changing presentation. In addition to paintings and sculptures, the collection includes work on paper, ceramics, textiles, photography, films and archival material.  

Within the Cobra movement, besides unanimity, there are also contradictions and differences of opinion among its members. These different views and visions create a wide range of artistic expression. The Open depot gives visitors room for new comparisons and connections.  

Want to learn more about Cobra? Click here.

Foto: Niels Vis