Exhibition 'Collection as Cosmos' in Van Abbemuseum
Collection as Cosmos explores time and the stories art can tell. The exhibition challenges the idea of art history as one, continuous timeline. Instead of measuring time, it focuses on the constellations and connections we can create with artworks across time. Celebrating its 90th birthday in 2026, the Van Abbemuseum presents a new collection display that offers a fresh perspective on time and rethinks the way we look at our collection.
Like constellations of stars in the night sky, 250 artworks are spread across the museumโs three floors. They do not follow a fixed timeline or chronological order. By linking personal stories to larger cycles, the exhibition brings together different rhythms of time, from human histories to time on a cosmic scale. With Collection as Cosmos, the Van Abbemuseum moves away from presenting a single truth or a straight line through time. Instead, it becomes a space where multiple times and stories exist side by side. The exhibition stimulates wonder, invites new perspectives, and opens up a lively dialogue with time.
Four approaches to time
Collection as Cosmos presents the museum collection in an open, dynamic way. You are invited to experience time in four different ways:
Unchronological time
By moving away from a chronological order, the museum has created space for new stories. Ninety neighbours are invited to contribute to the exhibition by lending an object from their everyday life. With their objects, these storytellers take you on a journey through time. The objects act as portals: they connect personal stories and memories to artworks in the collection, such as a pink alarm clock linked by narrator Ron Vogels to the painting JULY 4, 1973 โWednesdayโ by artist On Kawara. This method was developed with the Johannesburg working group of Another Roadmap Africa Cluster (ARAC).
Regenerative time
Life and death, celebration and loss. In her work, artist and death researcher G explores what grief and mourning can look like. How do we deal with these moments in the cycle of life? And what do they mean in a museum that collects, preserves and, sometimes, removes artworks from the collection? How do you say goodbye to an artwork?
Public time
How can we experience the outside in a museum? This approach questions museum frameworks such as walls and opening hours. In one room, arranged like a forest of sculptures and installations, you pass under an inflatable arch inspired by a marathon finish line. In this work, Ima-Abasi Okon develops ideas from her 2025 solo exhibition, where she challenged the way we usually measure time, based on her running practice.
Cosmic times
How does the night sky connect to the land and to agriculture? This fourth approach to time focuses on cycles of sowing and harvesting, linking cosmic and earthly rhythms. It is developed with artist Nolan Oswald Dennis and is based on their installation Black Liberation Zodiac (Khunuseti). In the room dedicated to cosmic times, you find yourself surrounded by walls filled with landscapes spanning the ages.
Art and society meet
While Collection as Cosmos unfolds on the top three floors of the Collection Building, the Dommelplein on the ground floor offers a space for participation and collaboration. Artists, designers, visitors and thinkers come together with local partners such as Archipel, Design Academy Eindhoven, Studio Woensel West and Tante Netty. Here, art and society meet in new ways of making, collecting and experiencing.
Artists
Collection as Comos brings together 250 artworks from: Can Altay, Brook Andrew, Karel Appel, Rasheed Araeen, Mercedes Azpilicueta, Francis Bacon, Jo Baer, Gerrit van Bakel, Ernst Barlach, Robert Barry, Max Beckmann, Marcel van den Berg, Pieke Bergmans, Joseph Beuys, Rossella Biscotti, Ansuya Blom, Georges Braque, Marcel Broodthaers, stanley brouwn, Gรผnter Brus, Simnikiwe Buhlungu, Kees Buurman, Andrรฉ Cadere, Heinrich Campendonk, Hendrik Chabot, Marc Chagall, Edgar Cleijne, Constant, Jan Elburg & Constant, Angelo Custodio, Wim van Dam, Renรฉ Daniรซls, Yael Davids, Nolan Oswald Dennis, Jan Dibbets, Rineke Dijkstra, Theo van Doesburg, Jean Dubuffet, Marlene Dumas, Kiki van Eijk, Ger van Elk, Edgar Fernhout, Barry Flanagan, Dan Flavin, Lucio Fontana, Hamish Fulton, G, Leylรข Gediz, Isa Genzken, Guerrilla Girls, Gerhard von Graevenitz, Dan Graham, Laura Grisi, Guercino, Nilbar Gรผreล, Femke Herregraven, Lubaina Himid, Hans van Hoek, Jenny Holzer, Rebecca Horn, Cristina Iglesias, Jim Isermann, Lucie van Dam van Isselt, Joan Jonas, Asger Jorn, Donald Judd, Ilya Kabakov, Gรผlsรผn Karamustafa, Rei Kawakubo, On Kawara, Mike Kelley, Ellsworth Kelly, Niek Kemps, Natasja Kensmil, Anselm Kiefer, Sung Hwan Kim, Yves Klein, Jannis Kounellis, Herman Kruyder, Wifredo Lam, Carolyn Lazard, Fernand Lรฉger, Bart van der Leck, El Lissitzky, Bernd Lohaus, Richard Paul Lohse, Taus Makhacheva, Kazimir Malevich, Jos Manders, Mark Manders, Frank Mandersloot, Alfred Manessier, Glenda Martinus, Allan McCollum, Ana Mendieta, Griet Menschaert, Joan Mirรณ, Moelyono, Piet Mondriaan, Robert Morris, Li Mu, Otobong Nkanga, Ima-Abasi Okon, Onkruidenier, Gabriel Orozco, Piet Ouborg, Paul Panhuysen, Bart Peizel, Alicia Penalba, Giuseppe Penone, Dan Perjovschi, Constant Permeke, Pablo Picasso, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Serge Poliakoff, Larry Poons, Monira Al Qadiri, Walid Raad, John Rรคdecker, Michael Raedecker, Jewyo Rhii, Coba Ritsema, Ulrich Rรผckriem, Wilhelm Sasnal, Erzen Shkololli, Lorna Simpson, Gustave de Smet, Victor Sonna, Frank Stella, Mladen Stilinoviฤ, Peter Struycken, Jennifer Tee, Jean Tinguely, Rikrit Tiravanija, Jan Toorop, Richard Tuttle, Alexander Ugay, Lidwien van de Ven, Toon Verhoef, Henk Visch, Carel Visser, Herman de Vries, Angela Bulloch & Imke Wagener, Franz Erhard Walther, Andy Warhol, Rachel Whiteread, Ian Wilson, Santiago Yahuarcani, Haegue Yang, and Ossip Zadkine.
