The largest maps in the world are to be found in the floor of the Citizens’ Hall, in the heart of the Royal Palace Amsterdam. The three circular mosaics, each measuring over six metres in diameter, together depict the known world and the night sky. They remain to this day an iconic and beloved part of the majestic palace, which was originally built in the mid-seventeenth century to serve as Amsterdam’s town hall. At that time, the city was the world’s leading cartography centre. The pro...

Many Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples in Japan sell small wooden votive tablets (ema) which are meant to be left on a rack at the sanctuary. The reverse of these tablets offers space to send a self-written wish or personal thank you message to the enshrined deity or buddha. Their front usually has a pre-printed or hand-painted design that is indicative of the intended purpose.

In this book hundreds of contemporary ema designs for health-related purposes are reproduced and placed into thei...

The Netherlands pavilion for the World Expo in Dubai, a spectacular design by V8 Architects, embodies the connections this country manages to establish between renewable energy, water management, agriculture and circularity. The 4,000-m2 building is designed as a circular climate system, a biotope: water is produced from bone-dry desert air, energy is generated and food is harvested.

Raining Stories portrays the Dutch contribution to the World Expo. It presents the story behind V8’s design ...

For English see belowIn een tijd van snelle en bijna totale digitalisering van het bewegend beeld vestigt EYE Filmmuseum de aandacht op de bijzondere kwaliteiten van 16mm of 35mm celluloid film en de unieke wijze waarop dit materiaal geprojecteerd wordt. EYE brengt vier kunstenaars(duo's) samen die in hun werk, in veellagige complexe en bijzondere films en installaties, de eigenheden van het celluloid en de filmapparatuur incorporeren.De rijk geïllustreerde publicatie Celluloid presenteert h...

In the heart of New York, viewing Central Park, you find The Frick Collection. A much loved museum famous for its collection. Among those masterpieces of Dutch painters from the seventeenth century. Never been on show in Europe for more than 100 years.

A unique take on fashion in 2022

In MIRROR MIRROR – Fashion & the Psyche, MoMu – Fashion Museum Antwerp and Dr. Guislain Museum examine how fashion, psychology, self-image and identity are connected. The personal experience of the body is the main theme of this unexpected dialogue between visual art and avant-garde fashion. Featuring work by Ed Atkins, Walter Van Beirendonck, Noir Kei Ninomiya, Genieve Figgis, Genesis Belanger, Hussein Chalayan, Comme des Garçons, Joseph Schneller, Ezeki...

The library of the Miramare Castle reveals for the first time its treasure chest of books on botany, flowers, plants and gardens. Text in English and Italian.

When post-war art in Western Europe was characterised by happenings and installations, the artist Raimund Girke (1930–2002), born in Heinzendorf (today Poland, then Lower Silesia (Germany)), continued to regard art as a two-dimensional application of paint on canvas or paper. Although he exhibited several times with artists of the ZERO movement, founded by his fellow students at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, he was determined not to be a part of it. Later, he was associated with some other...