Point of View at Rijksmuseum
Did all children wear skirts in the 17th century? Why did women have to fight to wear pants? And what does the size of your desk say about your gender? In Point of View you see how ideas about gender have been depicted over time and how they have continuously changed.
Point of View also shows that there have always been people whose identity, expression and experience do not fit within the conventional frameworks of masculinity and femininity. A historical example is Queen Christina of Sweden (1626-1689), who had herself depicted as both female and male. Portraits of recent icons that demonstrate the fluidity of gender are also shown, such as Robert Mapplethorpe and Grace Jones.
150 paintings, prints, drawings, costumes, accessories, sculptures, furniture and photographs from the Rijksmuseum collection make it clear that gender can be found everywhere.
For example, you see 17th-century children's portraits in which all children wear a skirt. And you will learn that the color pink was worn in the 18th century by everyone who could afford it, just like glitter, fringes and floral patterns. Together, the objects show that ideas about masculinity, femininity and gender in general depend on time and place.
For the exhibition design we were inspired by Walter De Maria's The Equal Area Series in the Dia Beacon Museum in New York. We placed the various works of art without a base in a series of metal rings. By hanging a series of tintypes in a ring for the visitor to stand in, these works are shown up close.
For the space in which various 17th century lace collars are displayed, Max Hollein's Retti Candel shop served as an aesthetic reference. It is an enclosed space made of aluminum, in which the collars light up in circles towards the viewer. In the dark room next door, the circles in the ballroom floor light up so that the dresses dance through the room in contrast.
The exhibition includes works by Gesina ter Borch, Marlene Dumas, Bartholomeus van der Helst, Kinke Kooi, Robert Mapplethorpe, Erwin Olaf, Maria Roosen, Charley Toorop and Sara Troost.
Project: Pont of view at Rijkmuseum
Client: Rijksmuseum
Programm: exhibition
Location: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Status: 5 July to 1 September 2024
Curator: Maria Holtrop, Curator of History
Charles Kang, Curator of Drawings
Marion Anker, academic researcher of Women of the Rijksmuseum.
Graphic design : Irma Boom Office
Constructor: Fiction factory
Light design : Beersnielsen lightdesign
Photography Stijn Bolleart