Are humans like the Very Hungry Caterpillar (Rupsje Nooit Genoeg)? Our distant ancestors gathered out of necessity to survive periods of scarcity. Today, we seem to have gone completely overboard in amassing as many possessions and as much wealth as possible. Those who succeed in this are made ever richer by the system. This leads to great social inequality. We are becoming increasingly aware of the negative consequences this has for society and the environment; we need to change course. Why do we actually want to own so much? When have we reached the limit? Is there another way? In the exhibition series ‘Have, have, have’, we seek answers through various works of art. What these works (and/or their creators) have in common is that they encourage you to view ownership differently and can inspire an alternative outlook on life. How much can a museum hold?
Museums are becoming increasingly full and seem to collect without limit. Collections continue to expand, whilst only a very small proportion can be exhibited. The bulk of the art treasures and collected heritage is stored and managed in depots, and you never get to see it. How much can a museum actually hold, and are there alternatives? Have, have, have explores this. In the first phase, we’ll be doing so with works by Maarten Vanden Eynde, Jacoba van Heemskerck and Paul and Menno de Nooijer. The second part follows in November 2026 with many new artworks. The entire series runs until spring 2028.
'The Other Side' is made up of vestiges of a person’s life. It contains a vast number of things that Maarten Vanden Eynde’s mother, Beatrijs Lauwaert, collected in the course of her life and career as an artist. It is both a reflection of herself and of the residue of a late-twentieth-century and early-twenty-first-century human. The Zeeuws Museum in the Netherlands catalogued every item that makes up the work, as it would with any other object in their historic collection, and also included personal stories from the artist’s mother relating to the history, origin or specific use of the various objects. A long, narrow boat is constructed entirely with pairs of objects, as if it were reflecting itself. It references the biblical story of Noah, who loaded the Ark with male and female pairs of animals so that once the impending floodwaters subsided, they could multiply and restock Earth. Though it hints at a new deluge, the title also suggests the possibility of an afterlife.