Photograph of a person walking down a corridor with yellow, slanted rectangular frames. The frames draw the eye to the light source at the end of the corridor, emphasising depth and perspective.

Exhibition

Open-Ended

Past

The exhibition Open-Ended brings together a selection of artworks that mark a transition. The works activate you; they encourage you to act, to move and to reflect. And sometimes all you need is your imagination to initiate a change.

A tip: Take your time. These are often large works that you can ‘see’ in an instant, but which give you goose bumps when you take the time to appreciate them.

Director Benno Tempel in See All This

Between a beginning and an end point

Open-Ended is fitting for the final months of the year: winter, a time of transition, is all about reflecting on the past and looking ahead. For centuries, in the dark days around the winter solstice (21 December), people have celebrated the slowly returning light. The artworks in Open-Ended form a passage between a beginning and an end point, or take you on a journey from A to B, such as in Airport, a sound installation by Chinese artist Zhou Tiehai (1966), which creates an imaginary airport. Further on, you walk through Topoestesia by Gianni Colombo (1937–1992), a dizzying passageway.

A detail of the artwork Bone Curtain, a curtain made of bones and blood-red ropes, by Marina Abramović and Ulay

Marina Abramović / Ulay , Bone Curtain (detail), 1985

Featured: Bone Curtain by Marina Abramović / Ulay

The captivating work Bone Curtain is made of rattling bones and blood-red ropes. The curtain, created by artist duo Marina Abramović (1946) and Ulay (1943–2020), hangs from wall to wall; you have to pass through it. The artists thus compel you to cross a threshold. Bone Curtain represents the boundary between life and death. Whether you find it horrific or beautiful, walking through it will have an effect on you.

Featured: Clamp by Franz West

In the installation Clamp, by Franz West (1947–2012) invites you to call a stranger. The walls are covered with pages from the Otterlo telephone directory. Originally, Clamp also included a working landline. This referred to the moments when West, working in his studio, was interrupted by a phone call. After such an interruption, the artist was able to look at his work with fresh eyes again. You can still make calls in Clamp; who knows who you might reach...