Rotterdam, Netherlands 2025
Migration is a fundamental factor of human existence. It has shaped world history for many millennia and continues to do so here in the 21st century. Fenix Art Museum about Migration explores this sweeping global narrative in bold new ways, through art, architecture, photography and history.
Opening May 16 2025, the museum is located in Rotterdam's historic Fenix warehouse on the Katendrecht Peninsula. Which is an entirely fitting location: built in 1923, the building was once the world’s biggest warehouse and served as a hub for the Holland-America Line, which facilitated the migration of millions of Europeans to the USA during the 19th and 20th centuries. The neighborhood also became the site of Europe’s first continental Chinatown in 1900, emerging due to a large influx of Chinese stokers in the Rotterdam harbor who settled in Katendrecht.
Designed by MAD Architects of Beijing as their first European commission, the innovative museum features a striking centerpiece called The Tornado, a 30-meter-tall spiraling structure made of polished stainless steel. It symbolizes turbulent migrant journeys and offers panoramic views of Rotterdam and the River Maas.
Efrat Zehavi - Where Are We Going
Image © Titia Hahne
More than 200 acquisitions have already been made for the new galleries within, which span two floors, including works by such notable contemporary artists as Francis Alÿs, Steve McQueen, Grayson Perry, Rineke Dijkstra, Kimsooja, Shilpa Gupta, Jeremy Deller and Danh Võ. The exhibition design was curated by Roland Buschmann.
Goppion has created 14 free-standing Q class showcases for galleries on the second floor, plus 28 hybrid-solution plinths, each with a glass box on top, and also eight B Class table display cases with lifting glass boxes.
We also provided 17 partition walls with a supporting base, 25 podia, and 26 plinths. The partitions are a key feature, helping to clearly define the exhibition space as part of an integrated but very minimalist design.
Among the objects displayed in Goppion’s showcases are 116 heads made of modeling clay – a striking ensemble representing various cultures. Created by Rotterdam-based artist Efrat Zehavi, they are a key symbol of the museum's artistic exploration of migration themes. These heads are portraits of people living in Rotterdam, vividly showcasing the diversity and shared humanity of the city’s migrant stories.
Goppion has also provided a display case for Man in Wainscott, a work by iconoclastic Dutch-American painter and sculptor Willem de Kooning. Renowned as one of the leading figures of Abstract Expressionism, particularly for his role in the development of Action Painting, his vigorous body of work explores both abstract and figurative styles. Throughout his career he often blended the two, an indicator of his drive to experiment and innovate.
Man in Wainscott (1969), by Willem de Kooning (1904–1997), is installed in a custom Goppion display case.
There is much for visitors to experience at Fenix, including the spectacular immersive ground-floor installation called The Suitcase Labyrinth. This work is made up of 2,000 suitcases donated by individuals from the country’s many communities and around the world – and each suitcase tells a story.
This approach is very much part of the Museum’s ethos: to represent a broad spectrum of voices and experiences. Collectively they foster understanding of migration's impact on humanity while also celebrating its nuanced complexity through art and storytelling. It is part of a story that continues to be told around the world every day. More info: fenix.nl
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