Interplay

What does an attractive living environment look like? And what role can art play in shaping it? In Interplay, you will discover how art and imagination make us look differently at the places around us. The places where we live, move, meet and connect. In this exhibition, Het Noordbrabants Museum and BPD | Bouwfonds Gebiedsontwikkeling bring their collections together in a unique exhibition with artworks from different periods and perspectives. Paintings, sculptures, installations and statues encourage you to reflect on space, nature, connection and the role we play in shaping our own living environment. Interplay invites you to look further. At art, at each other, and perhaps even at your own place in the world!

Visit the exhibition:

Art as a building block

You will discover almost 90 artworks from the BPD Art Collection and the collection of Het Noordbrabants Museum, including the JK ART collection. Together, they explore the places where we live, meet and build communities. From well-known names such as Pablo Picasso, Marlene Dumas and Viviane Sassen to surprising works that make you see the world around you differently. Historic and contemporary art come together and show how profoundly a place can shape our experience.

BPD | Bouwfonds Gebiedsontwikkeling is one of the largest area developers in Europe. Art plays a major part in their work: in new residential areas, BPD commissions artists to create works for the public space. In 1976, BPD also started an art collection of its own. That was exactly 50 years ago this year, and we celebrate that with this exhibition! BPD and Het Noordbrabants Museum share a belief in the power of art to make a difference in the world around us.

“Interplay shows that art is a connecting force in our society.”
— Jacqueline Grandjean, director of Het Noordbrabants Museum

Indoors, outdoors and on the forecourt

Interplay takes you to different places in the museum: to the Quist wing, the courtyard and the forecourt. A large installation in the shape of a house, especially created for this exhibition, stands outside the museum entrance. The Spanish artist Susanna Inglada shows how important encounters and connections are. Her remarkable house is made up of human figures that carry, support and hold each other. You can walk through it, pause for a moment and become part of the artwork yourself. The installation is freely accessible and can be seen from the street. In this way, Interplay already starts outdoors, in the middle of the shared space.

Five perspectives

In the museum you will discover almost 90 artworks from different periods, from the 18th century to the present day. Interplay is organised around five themes:

The five themes:

1. I and my living environment – indoors

An indoor space is never just an indoor space. In this chapter you will see depictions of interiors, maquettes and a piece of furniture by the priest-architect Dom van der Laan. Together they show how much an interior or a space can tell about who we are and how we feel.

With works by, among others:
BPD: Helène Min, Juan Muñoz, Dirk Braeckman
Het Noordbrabants Museum/JK Art Foundation: Eduard Vuillard, Emmy Andriesse, Dom van der Laan
2. I and my living environment – outdoors

Outdoors, we share space with others. On the street, in a square or between buildings, you move through a world that often has already been designed for you. This may feel free, but also restrictive. The works in this chapter show how the outdoor space can direct, constrain or, conversely, liberate you.

With works by, among others:
BPD: Robbie Cornelissen, Reinier Lucassen, Katrin Korfmann
Het Noordbrabants Museum/JK Art Foundation: Pablo Picasso, Michel Szulc-Krzyzanowski, Jan Dibbets
3. I and my living environment – nature

Beyond the built environment. In this chapter, the focus shifts to nature. You will see landscapes and images of nature that are open and light, or deep and mysterious. Together, they reveal how our relationship with nature differs from our relationship with the built environment.

With works by, among others:
BPD: Jaap Hillenius, Teun Hocks, Renie Spoelstra
Het Noordbrabants Museum/JK Art Foundation: Gijs Frieling, Pyke Koch, Martien Coppens
4. I and the other

What happens in the space between you and the other? This chapter highlights the relationship between people. What can emerge when people do more than simply live alongside one another and truly connect? The works fit in with the idea of 'man the player', or Homo Ludens, of the Dutch historian Johan Huizinga: the idea that play and imagination are indispensable in how we live together.

With works by, among others:
BPD: Roger Raveel, Marlene Dumas, Viviane Sassen
Het Noordbrabants Museum/JK Art Foundation: Lidwien van de Ven, Michaël Borremans, Shinkichi Tajiri
5. Endless possibilities

In the last chapter, the works become more abstract. You no longer see a clearly defined subject, but rather images and forms that leave room for your own interpretation. Precisely because not everything is fixed, space is created for new ideas and other perspectives.

With works by, among others:
BPD: Co Westerik, Jan Schoonhoven, Frans and Marja de Boer Lichtveld
Het Noordbrabants Museum/JK Art Foundation: Simon Hantai, Daniel Buren, Ann-Veronica Janssen

Step inside, See beyond

Looking to broaden your perspective? Interplay invites you to look further. As part of the exhibition, we organise extra activities, such as Twee Keer Kijken (Look Twice), guided tours, but also playful routes and workshops for families and children. Come and join us!