EINDHOVEN, THE NETHERLANDS.-The Van Abbemuseum ends its 70th anniversary year on a high note, with satisfactory numbers of visitors. “We’re very content that over 77.000 visitors came to our museum”, says Nicole de Boer, spokesperson for Van Abbemuseum. In 2005 the Van Abbemuseum had 70.000 visitors, which makes the increase 10%. De Boer explains: “We have developed many activities this year. Plug In, the new exhibition concept for the collection showed 21 episodes this year alone. We also showed Living Archive, exhibitions in which the abundant history of the Van Abbemuseum comes alive, and many other successful exhibitions like our anniversary exhibition What happened to Art, exhibitions with local artists Stijn Peeters en Toos Nijssen, and the list goes on and on. We look back with satisfaction on short and long term projects as Academy. Learning from the Museum and Festival Festicumex, as well as two Nights of the Museum. And of course the Development Award for Cultural Diversity 2006 issued by the Mondriaan Foundation and the Documentary which featured our museum. Both had excellent responses, both from our visitors and the professional audiences. Not a bad year, all in all.”

And there is more. As of May 17, the Van Abbemuseum’s Thursday evening was free of charge, to enable as many visitors as possible to experience the museum. Due to the great response the end date has been extended to April 30, 2007. The smallest covered bridge in the world, work of art ‘Echt iets voor u’ by artist John K�rmeling, gives direct access to the rear of the Van Abbemuseum. As it was an anniversary year, the museum received its share of gifts: placement a work of art by Ian Hamilton Finlay in the garden by the Friends of the Van Abbemuseum and four works by El Lissitzky donated by the Van Abbemuseum Promotors Foundation. Furthermore the complete collection of the Gate Foundation was included into the archives of the museum.

The Van Abbemuseum has actively pursued a number of cooperations. A covenant for structural collaboration was signed between the museum and the Eindhoven based Frits Philips Music Hall, and the museum participated in activities in the area of Design (Dutch Design Week, Design House), Light (Glow, festival of light) and organized an event with the Technical University of Eindhoven (lecture and discussion ‘Dancing through Infinity’). The exhibition Lee Lozano – WIN FIRST DONT LAST WIN LAST DONT CARE is in cooperation with Kunsthalle Basel, and the Academy project was a cooperation between the museum and the Siemens Art Program, Goldsmiths College, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerp and Kunstverein Hamburg.

The year programme 2007 for the Van Abbemuseum shows fascinating exhibitions, in which the focus will continue on Plug In and Living Archive. The year starts with the intriguing project GHB, followed by a classical solo exhibition on the work of Allan Kaprow, a group exhibition Forms of Resistance on art and life, and smaller presentations by Pavel B�chler, Frances Stark and Avi Mograbi.

be[com]ing dutch
After winning the Development Award for Cultural Diversity 2006 which has been awarded for the first time by the Mondriaan Foundation, the Van Abbemuseum will kick of the project Be[com]ing Dutch in January, starting with The Gatherings, followed by an extended international Caucus in November.