AMERSFOORT.- Kunsthal KAdE is up and ready to go. The keys of the brand new exhibition venue were handed over to Head curator Robbert Roos of the Municipality of Amersfoort. Located in central Amersfoort, KAdE will offer a programme of exhibitions and events in the field of contemporary art, architecture, design and the general visual culture of today. The opening exhibition will be ‘Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass’, an international exhibition of items on loan from around the world, featuring work by 22 artists evoking ‘parallel worlds’ based on their own imaginations and using fabulous, fairy tale imagery.

KAdE occupies its own premises within the new building of the Dutch national cultural heritage department (Rijksdienst voor Archeologie, Cultuurlandschap en Monumenten), designed by the acclaimed Spanish architect Juan Navarro Baldeweg. The main feature of the eye-catching new building is its large, slightly backward-tilted glass façade. The tilt on the façade has the effect of reflecting the light and reducing the visual impact of the massive edifice. This has allowed Baldeweg to make a major contemporary architectural statement on a site immediately beside the historic heart of Amersfoort, without in any way overshadowing the adjacent medieval city gateway (the Koppelpoort).

KAdE occupies the right-hand section of the 16,000 square metre building. The exhibition space covers an area of around 1000 square metres on the lower floor, with two half-floors providing an additional 500 square metres above. The new building is light, airy and spacious. Areas flow into each other, creating a wide variety of sight lines. One unusual element is an exhibition wall 16 metres wide by 12 metres high, uniting all three floors of KAdE.

The restaurant and shop are conspicuous features on the ground floor. The interior design of these two spaces – and that of the entrance area – is by Studio Makkink & Bey. It features a combination of sturdy supports and light, transparent top structures. A strong industrial element is introduced into the exhibition spaces in the form of large roll-down shutters sprayed white.

Martin Riebeek’s art work ‘Imagine Being There -International’, acquired by KAdE to mark the occasion of the opening of the exhibition venue, is on show in the reception area.

Kunsthal KAdE is part of the Amersfoort in C Foundation. Together with Museum Flehite, the Armando Museum and the Mondriaanhuis, it forms a ribbon of museums passing right through the historic heart of the city.
Kunsthal KAdE also incorporates the Amersfoort Architecture Centre, which will organise architecture cafés, exhibitions, excursions and film shows.

Opening exhibition: Wonderland Through the Looking Glass. Artists: Kathrine Aertebjerg (DK), Chiho Aoshima (JP), Rina Banerjee (IN), Hernan Bas (US), Jake & Dinos Chapman (UK), Martha Colburn (US), Liz Craft (US), Henry Darger † (US), Nathalie Djurberg (SE), Marcel Dzama (CA), Angelo Filomeno (US), Chris Jones (UK), Maartje Korstanje (NL), Tim Lewis (UK), Paul Morrison (UK), Patricia Piccinini (AU), Barbara Polderman (NL), Jon Pylypchuk (CA), Jen Ray (US), Karen Sargsyan (AM), Hinke Schreuders (NL), and Mathew Weir (UK)