A museum entirely dedicated to migratory phenomena, Fenix, opened its doors on May 16 in Rotterdam, in the Katendrecht district. It is installed in a former warehouse renovated by Mad Architects and the Polderman office, whose restoration had started in 2020.
It is distributed on two floors: the ground floor houses the exhibition spaces and the second floor is devoted to the Fenix collection, the whole extending over an area of 16,000 m². As of the entrance, visitors are attracted by the foot of the staircase with a central double propeller: the tornado, which reaches almost 30 m high and is coated with 297 stainless steel panels, each having been made in Groningue, in the Netherlands. The structure also includes a green roof of 6,750 m². The surroundings of the museum have been renovated, with the development of an urban park.
Formerly very active port area, the warehouse, now converted into a museum, was a wide range in the world. Built by the architect Cornelis Nicolaas Van Goor (1861-1945) in the 1920s, he served as a warehouse for the Holland America Line company. This port dynamic thus contributed to transforming the surrounding district, which has become a place of residence for migrants. The first Chinese district in continental Europe has notably developed there.
The Fenix Museum in Rotterdam.
© Iwan Baan
This story has led architects to keep elements of the old structure in the new. “When we asked us to work on Fenix”said my Yanssens, founder of Mad Architects in Finestre Sull’Arte, “We knew that we had to create a dialogue with the existing building and its past, which is full of stories of migration, memory and uncertainty. The tornado represents the future, but its roots plunge into the past. For me, it is a metaphor for migrant trips that crossed this building. »»
The inaugural exhibition is called “All Directions.” Art that Moves You ”, and presents in particular 150 works and objects from the collection, including pieces by Max Beckmann, Sophie Calle, Honoré Daumier, Alfredo Jaar and Alfred Stieglitz. Personal objects collected from citizens of Rotterdam are presented, including a section of the Berlin Wall.
The museum devotes an important part of its spaces to photography with the exhibition “The family of migrants”, which brings together near 194 photographs: portraits, reports, documentary images of artists such as Lewis Hine and Dorothea Lange. It also includes a monumental interactive installation made up of 2,000 suitcases, entitled The Labyrinth of Suitcases.
In addition to exhibitions, artistic activities and performance are organized. A kiosk allows visitors to read newspapers from around the world, and shops and restaurants are installed on the site.
