WENDELIEN VAN OLDENBORGH TO REPRESENT THE NETHERLANDS AT 2017 VENICE BIENNALE

The Mondriaan Fund has announced that Wendelien van Oldenborgh will represent the Netherlands at the fifty-seventh edition of the Venice Biennale, which will take place May 13–November 26, 2017.

The Rotterdam-based artist’s winning proposal, called “Cinema Olanda,” will focus on unexposed facets of the Netherlands’ recent postcolonial past and their impact on the evolution of Dutch national identity. Curated by Lucy Cotter, the exhibition in the Rietveld Pavilion will include three new film works.

“I’m at a loss for words. It’s an honor, a great pleasure and a tremendous responsibility,” Van Oldenborgh said. “This will be a wonderful moment to share the current transformations in Dutch society with an international audience.” The filmmaker is known for exploring modern-day social issues in her works. She was the 2014 recipient of the Dr A.H. Heineken Prize for Art, and she has exhibited at numerous international art fairs, including the 2009 Istanbul Biennial and the 2010 São Paulo Biennial.

The jury that selected the artist included the curator of the Dutch pavilion at the 2013 Venice Biennale, Lorenzo Benedetti; the director of Showroom MAMA, Nathalie Hartjes; the artist and former Dutch pavilion exhibitor Aernout Mik; and the curator of contemporary art at Museum Arnhem, Mirjam Westen. The director of the Mondriaan Fund, Birgit Donker, served as the jury’s chair. The Mondriaan Fund is a publicly financed fund for visual art and cultural heritage.