GREIGE FANTASTIC: “Magische middelen die kunstwerken tot leven wekken”

19 06 2026

Ginevra Petrozzi seated next tot he painting Bismarck by Marie Aly (1980) | Olieverf op doek | 2010 | De Nederlandsche Bank. Foto: Carlijn Ginther

To wake the artworks in the exhibition Greige Fantastic, curator Maia Kenney invited multimedia artist Ginevra Petrozzi to create a large-scale, site-specific artwork for GREIGE FANTASTIC. In creating this artwork, Petrozzi plays the role of a ‘witch’ who somehow finds herself in the backrooms of an office. Here, she finds artworks that have come alive, changed by years on the walls of a corporate workplace. But they have needs and wishes that are not yet granted. Petrozzi tries to discover what the artworks need to be freed from their day-to-day life, if only for the duration of the exhibition. She asks the artists and their works questions, like “What makes the artwork laugh?” and “What would its final meal be?” From there, she prescribes magical remedies to make an installation that amplifies each art object’s secret abilities.

You can read the answers of Petrozzi’s questions alongside each artwork, as well as the remedy that she prescribes to the work. Some of the artworks need a long sleep after a hard job—and some need to be woken up. For example, a painting of a wizard-like figure by Marie Aly gets a chance to eat its last meal of rare steak and red wine. Marcos Kueh’s tapestry featuring a Chinese deity is woken by clanging pots and pans; a sculpture of the patron saint of good eyesight by Dodi Espinosa is surrounded by tinkling eye-shaped talismans. Through smells, sounds and new sensations, art gets the chance to work magic.

Ginevra Petrozzi is a multimedia artist and researcher with a background in design. She received her master’s degree from Design Academy Eindhoven in 2021 and has since completed a residency at Jan van Eyck Academie. Her work wishes to expand the notion of magical thinking in the context of modern digital technologies like artificial intelligence. Her performance and istallation 'Digital Esoterism' was on show in the exhibition 'When Things are Beings' in het Stedelijk Museum in 2022. She is currently working on her PhD at TU Eindhoven alongside her artistic practice.

The exhibition is the result of a collaboration between De Nederlandsche Bank, the Association of Corporate Collections Netherlands, and the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. Maia Kenney was guided in its realization by Amanda Pinatih, curator of Design and Contemporary Art at the Stedelijk Museum.

This artwork is supported by the Mondriaan Fund.
Exhibition design by Paskamer collective.