Greige Fantastic

What happens to these artworks when the lights are turned off for the night? When employees head home? Do they speak to each other? Do they rest as well? Do they laugh, cry, sing? Can they work magic?

GREIGE FANTASTIC, curated by Maia Kenney, proposes a strange world within the corporate universe, usually a site of regulation and bureaucracy. In this world, represented by 17 artworks from Dutch corporations, art objects have the power to change their environment and the people they interact with. This idea is not new: for much of history, images and objects created by artists have played important roles in everyday, religious and spiritual rituals. Even when a painting hangs in a corridor between meeting rooms, it is more than a picture to look at. The artworks in GREIGE FANTASTIC have the mystical powers to protect, heal, play tricks and even help us cross between worlds. Their powers might extend far beyond the demands of office life, if only someone can wake them up… 

“Magical remedies that retrieve the animatedness of art object”: a new artwork by Ginevra Petrozzi
To wake them, 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 plays a game with the artists and their works, asking questions like “What makes the artwork laugh?” and “What would its final meal be?” From there, she makes an installation in which the art object gets a day off from work. 

You can read the outcome of the game Petrozzi played 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.

An exhibition full of doorways
GREIGE FANTASTIC is an upside-down universe brought to life by Rotterdam-based design collective Paskamer. They have made a playful world of twisting structures hidden behind green curtains. These structures turn out to be basic shelves filled with shadowy things. The shelves appear to move, diving into wormholes and emerging from floors and walls throughout the space. 

This world perfectly fits Ginevra Petrozzi’s needs. It stretches, grows tall, shrinks and bends to frame the artworks on display and the remedies she has invented for them. Paskamer’s design exaggerates the idea that art objects in offices are full of life. And perhaps even everyday office supplies – like shelves, boxes, custodial equipment – have some untapped powers of their own. 

VBCN OPEN Curatorial Prize 2025
GREIGE FANTASTIC is an exhibition by curator Maia Kenney, winner of the VBCN OPEN Curatorial Prize 2025 awarded by Netherlands Association of Corporate Art Collections (VBCN). It is hosted at VBCN member De Nederlandsche Bank. It is supported by VBCN, De Nederlandsche Bank, Mondriaan Fund and AkzoNobel Art Foundation. Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam is a mentoring partner. 

Selected artists:
Marie Aly (De Nederlandsche Bank), Josefina Anjou (ABN AMRO Kunstcollectie), Juliette Minchin (AkzoNobel Art Foundation), Odonchimeg Davaadorj (AkzoNobel Art Foundation), Fiona Lutjenhuis (AkzoNobel Art Foundation), Oscar Santillán (Amsterdam UMC), Jordan Herregraven (Stichting Kunst & Historisch Bezit a.s.r. & Aegon), Marina Heuvelman Yamaguchi (Stichting Kunst & Historisch Bezit a.s.r. & Aegon), Dodi Espinosa (Het Antoni van Leeuwenhoek), Alice Brasser (Kunstcollectie Coöperatie DELA), Theresia van der Pant (De Nederlandsche Bank), Iene Vonk (St. Kunstcollectie Essent-Enexis), Marcos Kueh (ING Collectie), Kevin Osepa (Lakeside Collection), Müge Yilmaz (Rabo Kunstcollectie), Hadassah Emmerich (Rabo Kunstcollectie), Carmen Schabracq (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)

Check the website of De Nieuwe Schatkamer for visitor information.