Oomen Collection, Museum Villa — 2026
From the outside, the home of Frans Oomen looks like a typical Amsterdam house. Inside, four floors are packed with art. Artworks of all mediums hang in the kitchen and bathrooms, line hallways and staircases, and stack in the attic. Over 40 years, Oomen has assembled over 4.000 artworks. Roughly 100 per year. If you ask his accountant, that math doesn’t entirely hold up: in 2025 alone he acquired 252 artworks, almost one every working day.
The traditional image of an art collector involves white cotton gloves and sterile storage facilities, where work is kept out of sight. Oomen’s approach is different. He doesn’t worry for dust or sunlight. He lives alongside his treasures.
“I’d rather enjoy a work for 30 years and see it discolor, than keep it locked away.”
Frans Oomen (1962) was born and raised in the center of Amsterdam. In the 1970s and 80s, the Westerpark neighbourhood was still considered rough and largely avoided. Oomen, however, was drawn to it. As a young artist he became part of the local scene: squatting houses and organizing art exhibitions in the abandoned Westergasfabriek.
During his time at art academy, Oomen began exchanging artworks with classmates. These formed the foundation of what would grow into a collection of over 4.000 pieces. Over 40 years, Oomen has built more than a collection – he has created a time capsule of his own view on the artworld. Local legends like Rob Scholte hang beside international superstars like Keith Haring.
Davide Sartori, Triennale Milano — 2026
The shape of our eyes, other things I wouldn’t At
At
Triennale Milano
At Triennale Milano
Site (non) specific neon building kit no.005, Merijn Haenen — 2025
For the entrance to Museum Villa, Merijn Haenen has composed a light installation in Site (non)specific neon building kit no.005 (2025). Originally produced for commercial use, these discarded tubes are given a new life. Freed from their roles as tools of advertising, they now explore themes of value and permanence. The lights guide visitors through a glowing, flowing path – turning the simple act of entering or leaving into a moment of heightened attention. The work is both sculptural and functional: a threshold that hums, flickers, and subtly shapes your perception of the building before you even realise it.
Merijn embraces functional aesthetics. Cables, wiring, and transformers are intentionally customized and carefully arranged in dialogue with their environment. The architecture and its details, even safety and climate equipment, becomes part of the composition. By working with transparency, like through engraved plexiglass, Merijn gives a glimpse into usually concealed technical systems. He invites viewers to come closer, to follow the lines, to wonder how everything connects.
Where many artists prefer a blank canvas, Merijn works with what already exists. His approach, which he charmingly calls site (non)specific, responds directly to the conditions of each environment. An installation could never be reconstructed exactly the same way, yet its components could return in new configurations elsewhere. The discarded neon tubes Merijn collects are fixed in color and form, yet open to new compositions. Like building blocks. Nothing is glued or permanent. Everything could be taken apart. Each work remains temporary, a site (non)specific installation.
Merijn Haenen (1989) composes tactile collages, transforming discarded remnants of consumer culture. Neon lights, plexiglass, ratchet straps, receipts. His artwork feels both familiar and intangible. Merijn’s practice is rooted in intuition and play. His installations form structured yet intuitive systems where rhythm emerges through contrast, relating to his background as a graphic designer. We are invited to reflect on these objects beyond their market-driven origins, and challenged in how we assign value to what is seen and unseen in our environments. Merijn lives and works in Rotterdam.
Thomas? Vera?
Folkert?
shop
Unfair — 2024
Davide Grey Space 2023
into stories – somehow?