The issue of people crossing borders—whether as documented or undocumented immigrants, asylum seekers, refugees, deported migrants, or expats—has become one of the world’s most contentious topics.
But a new museum aims to transcend politics by examining human migration through the lens of art.
Set to open Friday, May 16, Fenix, as the facility is called, occupies a fitting location for its subject matter: the same harborfront area in the Dutch city of Rotterdam from which millions of European immigrants boarded ships for the United States and Canada in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Rotterdam, Holland America Line, and a Long History of Immigration
Long a trading hub and European gateway due to its strategic position near the North Sea and the Rhine River, Rotterdam was home to the headquarters of Holland America Line when it was a Dutch shipping and passenger line (the current cruise company of the same name has been a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation since 1989 and is based in the U.S.).
The Fenix site was once used by Holland America for storage space—in fact, the building was part of the world’s largest warehouse when it opened in 1923. Originally known as the San Francisco Warehouse, the structure was renamed Fenix in the 1950s following restoration after a fire.
According to press materials from the new museum, the surrounding quays on Rotterdam’s Katendrecht peninsula were the arrival and departure points for more than 3 million immigrants, including U.S.-bound notables such as Albert Einstein, artist Willem de Kooning, and Tarzan actor Johnny Weissmuller.
Fresh arrivals, meanwhile, indelibly shaped Rotterdam, a city of “more than 170 nationalities,” per the museum.
Fenix Migration Museum: Art and Architecture
Inspired by that heritage, Fenix will display art that tells the “story of human movement in a changing world” across two floors of gallery space in the vast, 16,000-square-meter (172,000-square-foot) building. The museum will showcase works in its own growing collection as well as temporary exhibits, installations, and programs.
The permanent collection gets its first airing in Fenix’s inaugural exhibition highlighting 150 pieces by renowned and emerging artists from across the globe.
Notable works include Steve McQueen’s neon sculptures commemorating lost migrants, Omar Victor Diop’s portraits of African figures who played important roles in European history, and Gordon Parks’s photographs showing racial barriers in the American South, illustrating not all borders are geographical.
The museum also houses select artifacts connected to the migration theme, such as a fragment of the Berlin Wall and a Nansen passport issued to stateless persons after World War I.
Among Fenix’s striking design features, devised by Beijing-based MAD Architects, are a large indoor plaza, called Plein, intended for food stalls and special events, and, on the building’s exterior, the Tornado, a metallic, double-helix staircase that leads to a rooftop viewing platform.
From up there, you can get a look at the extensive redevelopment that Rotterdam’s waterfront district is currently undergoing, with projects such as a new urban park and other arts and cultural institutions taking over former warehouses.
Much of the transformation has been driven by the private Droom en Daad Foundation, whose director, Wim Pijbes, has said, “We’re preparing for a future in which we believe Rotterdam can become a defining European city of culture.”
Tickets for Fenix, which opens May 16, must be purchased online. Admission costs €15 ($16) for adults ages 26 and older, €7.50 ($8) for visitors ages 18 to 25, and nothing for visitors ages 17 and younger. For more information or to buy tickets, go to Fenix.nl.
