Groninger Museum's Roos Gortzak: Postmodern Icon Deserves Global Fame

Roos Gortzak, artistic director of the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands, argues that the institution's postmodern building, designed by Alessandro Mendini, Philippe Starck, Michele De Lucchi, and Coop Himmelb(l)au, deserves greater international recognition. In an interview with Dezeen, she outlines her vision to refocus the museum on contemporary art, drawing inspiration from the building's architecture. Gortzak, who joined in February 2025 after a decade leading the Vleeshal Center for Contemporary Art in Middelburg, plans to launch a new program in September featuring four interconnected exhibitions. One exhibition, 'The Architect and the Housewife: Cleaning the House, Building the Future,' will explore domestic power dynamics and include a model of Zaha Hadid's Music Video Pavilion and 98 vases by Mendini. Gortzak emphasizes the building's core values—experimental, interdisciplinary, and collective—and aims to acquire more art by women and non-binary artists, addressing historical imbalances. She notes the museum's unique features, such as its downward entrance and 22-color palette, as challenges and opportunities. The museum, opened in 1994, sits on an island in a canal in Groningen, and Gortzak believes its values are resonant with contemporary times, fostering connection and embracing difference.