Museums you need to go to in Amsterdam (that are not tourist traps)

This post is dedicated to my love for museums, art and creativity in general. It talks about three of my favourite museums here in Amsterdam and helps you find a little inspiration for your next creative spree.

As inspiration is a crucial part of the creative industry that fashion constitutes, I think that museums are a great spot to find it. Living in Amsterdam for the past year and a half, as well as being an art enthusiast, I have been to several museums across the capital and in this post, I am determined to share my favourite with you.

Huis Marseille

The first one is a photography museum called Huis Marseille. I first stumbled upon it during one of my many walks throughout the lockdown during my first year of studies at the Academy. It is located in the Keizersgracht, close to the district of the Nine Streets. As soon as the museums could open again, I immediately got my spot. The first exhibition I went to was by far my favourite. I think that photography is such a beautiful form of art, something which can be to the point and very raw but can also take an experimental dimension.

The first exhibition was called Infinite Identities, Photography in the Age of Sharing. It looked into the work of eight different artists that use Instagram as a way to develop and communicate facets of their art. It explored how social networks have an impact on photography and often add a virtual layer onto the real world. Being entirely developed during the pandemic, the method of photography had changed for these several artists as they only used digital tools to share their vision of reality with their online audience, which was the only way to stay connected between artists and audience during the pandemic.

The exhibition had a deep impact on me as it raised awareness on the morbid reality of how short life is and how fast it can be over in the context of the current pandemic but also focused on other social and political disasters such as bombings in Beirut which was one of the artists’ focus.

I strongly advise everyone to have a look at what kind of inspiration they can find at the Huis Marseille, which was the first photography focused museum of the city. The layout of the museum is simple yet extremely beautiful. Situated in one of the main canals in the heart of Amsterdam, the views are beautiful and the interior remains partly historical which makes up a beautiful contrast between modern art and old architecture. A small garden on the backside of the museum adds to the overall flair and offers a great opportunity to reminisce over the things that you have just taken in and think about how it could inspire your future work.

FOAM

The second museum is FOAM, who’s surprised, it is another photography museum. This one is more modern than Huis Marseille when it comes to the overall structure and interior layout and design of the museum.

I would strongly advise this museum whether you like photography or not. They always collaborate with great artists from around the world shining light upon social issues, more experimental approaches to the form of art and giving young and aspiring artists a chance to present their work with the world.

The first exhibition of this museum was especially hard to go through with as I did not look into what it would be about, which in the end lead me to an exhibition focused on sexual harassment and assault. Although it is hard to go through each one of these devastating stories, I think it is a crucial way to raise awareness of the normalisation and wide spread of the problem.

Other than that I strongly believe that being confronted with a new artist’s perspective on the world and the specific way they have decided to depict it, might give you inspiration for your next work, ideas for new approaches to design and craft, but also ideas for the development of your concepts.

NXT museum

The last museum is situated in Amsterdam Noord and definitely worth the ferry ride to the other side of the city. The NXT museum is the first museum in the Netherlands that is entirely focused on new media art. The museum wants to offer interactive and multi-sensory exhibitions, with the current one ‘Shifting proximities’ they have most definitely done so. The exhibition was designed to explore the human experience and interaction whilst facing social and technological change. It is made up of 8 very different but highly engaging rooms which explore this concept in different perspectives.

This museum is an absolute must and gives you ideas into how technology will further impact the world and most probably also the evolution of the fashion industry in the future. It offers you amazing visuals that might lead to an inspiration for the detailing or the overall patterns and designs of you next creations.