Miriam Cahn
Stedelijk Museum
Miriam Cahn
Stedelijk Museum
Exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum
Miriam Cahn: Reading Dust
Miriam Cahn: Reading Dust
Exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum
26 January 2025
You can see this exhibition by contemporary artist Miriam Cahn at the Stedelijk Museum until 26 January 2025.
The majority of Cahn’s works on display in four rooms are inspired by the escalation in the Middle East and the war in Ukraine. They were created in the last two years, and thus this exhibition has a reference to our present that could not be more topical.
But beware: the works depict disturbing scenes of births, rape and violence. We and the museum warn against entering the exhibition with children under the age of 16. People with corresponding fears or backgrounds should also think twice about visiting the exhibition.
Miriam Cahn
Tickets
The details
at a glance
Exhibition:
Miriam Cahn: Reading Dust
Exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum
26 January 2025
Opening hours:
Daily, 10.00 a.m. – 6.00 p.m.
Prices:
EUR 22.50 for adults
free admission for children under 19
Audio guide:
Free Online-Audio guide.
Guided tours:
Free 15-minute introductions. Every Sunday, in English at:
2.45 p.m. and 4.15 p.m.
I Amsterdam City Card:
free Admission. Find out more about the I Amsterdam Card.
ICOM-Card
Free admission for ICOM members
(Image: Miriam Cahn exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam:
Top: from left to right: ‘feld’, 1982 + ‘landebahn’, 14.9. – 16.9.1985 + ‘o.t.’, 30.12.2023 + ‘o.t.’, 12.2.22 + ‘atombomben’, 30.07.1988 + ‘silo’, 1982
Below from left to right: ‘könnteichsein’, 9.3.23 + ‘ereignis’ 2008 + 17.3.20 + ‘o.t.’, 24.1.2024 + ‘fuck abstraction – white supremacy’, 10.5.23 + ‘undarstellbar’ 3.2.24 + ‘o.t.’, 8.3.2021 + ‘o.t.’,1.2.24 + ‘o. t.’, 15.11.23 + “undarstellbar”, 2019/2022 + 2.12.23 + “gezeichnet”, 4.2.24 + “könnteichsein” 25.7.22 (not to be seen) + “könnteichsein” 1.7.23 (not to be seen) + “o.t.”, 2.12.2011 + “o.t.”, 16/17.5. + 9.9.2029)
The wars in the Middle East and Ukraine inspired Miriam Cahn to finally speak her mind. She is showing pictures at the Stedelijk Museum that depict events in war zones without filters, which may be mentioned in the evening news but are not allowed to be shown. Raw and brutal, Cahn’s works document the horrors and events that take place not too far from our front doors and also influence our lives.
Although she does not paint photorealistically, but uses simple brushstrokes, the emotions that Cahn’s works awaken in us are very real and intense. Sadness, pain, and helplessness radiate from the paintings and cast a spell over the viewer.
With titles such as ‘WAS UNS ANSCHAUT’ (“What looks at us”) or ‘könnteichsein’ (“That could be me”), Cahn mercilessly builds a bridge between the abstract and our own, everyday life and challenges us to engage with the subject matter.
The Exhibition
Miriam Cahn: Reading Dust
(Image: Miriam Cahn Exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam: from left to right: ‘hübscher arbeiter’, 22 + 26.7.1997 + ‘o.t.’, 30.7.23 + ‘weinenmüssen im frühling’, 2. 5.23 + ‘gebärenmüssen’, 2019 + 24.3./11.4.23 + ‘HURT LOCKER’, 12.+18.10.22 + ‘weinenmüssen’, 6.12.23 + ‘schön!’, 11.5.23 + ‘heute ich’, 11.12.23)
Another recurring motif is the theme of women and their role in our society. Cahn does not shy away from depicting all facets of being a woman in her works. She relentlessly shows the female body and thus rebels against a male-dominated world that systematically criticises women, degrades them into objects and wants to gain control over their bodies.
About
Miriam Cahn
The 75-year-old Miriam Cahn (1949 in Basel) has seemingly never minced her words with her works from the very beginning. A strong woman who did not shy away from turning her back on documenta 7 (1982) because another artist was to be exhibited without her consent. Or who was always active in peace and women’s movements and did not shy away from illegal night-time art actions (court case with conviction in 1979/1980).
However, she was also honoured with grants, participation in the Venice Biennale (1984) and various exhibitions. For example, with another attempt at documenta 14 (2017), a retrospective at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2023) and now this exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum.
In her works, she deals with anger, fear, loss and vulnerability in a more unsparing way than perhaps ever before. We see victims and perpetrators, the miracle of birth (unembellished and real), but even more cruel rapes, amputations and more.
Her brushstrokes are simple but powerful. Large-format works are juxtaposed with small, even tiny detailed pictures. The colours are sometimes bright and bold, and sometimes they remain just black and white.
Image: Miriam Cahn exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam: Detail of ‘o.t.’, 8.3.2021
Conclusion
This is probably the first time I have seen a warning against visiting an exhibition. But Miriam Cahn’s pictures are sometimes very brutal and very explicit, which will make some visitors feel uncomfortable. If you want to visit the exhibition with your family, you should inform yourself thoroughly beforehand.
Now, you could ask yourself whether an exhibition like this is necessary. My answer to this is a resounding yes! It makes you think, and Cahn gives a platform to the faceless and oppressed.
Nevertheless, I only give the exhibition 3.5 out of 5 stars because it is very brutal and not for everyone.
Your Boris
Text and image rights: © Céline Mülich, 2024
With the support of Boris Hermann.
With the permission of the Stedelijk Museum.