Image: Kunsthal, Rotterdam
‘Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses’, presented at Kunsthal Rotterdam, has been nominated for the 2026 Museumtijdschrift Exhibition Prize, an annual public award recognising exhibitions staged in museums across the Netherlands. The exhibition is one of 10 finalists selected by a professional jury, with the winner to be determined by public vote.
Voting opened on 25 August and will remain available until 13 September. The winning exhibition will receive a prize of €10,000. Voters are also eligible for a range of awards, including a cultural trip for two valued at €1,500, a year-long course at the Vrije Academie and books and lectures supplied by the prize’s partners.
The nominated presentation ran at Kunsthal Rotterdam from 27 September 2025 to 1 March 2026 and has since closed. It brought together more than 100 creations by Iris van Herpen, the Dutch fashion designer known for an avant-garde approach to couture. The exhibition focused on the designer’s sculptural treatment of clothing, as reflected in its title, and included what the Kunsthal described as iconic works from her practice.
Kunsthal Rotterdam, founded in 1992, is a non-collecting exhibition hall in Rotterdam’s Museumpark that presents temporary exhibitions across art, design, photography and fashion. Its current programme also includes exhibitions devoted to Rotterdam artist Woody van Amen, photographer Helen Levitt and Danish artist Benedikte Bjerre. The institution’s newsletter encouraged readers to support the nomination through the public vote. The Kunsthal states that it organised Sculpting the Senses in close collaboration with the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris and Maison Iris van Herpen, based on the original exhibition designed by the Paris museum.
The 2026 shortlist spans art, history, design, archaeology and fashion. Alongside van Herpen’s exhibition, the nominees are Fiona Tan’s ‘Monomania’ at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam; ‘Brancusi, The Birth of Modern Sculpture’ at H’ART Museum in Amsterdam; ‘Jacob Lawrence, African American modernist’ at Kunsthal KAdE in Amersfoort; ‘Missen als een ronde vorm’ at Stedelijk Museum Schiedam; ‘De Mannen van Michelangelo’ at Teylers Museum in Haarlem; ‘Wi Sranan. Surinaamse kunst in beweging’ at Museum Cobra in Amstelveen; ‘Hip Hop Is’ at the Groninger Museum; ‘De Werelden van Jan Toorop’ at Singer Laren; and ‘BIRDS – Curated by The Goldfinch & Simon Schama’ at the Mauritshuis in The Hague.
The jury comprises Hester Alberdingk Thijm, director of the AkzoNobel Art Foundation; Peter van Duinen, director of the Vrije Academie; and Jeroen Junte, editor-in-chief of Museumtijdschrift. The award will be presented on 7 October 2026 at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, where the ceremony will be combined with a visit to an exhibition by Yayoi Kusama and a closing reception.
