Fashion and porcelain…..

The Groningen Museum may be controversial on the outside. On the inside – collection and exhibitions – are not within the beaten track either. The policy of the Groningen museum considering the collection and exhibitions targets the borderland between art, design and fashion (photography). There is an outstanding collection of fashion and Chinese porcelain.

One floor down (the floors in the main block are empty – money trouble), along a turning staircase covered with colorful tiles, is a fantastic exhibition: Azzedine Alaïa in the 21st Century 

The Tunesian born Azzedine Alaïa, also named “the King of Cling” is one of the last active great, and "haute", couturiers.

The exhibition shows a choice of gowns, dresses, coats. His creations are worn by all sorts of celebrities (like Michelle Obama or Lady Gaga). 

The rooms in the Mendini pavilion are perfect in their coloring and lighting. The fantastic display is a joy to look at. Even though you know will never fit into these masterpieces….

On the same floor we pass a sculpture of stools by Ai Wei Wei.

In the information center we see more work of Ai Wei Wei. His famous porcelain watermelons rest in their special cupboards.

 

Vases are all around. Everything multiplied by mirrors. The information center sure is my favourite place in the museum. 

It is nice to see the contemporary porcelain of Ai Wei Wei and Studio Job and then go upstairs in the Philip Starck pavilion to the exposition of antique Chinese (green) porcelain. The “Green Family” (Famille Verte). It is a special kind of Chinese porcelain with green as main color. There are pieces brought together from many different Dutch museums.

The space, full of glass sheets and swishy white curtains, gives full credits to the porcelain objects.  

An architectural cluster ……

Welcome to Groningen a city in the most northern part of the Netherlands. They have this cheeky slogan “Nothing goes over Groningen”. In Dutch this has two meanings: Nothing is as good as Groningen or there is nothing north of Groningen; referring to the fact that the country ends there in the sea.




Coming out of the main train station you see the Groninger Museum right in front of you on a small island in the “Verbindingskanaal” (Connecting canal). There is a blue gate to a bridge. 

What you see is a cluster of “buildings”. From some angles it looks like a ship, from others an Egyptian temple,or a round Roman tomb.  

Not surprisingly this cluster was build by a cluster of different architects: 

Alessandro Mendini  

Philip Starck  The round building made me think of the tomb of Caecilia Metella on the Via Appia in Rome. 

The group Coop Himmelb(l)au  

This group is responsible for the “treehouses” clinging on to the corners of the “ship”. Inside the “Treehouses” are even more fantastic. At the moment the large space on the top floor of the museum is completely empty.

Of course a controversial design like this, in an old city, means years of discussions and debates before you can even start building. Finally in 1994 is opened its doors to the public.

After the long trip by train “up north” the best thing is to go straight to the restaurant. The surprising furniture – look at the beautiful red lamps and the high chair for children - is by the Dutch designer Maarten Baas.

The museum was “revitalized” (as they call it) in 2010. They completely replaced the tiles on the outside. Compare the earlier picture (1996) of the tiles. 

I didn’t notice it at first, but they are indeed different. The top one is the old design, the bottom one the new

And yes, the information centre designed by the Spanish designer Jaime Hayon is gorgeous. It is an upside down mirror world where the porcelain watermelons of Ai Wei Wei shine in their cupboards. 

Information about the Groningen Museum building