On show: ME/YOU, US/THEM

On show from 12 April 2024 until 30 June 2024 @droog. Book your slot for a guided tour around the exhibition (available every day at 13:00).

‘How to live together’ is a fundamental question of our human existence. Today we live in a reality more closely intertwined than ever, yet becoming more and more deeply divided. Not just because of the multitude of identities crowding our world, based on country, region, tribe, religion, culture, social class, or skin colour: not just because of ‘Us and Them’. Also because of ‘Me and You’: because we live in a world where people as individuals are increasingly unable to get along, from fighting their next-door neighbours to opposing anyone with a different opinion or background to the growing fear of strangers – of anyone who is other.

In this world, characterised by an unprecedented level of global connectivity, governments are reinforcing borders and building new walls and fences, while social and economic inequalities persist and grow. The exhibition ‘ME/YOU, US/THEM’ presents the work of artists, designers, and architects who explore the intricate knots of identity, the multitude of coexisting identities, the concepts of ‘me’ and ‘you’, ‘us’ and ‘them’, and how we do, or do not, get along.

The exhibition will examine the issue of ‘how to live together’ on a scale varying from the border politics of nation-states to the interactions of individuals. By valuing and embracing diversity, societies can unlock their potential for innovation, creativity, and social progress. Ultimately, it all starts with our willingness, or unwillingness, to live together in a world full of contradictions.

Truly living together involves recognizing that diversity is not merely to be tolerated, but to be celebrated.

Twenty international artists, designers and architects explore the notion of ME/YOU, US/THEM on various scales: from national border politics to migratory patterns in the natural world, and daily interactions between individuals. Danae Stratou’s installation ‘Cut 7’ documents the lives of people residing in regions marked by dividing lines, such as the Green Line in Cyprus and the border between Mexico and the USA. Shilpa Gupta’s flag made out of taped words reminds us that the sky has no borders, as does Desiree Dolron’s photographic tracking of the Monarch butterfly’s flight routes. Efrat Zehavi is slowly and surely building a body of work portraying a variety of individuals, sculpting their heads in clay while having a conversation with them.

Artworks by: Ariane Loze (BEL), Aukje Dekker & Sexyland (NLD), CATPC (DRC), Danae Stratou (GRC), Desirée Dolron (NLD), Edith Dekyndt (BEL), Efrat Zehavi (NLD), Erik Kessels & Droog Design with Hans van der Meer and Helmut Smits (NLD), Francis Alÿs (BEL/MEX), Garry Davis (USA), Heather Dewey-Hagborg (USA), JR (FRA), Marije Vogelzang (NLD), Martin Creed (GBR), Rael San Fratello architects (USA), Shilpa Gupta (IND), Sunny Dolat & The Nest Collective (KEN), Tania El Khoury (LBN), Theo Deutinger (AUT).

Exhibition Claudy Jongstra X See All This

Claudy Jongstra exclusively opens her archive for an exhibition in collaboration with art magazine See All This. Jongstra’s works go back two decades and offer a good overview of the artist’s extensive oeuvre. With samples and artworks made for various exhibitions around the world, this initiative is the way to get your hands on a unique artwork.

For one time only, leading up to International Women’s Day 2023, artist Claudy Jongstra will open her archive for a unique and festive exhibition. This exhibition will co-facilitate LOADS, the new extension of Studio Claudy Jongstra: an indispensable and dynamic place for educational and agricultural projects that encourage biodiversity and revive historical dye plants and craftsmanship.

About Claudy Jongstra

Claudy Jongstra creates monumental, tactile installations in shimmering colours. All materials used for her fabrics are locally sourced: the wool comes from Jongstra’s flock of Drentse heath sheep and the natural dyes come from the dye plants growing in the botanical garden surrounding the farm in the Frisian village of Húns. In her creative process, she reverts to centuries-old colour recipes and techniques. Her work is featured in the collections of museums such as the MoMA in New York, the V&A Museum in London and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.

Exhibition Olphaert den Otter: Reality Check

Reality Check is a solo exhibition by visual artist Olphaert den Otter (Poortugaal, 1955). The exhibition features 28 paintings in egg tempera on paper and canvas/panel, from the series World Stress Painting, Home Made, and Postcode. Most of these have never been shown before. They form a bridge between classical landscape painting and contemporary subject matter. This exhibition shows how beauty and engagement can reinforce each other.

Olphaert den Otter’s paintings are based on reality: a report or a photo in the newspaper, a spot in the woods, the meagre possessions of an unhoused person. Yet the works are not realistic. At will, Den Otter omits or adds details from the image. For instance, he consistently leaves out all the people: “There is no story. There is image.”

olphaert-den-otter-reality-check

ABOUT OLPHAERT DEN OTTER 

Olphaert den Otter (born 1955, Poortugaal) studied at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam. Den Otter’s career spans over 40 years as a visual artist, a painter, animator, and, in the past, teacher at various academies. His work is included in various museum collections including the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Centraal Museum Utrecht, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and Kunstmuseum Den Haag, Museum Belvédère Heerenveen. Den Otter participated in group exhibitions in the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, the UK, Belgium, and Australia. Besides his practice as a visual artist, he is a countertenor in the Rhetorical Quartet and lectures on cultural-philosophical themes. Olphaert den Otter lives and works in Rotterdam.


The exhibition Olphaert den Otter ­– Reality Check is on view from 10 November 2022 to 9 January 2023. 

For more info, click here

Exhibition Subject to Change Superflux

On view in the gallery@droog up until April 10th 2022.

Opening times:

mon – fri : 08:30 – 18:00

sat – sun : 11:00 – 18:00

Free entry!


Subject to Change is the first ever solo exhibition of London-based design studio Superflux. As a critically acclaimed, boundary-defying practice, Superflux confronts us with the complex and deeply interconnected nature of the challenges we face today. They invite us to remain open to a multitude of possibilities and navigate precarity with active hope. Their stories, films, objects, immersive installations and speculations craft new, optimistic, and enduring relationships with our planet, other species, technology, landscapes and each other.

Click here for more information

At MADE 2016 Droog is awarded ‘Designer do Ano’ (Designer of the Year)

From Screw to City

At the 4th Mercado Arte Design (MADE) in São Paulo (Brazil), Droog presents ‘From Screw to City’, showcasing that Droog explores for more than 23 years all dimensions of human life – from the smallest detail to the bigger picture – from screw to city!

At MADE 2016 Droog is awarded ‘Designer do Ano’ (Designer of the Year)

Mercado Arte Design (MADE) in São Paulo (Brazil)

Opening hours: Tuesday – Friday 13h – 21h
Saturday 12h – 21h
Sunday 12h – 20h

Location: Jockey Club de São Paulo – Av. Lineu de Paula Machado, 1.173 (vallet no numero 1.263) – Cidade Jardim, São Paulo, Brazil

Tuesday to Thursday
Free entrance

Friday to Sunday: R$ 20

For the elderly and students: R$ 10

Low-tech Factory at Hôtel Droog

What at first glance appears to be a rocking chair, turns out to be a knitting machine. And while you sit and rock on the chair, a knitted hat is created. As you do a little dance on a platform, an expandable carrying bag is made. Another spectacular machine makes popcorn—a single kernel at a time.

Low-Tech Factory is a project by ECAL/Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne, Switzerland. In a workshop led by Chris Kabel and Thomas Kral, students from Bachelor in Industrial Design and Master in Product Design created a series of simple but sophisticated machines that not only create an experience, but actually produce finished goods—hats, mirrors, bags, toys, lamps and popcorn.

With this project, the theme of auto-production is raised. Recently we have seen countless designers make their own machines. And while it often seems the machine becomes more important than the result, in this case, the design of the machine and its resulting product are in balance.

The exhibition presents six machines with videos. At the opening on March 21st, the designers will demonstrate the machines themselves. The question—why are designers making so many machines—still remains. With this question, we will enter into a debate on March 21st with Alexis Georgacopoulos, director of ECAL, Chris Kabel, Joanna van der Zanden and Joris Laarman. The evening will be moderated by Tracy Metz.

Opening exhibition and debate

Why are so many young designers making machines these days?
Where: Hôtel Droog
When: 21st of March
Start debate: 19.00
Opening exhibition: 20.00 – 22.00
RSVP click HERE

Special Low-Tech Dinner
Where: café and tearoom (upstairs at Hôtel Droog)
When: 27th of March
Time: 18.00 – 22.00
Price 3 course menu: 40euro (including a glass of cava – cocktail)
RSVP click HERE
(limited capacity)

Exhibition from March 21st till April 21st

Credits: Low-Tech Factory – Rocking-Knit

Photographer: ECAL/Nicolas Genta