If we recently talked about the best coffee shops in Amsterdam, today we want to refer to the Moco Museum! Are you coming to surf among pop art and street art exhibitions? 😉
Despite the number of museums in Amsterdam, including the famous Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum, the city of canals had yet to find an art temple aimed at a younger, more creative and, above all, contemporary public. Or at least that is what Lionel and Kim Logchies, the owners of the Lionel Gallery in the famous Spiegelkwartier museum, thought. Two art experts who, after working with such stars of the contemporary art scene as Koons, Hirst and Haring, decided to draw on their network of contacts to open the Moco Museum, an independent modern and contemporary art museum that was opened to the public at the beginning of 2016 on the Museum Square.
Housed in a 1904 building designed by Eduard Cuypers, grandson of Pierre Cuypers, designer of Amsterdam’s Central Station, the Moco Museum Modern Contemporary Museum aims to be a window to a different kind of art that until then remained hidden in the private galleries of those who decided to contribute to this new project and, in the process, donate all the profits to charitable organizations, making it a most inspiring initiative.
But what is even more inspiring is the wide range of art that the museum contains, based on the so-called “Rock & Roll Stars of Art” such as Andy Warhol, the pop art wizard whose famous painting Marilyn “inaugurated” the museum during the first months of its opening, or Banksy, the famous urban artist who marked the walls of London revolutionizing the world.
Located on Museumplein, the Moco is a space where it doesn’t matter how old a painting is or to which monarch a tablecloth belonged. Here the art is new, adapted to the concerns of the 20th century, so well portrayed by street artists who knew how to touch the public’s heartstrings through art and dared to challenge society.
One of the best examples of this art is Banksy, an artist whose works can be seen at the Moco since it opened more than two years ago. The pseudonym of an artist whose name nobody knows yet emerged at the end of the 80s when the boom of aerosol on the urban scene in London translated into different designs painted on the walls of its neighborhoods.
Examples such as the famous design of a girl in front of a heart-shaped balloon or a terrorist throwing flowers instead of bombs remain for posterity. An art that transcended into much more ambitious projects exported to the rest of the world and even a hotel located opposite the Gaza Strip where Banksy encourages troubled young people to improve themselves thanks to the color and new ideas.
In the Moco Museum, we can find a large Banksy gallery headed by the famous “Beanfield”, in which a squad of policemen appear running through a plain of daisies in a mannered position. This work was followed by others such as “Girl with Balloon”, “Monkey Queen”, “Pulp Fiction” and “Kids on Guns”.
Other artists currently on display in the gallery include the duo Icy & Shot, two brothers of Iranian origin considered to be “the Banksy of the Middle East” and whose work has caused a stir in conservative Muslim countries.
The works of this tandem have been displayed over the last few years around the cities of Iran denouncing oppression, poverty and child abuse in the form of women in burkas, children digging through rubbish and rainbows illuminating gloomy atmospheres. After moving to New York, where their art caused a furor among urban art lovers, Icy & Sot have continued to spread their ideas around the world, sharing an exhibition with Banksy.
Both Banksy and Icy & Shot are the artists currently present in Moco where art devours all its contours and its coquettish garden is a creative space full of light and fantasy.
The Moco Museum is open every day from 10:00 to 18:00 hours from Sunday to Thursday, and from 10:00 to 19:00 hours on Fridays and Saturdays.
Although we recommend you buy your tickets in advance, you can also get them at the ticket office at the following prices:
The museum is located on Museumplein, also known as Museum Square in Villa Alsberg, so you’ll probably come across it while strolling around the area. If you prefer to go directly to the museum, you can take tram lines 2 and 5, which stop at Museumplein.
The Moco Museum may not yet have achieved the fame of Amsterdam’s other major museums, but that is precisely the best reason to get ahead of the crowds and explore its corners calmly and contemplatively. Because art, as well as transporting us through history and allowing us to get to know the world better, also serves to educate new generations who will find the works of Banksy or Ice & Shot one of the most stimulating sources of inspiration when they pass through the city of canals.
Would you like to visit the Moco Museum? It’s worth it!
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