Exhibiting the art of the future, today. Nxt Museum fuses new technologies with art, science and sound. Activating your body, engaging your mind. It is the first museum dedicated to new media in the Netherlands. We talk with Natasha Greenhalgh, co-founder of this multi-sensory museum. About why she started this museum - together with co-founder and friend Merel van Helsdingen. About the power of art - specifically the art of the future - and what’s next.
‘We focus on art that uses modern tools to embody modern times.’
Natasha Greenhalgh and Merel van Helsdingen. A fierce female duo - creative and entrepreneurial. Natasha, British, studied Spatial Design at the Chelsea College of Art, and has been residing in the Netherlands since 2014. Merel van Helsdingen, Dutch, studied marketing, media and culture, and worked in London for several years. They met at PVH Europe in Amsterdam, one of the world’s largest and most admired fashion companies.
Goal: to create a dedicated space to share and raise awareness around new media art. How it enhances the way we live. How it impacts our behaviour.
The power of art
Natasha is a true believer in the power of art. ‘Art is for everybody. It unites and connects. It allows us to question and understand, to voice and to share. It brings people together, and allows us to understand what it means to be human.
Nxt Museum is a space where everybody is welcome. A multi-sensory space where technology and emotion come together. Visitors are invited to engage and interact physically, conceptually and emotionally with the art. A home dedicated to new media art. New media being a broad term. We’re talking about new media of today and the future. Exploring the tools of today, but also the tools of the future. What’s next?’
Nxt Museum in a nutshell
It is almost impossible to describe Nxt Museum in a few words. Nxt Museum is a valhalla of immersive installations, exhibitions and live performances. They also offer public and educational programmes. Sharing and exploring the potential of new technologies, but also the challenges and dangers - on a social and political level. Every exhibition, every theme, every event has a strong narrative and theme - an intention.
For example, the Zoom Pavilion. An interactive video installation that raises awareness around the continuous surveillance in the world of today. Using facial recognition, blob tracking and subtraction algorithms. An ecosystem of 12 cameras track and categorise the people in the room based on their proximity, projecting them onto life-sized screens.
The museum is an immersive and interactive exhibition space, covering 2100 square metres, also including Nxt Lab. Nxt Lab is a space for education, research and development, and home to the artist residency programme. Giving new artists a platform where they can test and learn at the same time.
There is also a platform for innovative performances and audio-visual art: Nxt Stage - with a large wall and floor projection surface - where you can submerge yourself in digital sound and vision. The Rewire Sessions and ADE Air were staged here: a serene mix of sound, digital art and movements - to truly connect with your body.
The future
‘I’m obsessed with what is next, with the future.’
Nxt Museum opened right in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, and like all other museums, they had to close for long periods of time. However, Natasha and her team never stopped. Always looking for new ideas and ways - new technologies - to get around this. A time to think ahead. About new exhibitions, educational programmes, blogs etc. About how to keep connecting people. Sharing and transferring knowledge.
‘I personally want to explore more meaningful ways to connect the physical and digital. To find a more seamless and intuitive fusion between the two. To break out of and go beyond the confines of screens to activate our bodies and bring people together.
In this increasingly technological world, it is more important than ever that we take the time to understand what it means to be human. Use technology (and art) to celebrate and enhance our intrinsic attributes.
I am endlessly inspired by the creative opportunities of technology, and the powerful ways in which it can unite and connect. It enhances our understanding of the world. But we must not allow ourselves to be passively seduced (or numbed) by technology. It is equally important to research and show the threats: how it is also used to divide, monitor and control us.
Technology, and art, should be for the many, not the few. This is why it is so important to improve both tech literacy and access. To make space to question, debate, test and fail. Supporting young creators, developers and researchers. And that we innovate in ways that empowers individuals, unites communities, and enriches and inspires our minds. That’s our mission at Nxt.’
Natasha’s enthusiasm and passion are contagious. The best ambassador of Nxt Museum and its art of the future. We wanted to share her enthusiasm, vision and ideas. However, the only way to truly experience what she and her team represent and want to achieve, is to experience it for yourself. Nxt Museum is open every day from 10:00. Asterweg 22, 1031 HP Amsterdam. Book your tickets online.