Fenix Museum, Rotterdam (Part I)

I once asked a friend, somewhat facetiously, about what might happen if all museums ceased to exist tomorrow; in fairness, this predated Trump's systematic defunding of galleries and museums, decrying them as 'woke'. Needless to say, this is not what I meant. In my experience of visiting museums, I have found them to be placid, often sterile places, with an unignorably stagnant atmosphere. Maybe it is the 'best intentions' upon which these institutions are striving in the twenty-first century that keep them stagnant. A need to refrain from rocking the boat in order to keep funding. My question was ultimately: who are museums for? Who do they speak to? What, or who, are they afraid of? Do they hold any real influence?

Enter stage right: the Fenix Museum in Rotterdam. I would argue that a museum has never been more urgently needed than this, here and now. Fenix prides itself on being Europe's first art museum dedicated to migration. Despite being a reality for large swathes of people for millennia, it is an especially contentious topic at the moment, with wilful misunderstandings and scapegoating taking place at every turn. In true institutional style, the urge to engage in political arguments around migration is one that the Fenix does not succumb to, and yet, by keeping personal stories and perspectives at the heart of the exhibited artworks, we find that the museum's subject matter is surprisingly gentle, and most importantly refuses to demonise those who make the choice (or non-choice) to migrate. In real-life conversation about migration, sitting on the fence does not really work, but people are not museums and museums are not people, and Fenix does an excellent job of telling stories of migration directly through the eyes and hands of artists. I don't think it's especially noble to refute a directly political narrative around migration, but at the same time, I found that the museum's centering of individual stories and feelings was entirely refreshing.

Interior shot of Fenix, Rotterdam, including the museum shop in the background. Courtesy of the museum. Photo: Iwan Baan.

The fact that the bombing of Rotterdam in the Second World War utterly devastated and reshaped the entire city is a crucial part of the placement of Fenix. As the second largest city in the Netherlands, Rotterdam is a wonderfully diverse city, with stories of migration flowing all the way through it. Could the concept of Fenix work in London, Paris or New York? Given recent drastic shifts in right-wing mobilising, all bets are off. (While it is worth noting that there is a Migration Museum in London, Musée National de l'Histoire de l'Immigration in Paris, and the Tenement Museum and Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration both in New York City, Fenix specialises in the art of migration and migrants, rather than its histories)

Exterior shot of Fenix, Rotterdam. Image courtesy of the museum. Photo: Iwan Baan.

Designed by MAD Architects, the spectacle of the museum's Tornado immersive sculptural element will surely draw additional visitors to the space. Embedded within the local industrial area, Fenix is situated with a perfect view over the River Maas, and lies inside the Fenix warehouse, which was a significant shipping point for goods and migrants travelling to the USA. The marriage of a compelling, visually cutting-edge architectural feature with an original site that is full of the histories the museum purports to tell, is certainly a good start. 

The Tornado feature and observation deck is immersive in that visitors can journey up and around the shape, which is at once slick and disorienting. Luring visitors in through a contemporary design before psychologically bewildering them is dazzling. The feature is minorly reminiscent of complex journeys often taken when migrating, but is also a literal mirroring of the visitor's image in the stainless steel is incredibly well executed. This is a clear reminder of the humanity of people migrating across the world, and is reflected again in the content of the museum and its exhibitions. Although Fenix is aesthetically satisfying and open, the aforementioned focus on individual storytelling around the theme of migration ensures that the messages are not glossed over, fetishised, or commodified (much). 

The Tornado element at Fenix, Rotterdam. Image courtesy of the museum. Photo by Iwan Baan.

The interior of the museum is contemporary with a clean and open design, allowing the Tornado to storm through the centre of the building, and the stories to weave and cling to the visitors as they comfortably flow between gallery and leisure spaces. In keeping an apolitical stance on migration, if that is even possible (perhaps time will tell), Fenix are permitting visitors to hear new perspectives, view meaningful artworks, and learn about lived experiences that will invariably be different from their own, regardless of their own migration status. Fenix only opened to the public in May 2025, so it is likely that it will sweep many architectural awards in the year to come. 

I will be compiling a Part II of my recollections from the museum, which will take a deeper dive into the All Directions exhibition, which hosts an array of modern and contemporary international artists working to different degrees with the theme of migration.