RE:FWD

What does a hopeful future look like in today’s fractured world? How can we use art to imagine futures that are grounded in both the complexities of our present and the lessons of the past?

RE: FWD - A Reply to the Present, A Forward to Us All invites you to envision a hopeful future by reconsidering hope—not as a distant, abstract ideal, but as an active process. This exhibition brings together artists whose works reflect on the challenges we face and offer speculative visions of what could be. Through soundscapes, installations, films, and performances, the exhibition explores themes of grief, resilience, and possibility. Each hall begins with a thread, where questions are posed, and artists respond through their works.

Time weaves throughout the exhibition in unexpected ways. Works move fluidly between past, present, and future, questioning the linear narrative of progress. By looking back, we mourn and celebrate. By grounding ourselves in the present, we ask urgent questions about collective action. And by looking ahead, the artists embrace both the messiness and the hope of imagining what is to come.

At its heart, the exhibition reflects on the interplay between internal and external worlds. Hope can be personal, tied to our emotions and inner struggles. It also connects us to broader societal and environmental realities. The works in RE: FWD challenge us to see a hopeful future as both intimate and expansive, an act of reflection and collective transformation.

As you walk through the exhibition, you’ll find works offering a glimpse of what it means to envision a future built on action and imagination. In this journey, hope becomes not a fixed destination but an ever-evolving process. One that asks for your participation. 

With RE: FWD, we invite you to reflect, question, and imagine a world where hope is both a practice and a call to action.

This exhibition includes works from Ahmad Mallah & Rebecca Lillich-Kruger, Augustina Lavickaite, Charmaine de Heij, Clinton Kabena, Cristal De La Cruz, Daeun Lim, Elena Zecchin, Ellen Yiu, Emmy van de Grift, Hodan Omar Elmi, Karmel Sabri, Lorena Rode, Marc Paulusma, Marian Genet, Riangelo Yannick Christie, SasaHara Ghanem-Chaney, Simon Pillaud, Yang-ha, Chongjin Chen & Qiaochu Guo

Curation was done by Caithling Chong, Mees van Zanten & Thierno Deme. 

This exhibition is co-produced by the Bijbels Museum, Kunstlinie & NDSM Fuse with financial support from Vermeulen Brauckman, Mondriaan Fonds, Stichting Zabawas, BeamSystems, Predikfonds Haarlem, Vrijzinnige Fondsen, Stichting de Zaaier, Cultuurfonds Flevoland, Cultuurfonds Noord-Holland, Iona Stichting, Gravin van Bylandt

Kunstlinie

Fotos by  Koen van der Lee

Opening Kunstlinie

fotos door: Micklin Korsuize