Alessandro Mendini, Tea & coffee piazza, 1983, Photo: Groninger Museum; Photo John Stoel
Alessandro Mendini, Tea & coffee piazza, 1983, Photo: Groninger Museum; Photo John Stoel
Nicole Wermers, Reclining Female #2, 2022 © Nicole Wermers. Courtesy of the artist and Herald St, London & Bologna. Photo by Andy Keate.
Nicole Wermers, Reclining Female #2, 2022 © Nicole Wermers. Courtesy of the artist and Herald St, London & Bologna. Photo by Andy Keate.
Zaha Hadid, A box of Ideas, 1990, Groninger Museum; Photo Heinz Aebi
Zaha Hadid, A box of Ideas, 1990, Groninger Museum; Photo Heinz Aebi
Elisabeth Wild, Untitled, n.d. Courtesy of the Estate of Elisabeth Wild and Karma International, Zurich.
Elisabeth Wild, Untitled, n.d. Courtesy of the Estate of Elisabeth Wild and Karma International, Zurich.

19 September 2026 – 9 May 2027

Artists

  • Sol Calero
  • Maurice van Es
  • Núria Fuster
  • Zaha Hadid
  • Alison Knowles
  • Adam Linder
  • Matthew Lutz-Kinoy & Natsuko Uchino
  • Alessandro Mendini
  • Michael Pfrommer
  • Joanna Piotrowska
  • Alida Pott
  • Margaret Raspé
  • Katie Schwab & Simon Worthington
  • sophie serber
  • Frances Stark
  • Kathrin Sonntag
  • Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum
  • Vivian Suter
  • Mierle Laderman Ukeles
  • Evelyn Taocheng Wang
  • Nicole Wermers
  • Elisabeth Wild

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

Who gets to design ‘the house’ and who takes care of it? This international group exhibition brings together contemporary artists who are making work about the realities of maintaining their artistic practice when the tasks of everyday life need to happen too. These works deal with care, scale, collectivity, visibility, repetition, domesticity, unlearning, what counts as ‘work' or an artwork. 

The title of this exhibition is taken from artist Frances Stark’s 1999 publication, ‘The Architect & The Housewife’, in which she introduces the characters of ‘the architect’ and ‘the housewife’ to explore power dynamics in art and life. Over a quarter of a century later, Frances Stark’s concerns are still strikingly relevant. For, amid the big concerns of our age, the dinner still has to be cooked and the laundry still needs to be done.

The Architect & The Housewife: Cleaning the House, Building the Future marks the start of a process of examining the site, history and collection of Groninger Museum with open curiosity, starting with its iconic postmodern building. With this new chapter, the museum looks backwards and forwards. It reconnects with this building’s visionary spirit and the experimental approach of Groninger Museum in the 1990s, and makes space for the urgent questions of the twenty-first century: Back to the future!

Joanna Piotrowska, Untitled (2024). Courtesy the artist and Phillida Reid, London.
Joanna Piotrowska, Untitled (2024). Courtesy the artist and Phillida Reid, London.
Sol Calero, "La Escuela del Sur", 2015, Photo: Roberto Ruiz, Courtesy of Sol Calero, Berlin and Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo (CA2M), Móstoles, Madrid and ChertLüdde, Berlin
Sol Calero, "La Escuela del Sur", 2015, Photo: Roberto Ruiz, Courtesy of Sol Calero, Berlin and Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo (CA2M), Móstoles, Madrid and ChertLüdde, Berlin
Vivian Suter, Untitled, n.d. Courtesy of the artist and Karma International, Zurich. Photo credit Flavio Karrer.
Vivian Suter, Untitled, n.d. Courtesy of the artist and Karma International, Zurich. Photo credit Flavio Karrer.
Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Washing / Tracks / Maintenance: Outside, 1973, Part of Maintenance Art performance series, 1973-1974, Performance at Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT © Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Courtesy the artist and Ronald Feldman Gallery, New York
Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Washing / Tracks / Maintenance: Outside, 1973, Part of Maintenance Art performance series, 1973-1974, Performance at Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT © Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Courtesy the artist and Ronald Feldman Gallery, New York

Curators

Roos Gortzak and Clare Molloy

Pavilions

Mendini (0)
Coop Himmelb(l)au

With thanks to the exhibition partners

Mondriaan Fonds
Het Cultuurfonds
Emmaplein Foundation
Stichting Gravin van Bylandt
Roode of Burgerweeshuis
Vereniging Vrienden van het Groninger Museum

With thanks to our main partners

Gemeente Groningen
Provincie Groningen 
Ministerie van OCW
VriendenLoterij 
Gasunie
Stichting Beringer Hazewinkel
Vereniging Rembrandt
Groninger Museum Salon

Would you like to visit the exhibition 'The Architect & The Housewife: Cleaning the House, Building the Future'? Prepare for your visit by ordering your tickets online, and planning your trip to the museum. Also check out all the other exhibitions and events you will experience during your visit. We look forward to welcoming you at Groninger Museum.

Groninger Museum