Marilyn Sonneveld When The Sun Comes Up Kunsthal Light #30 8 July up to until 5 November 2023

For the thirtieth edition of Kunsthal Light, the artist #marilynsonneveld (Rotterdam, 1990) will be creating the work When the Sun Comes Up in the space behind the over twenty-five-meter-long display window of the Kunsthal. With this site-specific work, which consists of coloured glass panels and glass sculptures, Sonneveld is highlighting the interaction between the progression of time and the constantly changing light in the iconic HALL 6. In doing so she is symbolically referring to her pregnancy, a transformative period that apart from joy, has also brought her anxiety and insecurity.
The human body, which she explores in her oil paintings and glass sculptures, is a great source of inspiration for Sonneveld. When the Sun Comes Up is her first work to focus on her own body. In anticipation of her upcoming role as a mother, Sonneveld is more acutely aware than ever of the influence time has on her body, and is also confronted with traumatic events from her past. She conveys these emotions in drawings and paintings that form the point of departure for When the Sun Comes Up. Sonneveld uses the nine glass panels she created to, layer by layer, interweave depictions of the body. As if painting with glass she is portraying the intensity of her pregnancy and the mental and physical changes she is undergoing.

Multidisciplinary artist
Marilyn Sonneveld graduated from the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam. After her graduation, she developed and co-founded ‘wipsite’, with this website she wants to offer sex education in a factual, honest, and positive way. Over the past few years, Sonneveld has been developing a multidisciplinary artistic practice that includes installations, oil paintings, and glass sculptures. Sonneveld recently participated in the residency programme No Man's Art Pop-up Gallery in Mexico City, and exhibited her work at Unfair Amsterdam. Her work has also been shown in various international exhibitions and galleries, among other places in Lisbon and Madrid.

Kunsthal Light 
Kunsthal Light is the Kunsthal’s talent development programme. Since 2011, this exhibition programme has especially focused on young artists who are able to make a ‘broad gesture’ in an original and artistic way. To this end, three times a year the Kunsthal places HALL 6 (the over 25-meter-long display window along the ramp) at the disposal of an artist who is then given free rein to make a site-specific work.

Artists participating in earlier editions of Kunsthal Light were:
2023 Cindy Bakker, Dion Rosina
2022 Marlou Fernanda, Isa van Lier
2021 Marleen Sleeuwits, Mire Lee
2020 Sil Krol, Thomas Trum
2019 Said Kinos, Joris Strijbos
2018 Gijs van Lith, Nazif Lopulissa, Willem Besselink
2017 Ari Bayuaji
2016 Susanna Inglada, Inge Aanstoot, Pim Palsgraaf
2015 Myungsu Seo, Thera Clazing, Tim Hollander, Aura Rendón Benger
2014 Stefan Hoffmann
2013 Ruwedata & Ephameron
2012 Sam Peeters, Johan Boer, Niels Brozat
2011 Ben Merris, Nacho Simal, Susan Opperman

About Kunsthal Rotterdam 
Kunsthal Rotterdam is one of the leading cultural institutes in the Netherlands, situated in the Museumpark in Rotterdam. Designed by the renowned architect Rem Koolhaas in 1992, the Kunsthal has seven different exhibition spaces. The Kunsthal annually presents a varied programme consisting of around 23 exhibitions. As visitors are always able to see multiple concurrent exhibitions, the Kunsthal can offer them an adventurous journey through different continents and art movements. Culture for a wide audience, from modern-day masters and #contemporaryart to obscure cultures, photography, fashion, and design. An extensive programme of activities is organised to accompany the exhibitions.