ARTZUID

ARTZUID is the Netherlands’ leading sculpture biennial, and for four months every other year it turns the leafy avenues of Amsterdam-Zuid into a free open-air museum. The next edition, the tenth, runs from May to September 2028 along a five-kilometre route on Minervalaan, Apollolaan and Churchilllaan.

What ARTZUID is

ARTZUID is a sculpture biennial organised by the Art Zuid Foundation, which has staged it since 2008 in Amsterdam’s southern districts. Each edition places roughly 50 museum-quality sculptures outdoors for four months, along the green central strips of Hendrik Petrus Berlage’s monumental Plan Zuid. The foundation’s stated mission is to create a meeting place on the street and make art accessible to everyone free of charge.

The format is unusual even by international standards. Former Stedelijk Museum director Rudi Fuchs, who curated an earlier edition, has said he knows of no other biennial devoted exclusively to outdoor sculpture. A different curator is commissioned each time, and past selections have been made by Fuchs, Henk van Os, Jan Cremer, Jhim Lamoree, Maarten Bertheux, Jasper Krabbé and others.

The practical consequence for visitors is that there is no gate, no ticket and no closing time. The sculptures stand in public space, so you can walk the route at seven in the morning or ten at night, in either direction, for as long as you like.

When the next edition takes place

ARTZUID 2028 runs from May to September 2028. That is one year later than originally announced. The foundation postponed the tenth edition because of construction work on the exhibition grounds along Minervalaan and Apollolaan, which means the biennial skips 2027 entirely.

Exact opening and closing dates, the 2028 curator and the artist list had not been published at the time of writing. If you are planning a trip around the exhibition, check the official ARTZUID site before booking anything, and treat May and September 2028 as the outer edges of the window rather than confirmed dates.

If you are visiting Amsterdam before 2028

The sculptures are removed between editions, so there is no ARTZUID route to walk in the meantime. Two things do continue year-round, and both are worth knowing about:

• The 2025 audio tour app. ARTZUID released a free app covering all 94 sculptures from the ninth edition, with photographs and spoken commentary by an art historian in both Dutch and English. It is available on the App Store and Google Play, and it is the closest thing to a visit while the streets are empty.
• ART CAMP. The children’s art camp runs during every Dutch school holiday regardless of whether an exhibition is on, Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., for ages 5 to 12. Lessons are given in Dutch and English.

The Plan Zuid architecture that gives ARTZUID its setting is also permanent. Walking Minervalaan and Apollolaan in an off year still gives you Berlage’s street plan, the 1920s and 1930s brickwork and the long green sightlines that make the sculptures work so well when they arrive.

Visitor essentials at a glance

Detail	Information
Next edition	ARTZUID 2028, May to September 2028 (10th edition)
Admission	Free, 24 hours a day
Route	Approximately 5 km along Minervalaan, Apollolaan and Churchilllaan
Works on display	Around 50 sculptures in the standard format; the 2025 edition showed 94
Starting point	ARTZUID Information Pavilion, on the grass strip opposite Minervalaan 1
Pavilion hours	Daily 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. during the exhibition
Guided tours	Saturdays and Sundays at 1 p.m., in Dutch, about 1 hour 15 minutes
Street parking	€6.50 per hour on Apollolaan and Minervalaan
Toilets	Available at the nearby Hilton Amsterdam

What the 2025 edition looked like

The ninth edition, ARTZUID 2025, ran from 21 May to 21 September 2025 under the title Enlightenment. Art historian and cultural entrepreneur Ralph Keuning curated it around Amsterdam’s 750th anniversary, using the theme to reflect on the city’s traditions of freedom and tolerance and on the contrast between eighteenth-century faith in progress and the colonial history running alongside it.

Keuning brought together more than 60 Dutch and international artists. The roster included Ai Weiwei, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Alicja Kwade, Jaume Plensa, Yoshitomo Nara, David Nash, Tony Cragg, Neo Rauch, Leiko Ikemura, Arlene Shechet, Rachel Harrison, Gavin Turk, Atelier van Lieshout, Armando and Shinkichi Tajiri, shown alongside emerging Dutch names such as Bart Lunenburg, Britte Koolen and Isa van Lier.

That mix is the pattern to expect in 2028: internationally collected sculptors placed on the same lawns as recent graduates, with no hierarchy in how the works are presented. It is also why the exhibition rewards a slow walk. A Plensa head and a first-time exhibitor’s piece get the same grass, the same trees and the same passing traffic.

How to reach the route

The exhibition starts at the ARTZUID Information Pavilion, on the green strip opposite Minervalaan 1 in Amsterdam-Zuid. The pavilion hands out route maps, sells the catalogue and merchandise, serves drinks and snacks, and is the assembly point for every tour. It also has free WiFi if you want to download the app on arrival.

• From Amsterdam Zuid station: take the Zuidplein exit, walk north towards Minervalaan and continue to the end of the street. It is about 1.2 km, or a 10-minute walk.
• From Amsterdam Centraal: take the Noord/Zuidlijn metro to Amsterdam Zuid and follow the directions above, roughly 28 minutes in total.
• By tram: tram 24 towards VU Medisch Centrum or tram 5 towards Amstelveen Stadshart, getting off at Minervaplein and walking 400 metres north along Minervalaan.
• From Schiphol: take a direct train to Amsterdam Zuid, which is a short ride, then walk from Zuidplein as above.
• By car: leave the A10 at exit s109 towards RAI and set Minervalaan 1 as your destination. Street parking on Apollolaan and Minervalaan costs €6.50 per hour, so a leisurely three-hour visit runs to about €20.
• By bike: the route is flat, the avenues have wide cycle paths, and locking up at any point along the five kilometres is straightforward. Cycling also lets you cover Churchilllaan and the Apollolaan stretch in one outing without doubling back.

Tours, families and the wider programme

Guided tours

During the exhibition, an entry tour leaves the Information Pavilion every Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m. An art historian leads it, it lasts about 1 hour and 15 minutes, and groups are capped at 15 people. Arrive 15 minutes early to check in at the desk.

One caveat that trips up international visitors: the standard weekend tours are in Dutch. Guides can usually handle questions in English, and ARTZUID will arrange a private English-language tour for your own group on a day and time you choose if you request it by email in advance. If you do not speak Dutch and want the commentary, the app is the better option.

Visiting with children

ART CAMP takes children aged 5 to 12 for a full week during school holidays, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., working through themed assignments with different techniques and materials. Sessions are taught in Dutch and English, which makes it workable for visiting families. There is also a children’s route with assignments for school groups, and ARTZUID runs arts and crafts birthday parties at Buurthuis Lydia community centre on Saturday afternoons and Sunday mornings.

The camp calendar is published well ahead. Recent scheduled weeks include the October 2026 autumn holiday, February and May 2027 holidays, and six consecutive summer weeks in July and August 2027, none of which coincide with an exhibition.

Events and talks

Alongside the sculptures, ARTZUID programmes artist talks, courses and hands-on workshops, most of them based at the Information Pavilion. The programme changes across the four months, so the events page is worth checking close to your visit rather than months out.

Planning a visit that works

Because the route is five kilometres of open street, the difference between an enjoyable visit and a slog comes down to timing and pacing rather than tickets.

• Allow two to three hours. That is a realistic pace for the full route with stops, and roughly what a 1 hour 15 minute highlights tour plus independent wandering adds up to.
• Go early or late for photographs. Free 24-hour access is the exhibition’s practical advantage. Low sun on the avenues in the first and last hours of daylight does far more for large sculpture than flat midday light, and the lawns are close to empty.
• Prefer late May, early June or September. The shoulder weeks avoid the July and August crush in Amsterdam while the exhibition is fully installed, and September usually holds reasonable weather.
• Start at the pavilion, not mid-route. Picking up the printed route map first saves backtracking, and the pavilion is where the catalogue, toilets nearby, drinks and WiFi are.
• Dress for changeable coastal weather. There is very little shelter along the avenues. Layers and a compact umbrella cost you nothing to carry.
• Split the route if you are with young children. Minervalaan to the pavilion in one visit and Apollolaan or Churchilllaan in another is easier than five kilometres in one push, and re-entry is free.
• Do not climb on the works. These are loaned pieces by collected artists installed without barriers, and the foundation’s access model depends on visitors treating them carefully.
• Build in a break. Amsterdam-Zuid has cafés along and just off the route, and Beatrixpark sits close to the Zuidas end if you would rather picnic than sit down indoors.

Frequently asked questions