HAPPENING 11-13 SEP 2026 | Big Art Rotterdam will fill the former Codrico factory on Katendrecht with more than 100 large-scale artworks from Friday 11 to Sunday 13 September. The three-day pop-up art fair gives you a rare chance to enter the national monument during Open Monumentendag weekend and explore monumental art inside its industrial halls and beside the Rijnhaven.
Image: Art installation by Roos Schneijderberg. Photo: Jan Willem Kaldenbach
The factory was closed to the public for years and remained in operation until recently. Big Art will temporarily bring its raw rooms, silos and waterfront grounds back to life with painting, sculpture, photography, textiles, video, light art and installations by established artists and emerging talent. Big Art is not a standard art fair. Each edition adapts to the building it occupies, with the architecture shaping how the works are seen.
More than 100 XL works
Several artists are making their Big Art debut in Rotterdam. Oona Frost presents an enormous inflatable sea creature, Prince Nicolas brings narrative figurative paintings and SAZZA shows confrontational sculptures. Chung Hsi Han contributes large charcoal drawings, while studio mo man tai is building a monumental gateway on the outdoor grounds.
The new names also include Yip Stals with a playful installation and Tilmann Meyer-Faje with ceramic tanks. Rademakers Gallery presents work by Mila Lanfermeijer, Rotterdam gallery NLISUS brings an interactive installation by Dre Wapenaar and Madelon Uljee joins the event through ROOT Gallery.
Do you run a business? RotterdamStyle is looking for a main sponsor. Get exclusive visibility across our website for a fixed fee. Interested? Contact us 🤝
Big Art lands in Rotterdam
This is the first Rotterdam edition of Big Art and the platform’s 12th edition overall. Since 2016, the event has occupied a different large building each year, giving artists room to present works that would struggle to fit inside a conventional gallery.
Big Art was founded by cultural entrepreneur Anne van der Zwaag, who also directs Rotterdam design fair OBJECT. After eleven editions in and around Amsterdam, the move to Katendrecht places the fair inside a city and building with a suitably ambitious relationship to scale, industry and reinvention.
Codrico factory is located in Rijnhaven, Rotterdam. Photo: Sebastian van Damme
Do you run a business? RotterdamStyle is looking for a main sponsor. Get exclusive visibility across our website for a fixed fee. Interested? Contact us 🤝
Artists respond to Codrico
Many participants are creating work that responds directly to the character and history of the factory. Margré Steensma is placing an indoor garden inside the industrial interior, Jakob van Klinken is building a functioning machine and Martijntje Cornelia presents a spatial installation concerned with decay. Michael Bom contributes a kinetic work based on mechanical movement.
Photographer Reinier Gerritsen responds to the new city beach planned beside the Rijnhaven with a metre-scale photo book. Said Kinos and ROOT Gallery will create a large mural on site, allowing the building, its harbour setting and the artworks to become part of the same experience rather than serving as a polite background.
Do you run a business? RotterdamStyle is looking for a main sponsor. Get exclusive visibility across our website for a fixed fee. Interested? Contact us 🤝
Returning participants include Clifton Mahangoe, Daniel Samama, Hotegni Dansou, Gijs van Poecke, Sarah Reinbold and Erik Buijs. Joyce Overheul returns with Art Gallery O-68, adding to a programme that brings independent artists and galleries together under one very large roof.
All works at Big Art are available to buy. The platform works directly with its participating artists and galleries, with the full proceeds from sales going to the participants.
Large painting by Majinggol & de Boer. Photo: Jan Willem Kaldenbach
New life on Katendrecht
The timing also matters because the Codrico site itself is entering a new phase. Now that factory activities have stopped, RED Company will transform the area into a new quarter on Katendrecht. Architect and developer Nanne de Ru says: “Codrico is an industrial enclave that will soon be redeveloped into a wonderful place to live and work. We are very pleased that Big Art is already showing the potential of the place.”
The redevelopment plans include homes, offices, shops, a hotel, hospitality venues, and cultural activities. The monumental character of the factory will remain part of the site’s identity.
For Rotterdam, the location sits in a particularly visible spot between FENIX and the Nederlands Fotomuseum. That places Big Art right in the middle of a part of the city where harbour heritage, culture and new urban life are already rubbing shoulders.
Do you run a business? RotterdamStyle is looking for a main sponsor. Get exclusive visibility across our website for a fixed fee. Interested? Contact us 🤝
Room-filling graphical work by Ran Kunst. Photo: Almicheal Fraay
A rare look inside
The event coincides with Open Monumentendag, making the building itself almost as compelling as the art. Special guides will share more about the history of the Codrico site and its planned future, while visitors can explore spaces that were inaccessible when the flour factory was still operating.
The site sits on the Rijnhaven between Fenix and the new Nederlands Fotomuseum. RED Company plans to redevelop this part of Katendrecht into a mixed urban district with homes, workplaces, hospitality and cultural spaces, making Big Art a temporary look inside the old factory before the area enters its next phase.
Video installation by Viktoria Kova - VK Gallery. Photo: DavId van der Horst
Big Art Rotterdam details
Big Art Rotterdam (2026) runs from Friday 11 to Sunday 13 September 2026 and is open daily from 11:00 to 18:00. Last admission is at 17:30. Regular tickets cost €16.50, student tickets cost €12.50 with valid identification and visitors aged 16 and under enter free.
Tickets are available online and at the entrance, although booking online should help you avoid the queue. Coffee, tea, drinks and small bites will be available at the factory. Only the ground floor is wheelchair-accessible, and the organiser states that visitors with disabilities enter free. Dogs are not permitted, except assistance dogs.
Tickets and current visitor information: https://bigart.nu/bezoek.html
Website: https://www.bigart.nu/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bigart.nu/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bigartnl
Do you run a business? RotterdamStyle is looking for a main sponsor. Get exclusive visibility across our website for a fixed fee. Interested? Contact us 🤝
About Big Art
Big Art was founded by cultural entrepreneur Anne van der Zwaag, who is also director of the Rotterdam design fair OBJECT. The platform presents large-scale art by galleries and artists, with works on view and for sale. The organisation operates independently of commercial sponsors and cultural funds. Sales income goes to the participating galleries and artists.
How to get there
The Codrico factory is on Katendrecht, between FENIX and the Nederlands Fotomuseum. From Rotterdam Centraal, take the metro to Rijnhaven, then walk a few minutes towards the Codrico site. Parking is available nearby at Parkeergarage Rijnhaven, and bicycles can be parked around the site.
