What is Fenix?
What is Fenix?
Fenix is the first museum in the world that tells stories of migration through art. Stories of love and goodbyes, coming home and feeling at home, navigating identity or seeking happiness. In a historical warehouse, at the place of departure and arrival. Fenix opens its doors May 16, 2025.
At Fenix you’ll find art by over a hundred artists, documentary photography by a hundred and thirty photographers from across the world and real-life stories in a landscape made of two-thousand suitcases. Come and discover kitchens with exciting new tastes. And Plein, a roofed citysquare of over two-thousand square meters, where Rotterdammers create the programme together with Fenix.
Fenix is situated in Katendrecht, one of Europe’s first Chinatowns back in the early twentieth century, across from the old Holland America Line head office. The building was once part of the world’s biggest warehouse. On the waterfront around the warehouse, millions of people set out to start a new life. Some boarded ships to the United States and Canada. Others came ashore here. Katendrecht was home to Chinese dockworkers, Cape Verdean sailors and Surinamese jazz musicians.
China’s MAD Architects firm has designed a spiral staircase at the heart of Fenix. The stairs – named Tornado – are both an artwork and an experience. From the ground floor of the warehouse, it rises in a double helix to an observation platform high above the roof. Soon, from the top of the Tornado, you’ll have a 360-degree view of the Rotterdam skyline.