In 2025, the Besiendershuis will have been in Nijmegen for 500 years. That deserves a party! In those 500 years, the (lower) city and the world have fundamentally changed. We imagine the house as a UFO, a quirky object resistant to the passing of time, meanwhile observing the ever-turning world, as befits a besiender.

The Besiendershuis is a cherished national monument that must be treated with care and is therefore a nostalgic window on a vanished past. But art, which we as an organization and user of the house are concerned with, disrupts, questions, and shifts perspectives. That is why we are commissioning a renowned contemporary artist to create a site-specific work of art with the Besiendershuis itself. With this work of art, this intervention/installation, it becomes visible how art can change the everyday view, and the monument becomes visible in the city in a new way. The heritage itself becomes the artwork and an instrument that fuels the future, instead of automatically leaning on the past. The artwork conveys the meaning of our organization for the city and reflects the soul of Nijmegen: an old city with a young spirit.

You can help this project further by making a donation. We will then provide an appropriate reward.