Femmy Otten

From 27 June to 1 November, Museum Beelden aan Zee presents the solo exhibition Birthland by Femmy Otten. She is the recipient of the 2026 Per Abramsen Sculpture Prize, awarded by the Abramsen-Koedam Foundation in collaboration with the museum. The jury praises her highly expressive, three-dimensional practice and distinctive visual language. The exhibition brings together a personal selection of sculptures and drawings in which Otten explores themes such as spirituality, motherhood, and sexuality in a compelling way. In addition to the exhibition, the prize includes a cash award of €10,000 and a rotating sculpture by Per Abramsen.

The Per Abramsen Sculpture Prize is awarded every two years to a contemporary Dutch sculptor whose work is experimental, innovative, and distinctly three-dimensional. This year, the prize is awarded to visual artist Femmy Otten (Amsterdam, 1981), who, through her drawings, paintings, sculptures, murals, and performances, expresses both the powerful and vulnerable moments in life.

The jury explained its decision as follows: “Like the work of Per Abramsen, Femmy Otten’s practice is highly three-dimensional and expressive, and her works possess a very distinctive visual language. In the context of Museum Beelden aan Zee, her work is particularly compelling, as the museum was founded on a collection centerd on the human figure—a sculptural genre to which Femmy Otten brings a highly personal and innovative approach.”

Otten visited Museum Beelden aan Zee as a scholar, and that visit sparked her later artistic practice, which is both critical and imaginative. “I have a feminist agenda that is not didactic but manifests itself in an affective way. My practice is representative of a generation of artists seeking to re-establish a relationship between the body, the senses, and the world around us.” In her work, she explores subjects such as sexuality, love, motherhood, and children—human themes that are both deeply personal and universal, and through which she consciously pushes boundaries.

The exhibition has been curated by the artist and, alongside a small new work, presents a selection of sculptures and drawings that reflect on our times. Through her personal and candid depictions of pregnancy and childbirth, Femmy Otten responds to the male-dominated worldview as it has been shaped and transmitted through art history. Representations of these female themes are, particularly in sculpture, strikingly scarce. She restores them to their rightful place in the canon.

Otten gave the exhibition the title Birthland: “My work shows that pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare are subjects that also belong in the public sphere. My aim is not to judge, nor to make the world smaller, but rather to open it up and expand it. I want to create space for the images we are missing, and in doing so make the world—and our view of it—broader and more expansive. My work shows us what it means to be human in a world in which we seem to be drifting ever further away from our humanity.”

Otten deliberately creates her recent sculptures in wood and marble using traditional, artisanal techniques. The final form and conceptual tone of these works emerge intuitively during the making process. She says: “I allow the sculptures to take shape with great care and attention. In contrast to a world dominated by speed and AI-generated images, my sculptures are the product of a physical, embodied relationship with reality.”

Per Abramsen
The Per Abramsen Sculpture Prize is a national award for three-dimensional work with a strong visual character. In 2024, Karin Arink received the prize. In addition to an exhibition at Museum Beelden aan Zee, the winner receives a sum of €10,000 to support the creation of new work and/or the promotion of an established body of work. Finally, the artist receives the rotating sculpture Chateau en Espagne (1991) by Per Abramsen (1941–2018), after whom the prize is named. The Rotterdam-based artist left behind an extensive body of work comprising both abstract and figurative pieces, characterised by technical versatility and creative freedom. Museum Beelden aan Zee recently received a donation of three of his sculptures from the Abramsen-Koedam Foundation. Through this prize, Per Abramsen’s legacy lives on, and sculpture continues to receive sustained attention and new impetus.

Thumbnail: Femmy Otten - Ontklede dagen, 2016.
Header: Works by Femmy Otten. Photo: G.J. van Rooij.