Make Some Noise: Desire. Stage. Change.

With sound, performance and bold expression, the exhibition Make Some Noise: Desire. Stage. Change. encourages movement and change

‘Let yourself be heard’ is the core invitation of Make Some Noise: Desire. Stage. Change., the ninth and final edition of Positions, a series that for over a decade has created space for experimentation and singular artistic perspectives. Twelve international artists and collectives convene in a dynamic constellation of solo presentations, performances, and encounters. Their practices span choreography, sound, theatre, sculpture, cinema, and AI composition, each offering a distinct approach to how bodies, materials, and technologies move and resonate. With movement as its connective thread, Make Some Noise: Desire. Stage. Change. invites visitors to shift, to listen, and to imagine what could emerge from these gestures. The exhibition opens on 31 January with Dutch premieres and a series of one-time-only performances, including Felisha Carénage, Göksu Kunak & Adam Russell-Jones.

“Amidst widespread uncertainty and a rapidly changing planetary environment, many confront feelings of anxiety or even paralysis. With their evocative, poetic and intellectually charged works, these artists inspire to engage deeply: to long, to listen, to imagine alternative scenarios and to take the stage. We desire to bring movement, literal and metaphorical; to demonstrate how art and creativity are the beating heart of a world still deserving of our attention and our voice.” – senior curator Zippora Elders

Boundary-pushing artists come together

Positions #9 is not a traditional group exhibition. Instead, it reveals how a variety of artists relate to themes such as encouragement and longing from their own perspectives:

• Calla Henkel and Max Pitegoff bring the mysterious ambiance of their distinctive community theatre New Theater Hollywood from Los Angeles – a region that faces vast ecological and political changes – to Eindhoven, with the European premiere of new work.
• Jack O’Brien presents an impressive sculpture of two suspended grand pianos, entwined in a suspended movement. The work refers to the tension between being stuck and breaking free.
• Felisha Carénage opens up the museum under the black wings of a masked, divine stilt walker, accompanied by carnivalesque scenes in the sidelines full of play and danger, mourning and desireability.
• Göksu Kunak introduces Spillage, an installation and opening performance about experiencing a mental and physical crash.
• Matthew Lutz-Kinoy reflects on historical and contemporary positions of dance and desire with performative, imaginative paintings.
• Miloš Trakilović reflects on the threat of war with an algorithmically generated ‘love song’, made up of popmusic fragments from just before the war in Yugoslavia, resonating with contemporary threats.
• Selma Selman transforms her personal longing into a monumental gesture: a large satellite dish that speaks of (false) hope, escape and the desire for a different existence.
• SERAFINE1369 takes visitors to a space that invites reflection and contemplation on the tensions and friction of embodied experiences of being in the world.
• Simon Fujiwara uses his cartoon character Who the Bær to pose remarkable yet incisive questions about identity, capitalism and self-image.
• Tori Wrånes turns the opposites of cat and dog into a touching metaphor for closeness.
• The reflective blinds by General Idea (from the collection of the Van Abbemuseum) subtly blur the boundary between inside and outside, museum and street, backstage and frontstage.

Sound Chamber

One of the museum rooms will be transformed into a dynamic sound chamber in which resonance takes centre stage. Here, artists explore how sound can carry stories — from the past to the future. You will be accompanied by Felisha Carénage’s lyrical canvases and hear sounds by Finn Kaino Ma’atita and Jerrold Saija, who together trace connections between water and wind, echo and dance. During the opening, the sound system of Kantarion Sound, known from the international club scene, will kick off a museum room that will grow throughout the exhibition into a space for experimentation and gathering: a museum club where DJs, musicians, students, (chosen) families and other visitors will bring the exhibition’s themes to life. Eindhoven residents who would like to use the space free of charge or organise a session can email the host at klankkast@vanabbemuseum.nl.

Opening on 31 January

The exhibition opens on Saturday 31 January 2026 with a day full of premieres and performances. Highlights include Felisha Carénage's opening procession Dreamer/Goner 2026, Göksu Kunak's new performance Spillage, and the Dutch premiere of Adam Russell-Jones' dance performance Release The Hounds. Sounds, stories and movements come together in the Sound Chamber. After the opening, the Van Abbe café hosts an afterparty with club music and dancing.

About the exhibition series Positions

The annual Positions exhibition series, which is dedicated to creating space for experimentation, gives several artists or collectives the opportunity to present their artistic positions independently of each other. They do so in dialogue with the museum and its surroundings. Positions shows innovative, thought-provoking and urgent work by emerging artists and collectives from the Netherlands and abroad. Previous editions featured presentations by Mounira Al-Solh, Anna Boghiguian, Bouchra Khalili, Naeem Mohaiemen, Laure Prouvost, Jatiwangi Art Factory and Cristina Flores Pescorán, among others. Make Some Noise: Desire. Stage. Change. is the ninth and final edition of this landmark series.

Participating artists

The participating artists are Jack O’Brien, Felisha Carénage, Simon Fujiwara, Kantarion Sound (Ivan Čuić), Göksu Kunak, Matthew Lutz-Kinoy, Finn Kaino Ma'atita & Jerrold Saija, New Theater Hollywood (Calla Henkel & Max Pitegoff), Selma Selman, SERAFINE1369, Miloš Trakilović, Tori Wrånes. With Adam Russell-Jones and General Idea. Curated by Zippora Elders.