Culture Guide (June 2026)
Editors Pick: Holland Festival
This annual performing arts festival returns for its 79th edition, promising a schedule as packed as ever. Since its first edition in 1948 it has evolved into a wide-reaching celebration of performance in all its forms : theatre, music, dance, opera, film and even debate. The festival opens withCity of Floating Soundsby Huang Ruo, where audiences will walk towards Carré from various starting points, accompanied by sections of classical music playing from their phones. Upon arriving at the theatre, audiences are greeted by a live continuation of the experience, performed by Symfonieorkest Vlaanderen.
Holland Festival| 3-28 June |All over the city
Foam Talent
This exhibition platforms the up-and-comers who won Foam's biennial talent competition. Don’t miss the chance to see future titans of the industry before they become household names. Expect unique visuals and viewpoints on the world, chosen from nearly 3,000 submissions from 107 countries.
Foam Talent | Opens 6 June | Foam
Ed van Der Elsken at the Rijksmuseum
Known as the enfant terrible of Dutch photography, this photographer brings a different meaning to the phrase Dutch Master. Van der Elksen portrays a grittier world than his much older compatriots – his black-and-white photography looks to alternative culture and themes such as love, sex and music for inspiration.
Ed Van Der Elksen| Opens 19 June | Rijksmuseum
Artis Aquarium opening
Following a four-year renovation, this historic building will reopen this month, giving you yet another reason to visit the world-famous Zoo. The aquarium – the oldest of its kind still operating in the world – will now operate with a focus on sustainability and biodiversity.
ARTIS Aquarium| Opens 13 june
Carel Visser in the Rijksmuseum Gardens
The free-to-enter Rijksmuseum Gardens will showcase the work of the most influential Dutch sculptor of the 20th century. Carel Visser was an exemplar ofmetallic minimalism, creating large steel models that draw their forms from nature. Head down to the green spaces behind the iconic museum for a unique exhibition featuring 13 of his pieces.
Carel Visser| Opens 5 June | Rijksmuseum Gardens
Rooted in Motion/ Brother at Vondelpark open air theatre
The Open Air Theater in Amsterdam's most famous park plays host to a number of events in June. Our pick of the bunch are these two dance performances on 19 June. Rooted in Motion, is a dance performance in which Rebecca Rue explores the tension between form and fluidity. Alongside it on the programme is Brother by Choreographer Jasper van Luijk, a personal recreation of a life with his older brother who died during his youth.
Rebecca Rue | SHIFFT| 19 June | Vondelpark Openlucht theatre
Spinoza
Following on from Nachwachts success, NITE brings another of its musical theatre showings to the Dutch capital, placed this time in the leafy green surroundings of the Amsterdamse Bostheater. Spinoza is a deeply human affair about Amsterdam in the 17th century that will play out under a darkening evening sky. As far as the plot is concerned, expect equal amounts of love, conviction and courage. Meanwhile, exuberant music and dance numbers will be sure to keep your eyes glued to the stage.
Spinoza | 2 June until 11 July | Amsterdamse Bostheater
Open garden days
Fittingly for the start of summer, this month over three days a series of canal gardens, both private and institutional, will open their doors to the public. Head to some of the green oases of the canal belt, including the gardens at Museum Van Loon and Huis Willet-Holthuysen. Wander down gravel paths, through centuries-old trees, flowering plants, ornaments, grand statues and more.
Open Garden Days |19-21 June| Gardens all over the city
Martine Gutierrez Wunderkind at Huis Marseille
A photography museum housed in two seventeenth-century canal houses showcases a solo exhibition by an American visual artist and former child prodigy. Titled Wunderkind , german for a person who achieved great success when reasonably young, it is a reflection filled experience, both on her childhood, and her relationship to femininity; from an artist whose first solo exhibition came at the age of 8. The experience is built around toys and dresses that relate to Gutierrez's youth.
Wunderkind| Opens 26 June | Huis Marseille
Kho Liang le – Mid-Century Modernist at the Stedelijk Museum
The Stedelijk hosts the first major museum retrospective of Kho Liang Ie, who defined Dutch design for furniture and interiors from the 1950s to the mid-1970s. Explore 200 objects and extensive visual material covering all aspects of his career, including the presentation of part of the interior of Schiphol Airport, a stand for Artifort and a reconstruction of part of his previous exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum in 1971.
Kho Liang Ie — Mid-Century Modernist| Until 18 October | Stedelijk Museum
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