Stichting Aorta

Aorta Foundation

In 1982 the artists' initiative Aorta was founded in Amsterdam. As in other cities in that period, young artists had nowhere to go with their work. Existing galleries and museums did not admit their art. Out of dissatisfaction with this situation, they looked for their own exhibition space. Aorta found this location in the squat of the Handelsblad. Here the former printing press hall of the newspaper has been converted into a space for making and exhibiting art. In this way the artists had their own platform in which they could express their own views on art and quality.