Forever Friends, an installation by Hans Langner, is given new life

A notable feature of the relocation of the De Stadshof Collection from Ghent to Haarlem is the 1999 installation Forever Friends by the German-French artist Hans Langner. For this work, he incorporated around two thousand objects to create a mysterious cave – one of the De Stadshof Collection’s crowd favorites.

As the massive installation could not be moved in its Ghent form, Hans Langner was closely involved in its careful dismantling. During the exhibition in Haarlem, he is reassembling Forever Friends into a new, even larger installation. This not only gives the work a third life -following its runs in Zwolle and Ghent- but also allows visitors to follow the creation process itself at close quarters. An exciting experience for young and old alike.

Made possible by supporting funds

The return of the Stadshof art collection and the remarkable rebirth of Forever Friends constitute a delicate yet inspiring undertaking. The Collectie De Stadshof Foundation is deeply grateful to the various funds whose contributions helped make this return possible: the Cultuurfonds, Dioraphte, VSBfonds, the Hendrik Muller Fonds, and the Gilles Hondius Foundation.

After 25 years in Ghent, the De Stadshof Collection is back home in the Netherlands, to be viewed, studied, loaned out, and, above all, exhibited. With Hans Langner’s monument to eternal friendship as the proverbial cherry on top.