Holiday Passport 2026 - Doing as Drawing

From 18 July to 30 August, children and their families are invited to explore Holiday Passport 2026 at Kunstinstituut Melly. The program is open daily from 11 am to 6 pm, with a festive opening on Saturday 18 July at 12:30 pm.

Doing as Drawing

Join us this summer at Kunstinstituut Melly and discover the many possibilities of thinking through drawing. From 18 July to 30 August, children aged 4 to 12 can take part, free of charge, alongside their parents or carers, in an adventurous art programme full of play, imagination and discovery.

Be inspired by the exhibition Draw Withdraw Redraw, where drawing is so much more than just a pencil line on paper. Pick a card, follow a trail, build a story or discover how small choices can spark new ideas.

A world full of surprises awaits in the Space for Education and Participation. Help build a giant tent where you can explore, play and withdraw for a while. Create a secret garden for yourself or for someone else. Bring your drawings to life, invent new stories and discover what’s hidden in the many drawers, cupboards and secret nooks of the space. Behind every drawer lies a new task, question or surprise.

There’s no set route and no right or wrong answer. Follow your curiosity, try things out and respond to what others have left behind. Our art mediators will help you get started and invite you to explore the exhibition too.

WORKSHOP SERIES - DISTORTING IMPROVEMENT

In this free series of workshops, taking place over three Saturdays, Conform Cox invites you to draw and reimagine, inspired by the theme of the exhibition Draw Withdraw Redraw. Each workshop centres on a question about how we can improve our daily lives. During the first workshop, we’ll reimagine the human figure; next, we’ll depict our own living spaces; and in the third workshop, we’ll focus on Rotterdam.

What would you like to improve, and can you think beyond the current frameworks of life and society? What is an important issue for you, and how might you redesign the world to address it? How can you visualise your unique ideas? Illustrator Conform Cox will guide you through these questions and also help you with any queries you may have about drawing. In this way, during each workshop, you’ll build a part of your own alternative world, constructed layer by layer. You can also take part in just one workshop.

The first workshop will be during the Festive Opening: Holiday Passport.

Workshop Programme July 2026

Workshop #1 — Distorting Improvement with Conform Cox: 18 July 2026

In this workshop, participants are invited to imagine how changing the human form could improve the world. Through drawing, posing, and playful experimentation, they will create unique characters that give shape to qualities, traits, and possibilities that are often difficult to see, but easy to imagine.

Workshop #2 — Distorting Improvement with Conform Cox: 25 July 2026

Participants are invited to rethink their living spaces by imagining what would make their room feel better, more exciting, or more inspiring. Through drawing and collage, they will transform familiar interiors into spaces that reflect their wishes, needs, and imagination.

Workshop #3 — Distorting Improvement with Conform Cox: 1 August 2026

How would you change Rotterdam to make it an even more beautiful place? Participants will transform parts of the city through drawing and imagination, creating new perspectives on familiar places and sharing their ideas for the future.