Containers as art? Absolutely!
Published on 10 July 2025
When people think of a shipping container, they usually picture steel, rust, and a practical box to move stuff around. But at K-tainer, we’ve known for years that a container can be so much more. Sometimes, it even becomes art.
Take artist Bram Kuypers, for example. For the IJsselbiënnale 2025 – an international outdoor art exhibition along the IJssel river – he built a waterfall inside a tilted 20ft open top container. Not just for show, but as a nod to the Dutch habit of reshaping their landscape over and over again.
The area around Schellerwaard (Zwolle) has been drastically transformed in recent years to handle high water levels. Kuypers plays with this typical Dutch ‘makeability’ by placing a piece of mountain landscape right next to the river – fitting, since the IJssel’s source lies in the Alps. And as he says himself: the Netherlands is basically just eroded sediment from higher lands.
The work’s title, “I didn't expect to meet everyone this way”, quotes a Chinese nature park that went viral when people discovered their tallest waterfall was partly fed by pipes. A clever and critical gesture: the waterfall ‘apologises’ for the misunderstanding and explains that it just doesn’t want to disappoint visitors during dry spells.
Art in unexpected places
Containers are often seen as purely functional: storage, backstage space or transport. But more and more they’re becoming a stage, a DJ booth or an art piece. What starts as steel and paint turns into something with character and a story.
And that contrast is exactly what we love at K-tainer: something robust and industrial placed in nature, or as an eye-catcher at a festival. It shows that containers aren’t just practical – they can carry emotion and spark conversation.
Practical and creative
We love this Rotterdam mindset: no-nonsense and practical, but always open to something different. Because containers are sometimes more than steel – they’re a canvas for art, architecture and ideas.
So yes, containers are art. And we love it every single time.
📍 IJsselbiënnale 2025: 21 June – 14 September, along the IJssel river.
More info: IJsselbiënnale.nl
