No Prospects for the
arms trade

Today, this space presents art. Just months ago, this very venue hosted one of Europe’s largest arms fairs. Each year, Ahoy Rotterdam houses NEDS, where companies involved in the global weapons trade exhibit, network and secure deals—supplying arms used in active conflicts worldwide.

By presenting art in this same context, the cultural sector is made to rehabilitate the image of a venue that profits from militarisation.

Collective Refusal is a group of PROSPECTS artists raising urgent concerns about their work being presented in the very venue that hosts the NEDS arms fair. By choosing this location for two consecutive years, the curatorial team has placed artists in the involuntary role of artwashing. We refuse to participate and we call on Mondriaan and the curatorial team of PROSPECTS to take action.

These are
the facts

Ahoy is not a neutral space. It hosts interior design fairs and children’s musicals, but it is also home to the Netherlands Defence and Security Exhibition (NEDS), an annual international arms fair. Ahoy profits from hosting NEDS, and weapons companies benefit from exhibiting there. This makes Ahoy a militarized venue. No amount of cultural programming can wash that away.

NEDS is an arms fair, not a “defense” fair. It brings together manufacturers to showcase military tech, surveillance, AI drones, and other offensive weaponry used in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen, Afghanistan, Venezuela, and beyond. In just one year, the effects of increased militarization are already visible in cuts to healthcare, culture, education, and social welfare. “Defense” here applies only to the defense of capital, not of the people. National security comes from diplomacy, economic stability, and international cooperation—not from weapons fairs.

Companies exhibiting here directly profit from the genocide in Gaza. Lockheed Martin, Boeing, BAE Systems, and Maersk present in NEDS have all profited directly from the ongoing genocide. While Israeli companies like Elbit Systems and IAI are no longer officially part of NEDS as of 2024, Thales, Fokker, GKN Aerospace, Rheinmetall, and SAAB maintain active partnerships with Elbit. These companies are deeply embedded in military supply chains that enable war and civilian harm worldwide.

Thousands in public funding are being used to artwash Ahoy Since 2025, Art Rotterdam has moved from the Van Nelle Fabriek to Ahoy. While the Mondriaan Fund is not directly involved in the arms trade, by renting space from and thus transferring funds to an organization that enables arms trade reveals how deeply intertwined these structures have become. For participating artists, the dilemma is increasingly stark: exhibit in a space that equates the arms trade with the art trade, or refuse and risk their careers.

Our demands

As artists within the Dutch cultural landscape, we refuse to let our work be used to artwash the weapons trade. We reject a culture in which public funding bodies willingly normalize militarization, occupation, and settler-colonial brutality.

We demand the Mondriaan Fund and the organizers of PROSPECTS take the following actions:

1. Public Accountability

Publicly acknowledge the political implications of using a venue tied to the arms trade. There is no neutrality—silence is complicity.

2. Immediate withdrawal and ethical re-alignment

Publicly condemn Ahoy Rotterdam’s role in hosting NEDS. Commit to withdrawing PROSPECTS from Ahoy unless it permanently severs all ties with the arms industry. Use your leverage to relocate Art Rotterdam to a venue that does not profit from war.

3. An Institutional stance against militarization

Guarantee that no public funds administered by the Mondriaan Fund will ever again support venues tied to the arms trade. Issue a transparent statement recognizing your ethical responsibility to protect artists from being instrumentalized for artwashing.