Of Love & Other Devotions: Art Exhibition Recap
On February 28, 2025, CLBHUIS and Pink Poodle Society filled The Hoxton Amsterdam with 53 artists exploring one question: How do you love?
How do you love?
It's not a simple question. Love is complicated, quiet, sustaining, fading. It's devotion and tenderness, self-love and inner conflict. For one weekend in February, we invited Amsterdam's creative community to explore love as both a personal and collective act.
Of Love & Other Devotions was an immersive art exhibition and dinner experience: a collaboration between CLBHUIS and Pink Poodle Society that brought together 53 artists, 120+ attendees, and countless interpretations of love.
The Collaboration: CLBHUIS x Pink Poodle Society
Some of the greatest artistic movements were born from unlikely friendships: Basquiat and Warhol, Elvis and B.B. King, Mercury and Bowie. These legendary artists deeply inspired one another while shaping artistic culture. And it all started with a first meeting.
That's the foundation of Pink Poodle Society, a creative community in Amsterdam that hosts workshops and events connecting artists who might change each other's lives. When Monica (founder of Pink Poodle Society) and I started talking about collaborating, we knew we wanted to create something immersive, something that celebrated both the art and the artists behind it.
We split responsibilities based on our strengths: Monica's background in theater production brought the dinner experience to life with theatrical touches and atmosphere. I focused on artist coordination and curation, drawing on my experience producing exhibitions. Together, we curated 53 pieces that explored love from every angle.
Artwork from Of Love and Other Devotions exhibition Amsterdam creative community | Photograph by Talia Wrede
The Exhibition: Five Types of Love
We framed the exhibition around five Greek concepts of love:
Philia: Choosing one another
Storge: The love we inherit
Eros: Longing
Agape: Giving without measure
Philautia: Returning to oneself
53 artists responded with paintings, sculptures, photographs, digital illustrations, mixed media, and even clothing (courtesy of KNN Calcutta). Each piece asked: What does love look like when it's complicated? When it sustains us, or when it fades?
This exhibition was built together through community. Every artist contributed their interpretation, and every attendee brought their own experiences to the viewing. The answer to "how do you love?" was found in the act of looking, together.
Kalina Roy with her Piece “Angler Fishy” at Opening night Of Love and Other Devotions art exhibition The Hoxton Amsterdam CLBHUIS
The Events: Two Nights, Two Experiences
Launch Party – February 28
95 people filled The Apartment at The Hoxton Lloyd for opening night. The energy was electric: artists seeing their work displayed alongside their peers, attendees moving between pieces, conversations sparking in every corner. There's something about seeing art in person that no Instagram post can replicate. The textures, the scale, the way light hits creative work differently depending on where you stand.
This was about connection between artists, between community members, between the work and the people experiencing it.
Private dinner experience Of Love and Other Devotions The Hoxton Lloyd Amsterdam
Dinner & Art Experience – March 1
The following evening, we hosted an intimate dinner for 25 guests. Monica transformed the space with theatrical touches: candlelight, a carefully curated playlist, a sense of ceremony. Guests moved between courses and art, conversations deepening as the night went on.
In addition to being a dinner in a gallery, this event offered our attendees a chance to sit with the work, to hear the artists talk about their work, to talk about love and creativity, to connect over shared food and shared art.
Behind the scenes Of Love and Other Devotions exhibition setup Amsterdam
Behind the Scenes: How We Made It Happen
We started planning in late January, which gave us just over a month to pull it together. The process looked like this:
Week 1-2: Posted an open call for artists to submit work exploring the theme of love. We received submissions across all mediums and spent days reviewing, discussing, and selecting pieces that would create a cohesive yet diverse exhibition.
Week 3: Artist notifications, logistics coordination, and layout planning. We created a detailed blueprint of The Apartment's walls and mapped out where each piece would hang or sit. (Yes, we're nerds about spatial flow.)
Week 4: Final confirmations, last-minute adjustments (a few artists had to cancel, so we shifted the layout), and setup day at The Hoxton.
The Result: 53 artists. Two nights. 120 attendees. One question: How do you love?
What We Learned
Organizing an exhibition with 53 artists is no small feat. Here's what we learned along the way:
Collaboration is everything. Monica's theatrical vision and my curatorial focus complemented each other perfectly. Neither of us could have pulled this off alone.
The art is only half of it. The other half is the space you create for people to experience it. Lighting, flow, atmosphere—it all matters.
Community shows up. 120 people attended across two nights. Artists brought friends. Friends brought curiosity. The energy was proof that when you create something meaningful, people want to be part of it.
We'd do it again. (And we will. Stay tuned for our next exhibition in June.)
Thank You
To the 53 artists who trusted us with their work. To Monica and the Pink Poodle Society team for being incredible collaborators. To The Hoxton Amsterdam for hosting us. To Talia Wrede (@shesinfocus) for capturing the night beautifully. And to everyone who came, looked, and asked themselves: How do I love?
This exhibition was a reminder that art isn't just about what's on the wall—it's about what happens when people come together to look at it.
Want to join us for the next one?
Follow @clbhuis and @pinkpoodlesociety to stay updated on upcoming exhibitions, events, and creative collaborations in Amsterdam.
Photos: Talia Wrede (@shesinfocus)
Venue: The Hoxton Lloyd (@thehoxtonhotel)
