August 28, 2010, January 9, 2011

The Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam is opening its doors temporarily as 'The Temporary Stedelijk at the Stedelijk Museum', with two large presentations: 'Taking Place' and 'Monumentalism'.

Taking Place reintroduces the Stedelijk Museum by addressing its history, the spatial and temporal conditions of the unfinished building and the ways in which artists use, occupy and animate museum spaces. The historical, functional and architectural conditions of the museum are both subject and material for this special presentation of works by local, national and international contemporary artists, who range from well-known and established figures to emerging artists.
Renovated gallery spaces on the ground and upper floors of the building ultimately designated for the presentation works from of the museum’s collection of 19th- to 21st-century painting, sculpture, photography, works on paper and applied industrial- and graphic design will for this occasion be used in an innovative and experimental way that takes advantage of their current state.
Through newly commissioned site-specific works, historical reconstructions, video projections, audio work, architectural interventions, performances and graphic design, Taking Place addresses the distinctive conditions of the building at this moment in time.
Another feature of The Temporary Stedelijk is an opportunity to directly experience the luminous, gracefully proportioned gallery spaces themselves, some of which will remain empty in strategic intervals between these room-size installations.
The Stedelijk Museum’s historic building is also home to two permanent works of art by Karel Appel: interior of the Appel Bar (1951) and the artist’s 1956 mural in the former museum restaurant. (Though the room is now a gallery, it will be used as the café space for The Temporary Stedelijk.) Following extensive restoration, these works, too, will be on display. On the wall opposite Appel’s 1956 painting, a stunning, specially commissioned work by American artist Lawrence Weiner will be featured. The work is a recent gift to the museum made by the Association of Friends of the Stedelijk Museum.
This recent acquisition joins 79 works by Weiner in the collection of the Stedelijk Museum (among them 58 artist’s books), including AN OBJECT MADE TO RESEMBLE ANOTHER BY THE ADDITION OF A SUFFICIENT QUANTITY OF EXTERNAL QUALITIES (1988) on a bronze plaque on the façade of the museum building.
Artists in taking place
Karel Appel
Stanley Brouwn
Daniel Buren
Jan Dibbets
Rineke Dijkstra
Ger van Elk
Morgan Fisher
Mario Garcia Torres
Hans Haacke
On Kawara
Martin Kippenberger
Barbara Kruger
Germaine Kruip
Louise Lawler
William Leavitt
Navid Nuur
Roman Ondák
Willem de Rooij
Diana Thater
Lawrence Weiner

Monumentalism
Another highlight of The Temporary Stedelijk is the exhibition Monumentalism—History and National Identity in Contemporary Art: Proposal for Municipal Art Acquisitions 2010, which will occupy one half of the ground floor galleries. The 2010 presentation of this highly anticipated annual exhibition of works by artists living and/or working in The Netherlands will address the concepts of history and national identity.
The exceptionally large number of diverse submissions this year, 359 in all, demonstrates the particular significance and relevance of the theme. Curated by Jelle Bouwhuis, head of the Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam, the exhibition will feature the work of 19 artists, including Yael Bartana, Hala Elkoussy, Iris Kensmil, Job Koelewijn, Gert Jan Kocken, Renzo Martens, and Barbara Visser.
Some works will be presented at the Stedelijk Museum for the first time. As is traditional with this exhibition, acquisitions for the collection are selected by the Stedelijk Museum’s director, and during the course of the exhibition, Ann Goldstein will announce which of the works are to be acquired.
Artists in Monumentalism
Yael Bartana
Lonnie van Brummelen / Siebren de Haan
Ruth Buchanan
Hala Elkoussy
Marianne Flotron
Zachary Formwalt
Melissa Gordon
Nicoline van Harskamp
David Jablonowski
Rob Johannesma
Iris Kensmil
Gert Jan Kocken
Job Koelewijn
Rachel Koolen
Renzo Martens
Lucia Nimcova
Wendelien van Oldenborgh
Barbara Visser
Mieke Van de Voort