stedelijk in belgrade

Exhibition in het Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade, built in 1965 as Museum of Modern Art.

The choice of the Stedelijk-works was made by curator Branislav Dimitrijevic:
'The selection of works for the exhibition of “highlights” from the SMA collection in Belgrade was made by respecting both the Stedelijk Museum’s role in presenting developments in Dutch art of the second half of the 20th century, and its international format in building up the collection.

The stress is therefore made on Dutch artists that have been pivotal, as well as very much known and influential among artistic circles in Yugoslavia, from Appel and Lucebert via Schoonhoven and Dibbets to Dijkstra and Van Lieshout. Works of other artists are also selected to correspond with developments of modern art in Yugoslavia.

Some artists whose works will be shown have been already exhibited in the Belgrade Museum since 1965 and therefore received particular status at some stage: Dubuffet, Arman, Morellet, Acconci, Dibbets, Baselitz, Clemente, Mapplethorpe, etc. Others have had almost a cult status but have never exhibited in Yugoslavia: Jorn, Dine, Judd, Ryman, Deacon, Emin, Fischli&Weiss, etc.

Particular emphasis is laid on conceptual practices of the late 1960s and the early 1970s, when communication among artistic scenes reached the most significant momentum, as well as on works by some of the most influential photographers including Mapplethorpe, Sherman and Gursky.

Finally, there is a selection of most recent works by contemporary Dutch artists that have been shown for the first time in Serbia, which is very important after a decade of isolation of this country. Therefore we have included works by Dijkstra, Mik, Van Warmerdam, Lamers, Koelewijn and others.'

Accents are on videoworks and large sculptures from the artists Deacon, Houshiary en Judd.