Exhibition — Aug 28, 2010 until Jan 8, 2011

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

Wall texts

Wall texts introduction gallery The Temporary Stedelijk

Wall text introduction gallery Taking Place

Wall texts exhibited works Taking Place

Wall text the new Stedelijk