News — Dec 15, 2015

The Stedelijk Museum is working on plans to reposition the Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam (SMBA), the museum’s project space in the heart of the city. “In view of the changes that have swept the art world in recent years, the time has come to reconsider the position of SMBA. Digital developments, globalization and the participation of makers and visitors are now a vital part of the art world. Boundaries are being redrawn, and we’re eager to embrace and respond to those developments,” says Stedelijk director Beatrix Ruf. “To enhance the contemporary art world, in which independent presentation institutes are facing challenges, we aim to provide an answer to what is currently lacking, and needed, in the city.”

In 1993, SMBA was established on the Rozenstraat, as an exhibition space specifically for artists in Amsterdam and as a platform for young talent, and, on that basis, developed an international policy. Beatrix Ruf: “When SMBA was launched over twenty years ago, emerging artists had few opportunities to present their work in Amsterdam. Now, that’s no longer the case. Contemporary issues and ideas are central to the activities and thinking of the Stedelijk Museum. In considering a successor to SMBA, we feel it’s important to have a location in Amsterdam that complements our own museum practice, the program in the capital, and the polyphony of nationalities within this dynamic context. This allows us to create greater added value for the city, and for the national and international art world, too.”

SMBA’s program will continue to run until 2016. Next year, the search for a new location begins, with an opening scheduled for 2017.