By Anne van Tatenhove
A free afternoon in the sunny capital—is there a better reason to explore the city of Amsterdam by a visit to one of its most renowned museums?
Walking through Amsterdam on a sunny workday afternoon gives a good sense of its tremendous energy. The city is buzzing with life; cars, trams and taxis race by as tourists and locals make their way through busy shopping streets, creating the sounds, energy and movement that comprise its unique atmosphere. It is a place where old meets new; the old grachten with their grachtenpanden are often home to very young and innovative concepts and brands. The cosmopolitan feel of the city is sometimes accompanied by one of slight arrogance; the city has everything, its inhabitants are on top of the world. Not only is the Amsterdam city center one to go to for shopping, sightseeing, visiting a coffeeshop (the Dutch kind) or just being bumped into, it is also a cultural center: it houses many galleries, concert halls and museums—one of those being the Stedelijk Museum, located at the Museumplein.
Upon entering the ‘bathtub’, as the eye-catching new entrance of the museum is often called, there is a slight change of atmosphere. It does not lose any of its cosmopolitan feel—that is hardly possible, with works from internationally renowned artists like Pollock, Picasso, Monet, Mondriaan, Duchamp, Warhol, Lichtenstein, Van Gogh, etc. However, it feels less arrogant; the space feels modern, light, and airy, the staff is friendly and helpful, and nothing is forced upon the visitors. Well, nothing… when entering the exposition-area, the staff checking the tickets gives everyone a mysterious message, that is only later to be understood.
Under the guidance of director Willem Sandberg, the museum took on a very neutral interior. There are wooden floors, white walls, and there is hardly any decoration. However, the mix of traditional and new ways of exhibiting the artworks makes for a walk through the museum that keeps sparking the attention. In some parts of the museum, visitors walk through a series of smaller rooms in an IKEA-like fashion, whereas in the bigger halls upstairs, people walk around freely. Moreover, the entire space is utilized; paintings hang scattered across walls, some exhibitions are staged in installations within a big hall, using different means of displaying the art, etc. This all makes for a very inviting character; visitors are welcomed to take on a more active role, rather than being passive spectators.
The approachable sense of the museum is very much enforced by its stretching of the importance of education. This can be seen in the nice and clear information texts that elaborate on the artists, art movements, and societal contexts of the different time periods. The collection and exhibitions in the Stedelijk Museum are relatively easy to relate to: it is a museum of modern and contemporary art and design, and thus has a very broad collection; it exhibits paintings, sculpture, video, pictures, graphical design objects such as posters, and design, that includes even the most everyday objects like furniture, shoes, and kitchen utensils. The seemingly ‘too normal’ sense of this, as an educational guide told me, teaches people to look better; not per se seeing something’s aesthetic value, but rather seeing the meaning of things.
However, there is another lesson to be recognized: that art is something to be interacted with. This happens in for example the artwork “TV-Buddha” by Nam June Paik, that uses a ‘live’ camera, or in the very recent installation “#IDIDNTJOIN” by Thomas Kuijpers, that allows visitors to make their own collage of pictures that were tweeted by American soldiers protesting the American intervention in Syria, of which some are real, and some are fake. Under the guidance of the new director Beatrix Ruf, the art will become extremely interactive in the coming period, as she even introduces ‘living artworks’, such as the mysterious message given upon entering the museum, or a museum guard that suddenly starts dancing weirdly.
The timing of my own visit was a bit awkward: the museum was in the switching moment between expositions. This made for some unclear routes—I even seem to have walked some exhibitions backwards (which actually was a very interesting experience). However, this means that shortly, three new exhibitions will open: one entirely devoted to British artist Ed Atkins, a small one by Steve McQueen, artist and director (for example of the award-winning movie 12 Years a Slave), and one critically reflecting the role of the Stedelijk Museum during WWII. Moreover, later on in the year, a big exhibition on Matisse will open, as well as one on the “ZERO”-art movement.
A visit to the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam is thus highly recommended and, if only you don’t spend all your money in the awesome museum shop, pretty affordable. With your Utrecht University student card you can get a student discount, making a ticket only €7,50. Should you, however, be one of the lucky ones that is still 18 years or younger, entrance is completely free!
The train ride from Middelburg to Amsterdam is quite long, but can be used to catch up on some readings. Do you not own a week-OV? Then make sure to check NS’s online ‘Spoordeelwinkel’, they often sell weekday daytickets there that include a free lunch/coffee for only €21, which is even cheaper than travelling with discount.
Anne van Tatenhove, Class of 2016, is an Economics and Sociology major from Berkel en Rodenrijs, The Netherlands.
