VIA ARTSLANT
The Stedelijk Museum today announced plans to “reposition” its project space, the Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam, from its current location in central Amsterdam. The SMBA opened on the Rozenstraat in 1993 as a space for young artists (from Amsterdam, and later from all countries) to display work.
SMBA will remain open until 2016, at which time museum officials will begin searching for a new location. The new project space is slated to open in 2017. Details beyond that are scant, but the Stedelijk’s director, Beatrix Ruf, had this to say in a statement explaining the decision:
“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.”