The modern art scene in Amsterdam is suffering due to the closure of the Stedelijk Museum, but will things improve once it opens its doors again?

Scaffolding, cranes and tall fences shroud the Stedelijk Museum, which is closed for major renovations and the construction of a new wing. A little further up the Museumplein, the renovation of the Rijksmuseum has been going on for several years now, although – fortunately – one wing featuring old masters is still open.

A passer-by says she wants to visit the Stedelijk again soon. “I think it’s a real shame it’s still closed. I believe it will open again somewhere in 2011. I do miss it. And I think it’s really too bad that people who come to Amsterdam to visit museums can’t go there.”

Collapsed
For a while after the Stedelijk closed in 2004, it held exhibitions in the old Post Office building next to Central Station, until it was closed for redevelopment. And now that the Stedelijk’s renovations are taking longer than planned, Amsterdam has had to make do without a venue for modern art. The situation has had a noticeable effect: both galleries and artists are complaining that the climate for modern art in Amsterdam has completely collapsed.

"You've got to have one. Any city that respects itself has a museum for contemporary art,” says Amsterdam artist Ger van Elk, who has been active - mainly internationally - for more than half a century. This year the New York Museum of Modern Art hosted an exhibition of his work.

“The Stedelijk Museum set a standard,” Ger van Elk says. “It often put international art on display. To the art scene it was important to see what was going on in modern art. It was important for artists to be invited to hold an exhibition there; it was the tip of the pyramid. It was the Dutch museum for contemporary art.”

International audience
Art galleries in the city miss the Stedelijk because it attracted an international audience. People would visit the museum and head into the city afterwards and end up at another gallery. Both artists and gallery owners say they desperately need foreign clients because the Dutch are unwilling to spend much on art - even less so in times of economic hardship – reasons that see established and upcoming artists leaving Amsterdam for cities like London and Berlin.

'Provincial'
Ger van Elk agrees there is sort of an exodus going on. He calls the capital ‘provincial’ and says the Netherlands doesn’t count commercially. Not just because of the closure of the Stedelijk, but it’s also to do with the mentality of the Dutch people. They want everything on the cheap, which is bad for modern art.

He fears the Stedelijk Museum may not receive adequate funding to host important exhibitions, because the city’s administrators are also watching costs. “It’s just very expensive to create good exhibitions. It seems to me, the city council’s portfolio holders for culture don’t know what they are talking about when it comes to figurative art.”

The Stedelijk Museum is scheduled to re-open on an unscheduled date in 2011.