Amsterdam Museum moves temporarily to Hermitage Amsterdam

3.5 years of permanent presentation, temporary exhibitions and programming

The Amsterdam Museum is moving to the Hermitage Amsterdam, where it will be open to the public from Saturday 5 March 2022. The current location of the Amsterdam Museum, the former Civic Orphanage at Kalverstraat 92, will close due to a large-scale renovation. From March 2022 until 2025, the Amsterdam Museum will display an entirely new collection presentation in the Amsterdam Museum wing of the Hermitage, which, in addition to the traditional history of Amsterdam, will also provide plenty of space for dissenting voices and lesser-known and more recent histories of the city. In addition, changing exhibitions feature residents and lovers of the city to show 'their Amsterdam'. The Amsterdam Museum's annex in the Hermitage will show visitors with well-known objects from the collection and new or lesser known works, above all, that there is no single history of the city.

In the permanent chronological presentation on the histories of Amsterdam; Panorama Amsterdam: a living history of the city, well-known but also new and unknown stories about, and perspectives on, Amsterdam's past give an impression of how Amsterdam has formed and continues to develop. Smaller exhibitions will also be on show, changing every six months. Free outdoor exhibitions will be on show in the courtyard and the Amsterdam Museum will also organise an extensive education and public programme in its temporary home in the Hermitage.

Permanent collection presentation: Panorama Amsterdam: a living history of the city

The collection presentation Panorama Amsterdam: a living history of the city showcases over 250 objects that give visitors a multifaceted view of the city of Amsterdam's many histories: classic icons from the city's collection but also new or rarely shown work.

The presentation designed by Studio L A has two communicating sections. The outer wall shows chronologically a selection of the city's stories. Visitors walk through Amsterdam's past and get an impression of how the city and its inhabitants developed. Major and important events have their place in it, and consideration is given to how the city was viewed at the relevant time and how this translated into the museum collection. In the space in the middle of the hall, which functions as a laboratory, the exhibition zooms in on themes that are closely linked to the city but which were left out of the big story of Amsterdam in the past - deliberately concealed or overlooked. 'Inside' and 'outside' form relationships with each other, creating special and surprising cross-connections. Themes such as science, trade, women's emancipation, World War II, protests, Ajax, migration and sexual freedom are covered, for example. The presentation ends atop the laboratory overlooking the main hall: a place for reflection and exchange of experiences. Until 2025, various artists-in-residence will present their own reflections on the city's stories and past here. The Panorama Amsterdam presentation acts as a testing ground. On the way to the renovated main location, the Amsterdam Museum will experiment here in the coming years with new perspectives on the city's multifaceted history and rich collection.

In addition to classic masterpieces from the city collection such as Gezicht op Amsterdam in vogelvlucht by Cornelis Anthonisz (c. 1505-1553), the Dam by Johannes Lingelbach (1622-1674) and barrel organ 'Het Snotneusje', more recent acquisitions such as M54 by Brian Elstak (1980) and Monuments of Regents by Johannes Vermeer prize-winner Natasja Kensmil (1973) will also be on display. With the nine-part Monuments of Regents, Kensmil shows a new perspective on the regentesses who were immortalised in the 17th century. The charitable work of regentesses was only reserved for women from the higher social strata, in fact based on wealth amassed by (their) men. At the time, the colonial system was the foundation of power and wealth for many of them, but also made charity possible. That uncomfortable contrast becomes even sharper because next to Kensmil's work hangs Regentesses van het Burgerweeshuis by Adriaen Backer from 1683. The laboratory tells what is not shown in this portrait, namely that the position of all four of these women is strongly linked to the VOC. Moreover, over the centuries, many of the orphan boys entrusted to their care were employed as staff on VOC and WIC ships. The visitor is thus asked to consider what that means for their perspective on these regent women. Does it detract from their charity?

Brian Elstak's M54 is also paired with one of the classic objects in the Amsterdam Museum, namely the Bas family portrait by Dirck van Santvoort from 1635. Whereas M54 on the outer wall tells a story about the relationship between the city centre and Southeast in the present day, the work in the laboratory engages with the very beginning of the Bijlmer, the reclamation of the Bijlmermeer. The pater familias in the family portrait, Dirck Jacobsz Bas was among the people who financed that reclamation and therefore also among the first landowners. He had a buitenplaats built where the Bijlmerweide is today. Bas was also administrator of the VOC and mayor. We see this combination of involvement in colonial trade and political power among many of the first reclamationists.

Some objects that have been in the Amsterdam Museum's collection for some time but have not often left the depot can also be found in the collection presentation Panorama Amsterdam. For example, a 700-kilo marble bust of Dora Haver (1856-1912), which was commissioned by the Association for Women's Suffrage in 1913. It was donated to the city and placed in the Stedelijk Museum (so it has been in the city's collection for over 100 years) but the director of the Stedelijk Museum had Haver's name removed from the pedestal because he wanted to keep the suffrage struggle out of the museum. In 1921, the name was added again. Women's suffrage was then a reality.

Changing exhibitions

In addition to the collection display, the Amsterdam Museum's temporary home in the Hermitage houses several temporary exhibitions, which can be seen for an average of six months.

Welcome to the Northside. A heartfelt cry for the city of solidarity

In the exhibition Welcome to the Northside, writer, columnist and hip-hop musician Massih Hutak takes visitors to Amsterdam North. He literally brings the borough into his home by recreating iconic spots of Noord in the museum galleries:

Visitors are introduced to, for example, the local snack bar, the hairdresser or the stairwells. With objects and texts, Hutak shows the social fabric of the different neighbourhoods and residents in Amsterdam North. This connectedness is threatened by gentrification. Hutak pleads for more attention to the importance of the district's social fabric and connectedness. During the exhibition, several concert evenings can be visited. Welcome to the Northside was realised by the Amsterdam Museum in collaboration with Massih Hutak, Productiehuis Noord and the Muziekgebouw aan het IJ. By kicking open the doors of both cultural houses and bringing along a whole group of residents and makers, Massih challenges both organisations to deepen their relationship with the city of Amsterdam even more and strengthen the city's social cohesion.

Colonial stories: Work in progress

In the temporary exhibition Colonial stories: Work in progress, the Amsterdam Museum takes a critical look at traces of its colonial past. Almost 100 years ago, in 1926, Amsterdam gained two more museums: a large Colonial Institute (the current Tropenmuseum) located in one of the city's most monumental buildings, and the Amsterdam Historical Museum (the current Amsterdam Museum), housed in the old Waag on the Nieuwmarkt. The Colonial Institute dealt with Dutch overseas territories and the Amsterdam Historical Museum acquired many old city properties. So although the city museum was not established from these origins to provide a representative picture of the city, nor does it have a typically colonial collection, the Amsterdam Museum today wants and needs to ask the pressing question of how the museum can deal with Amsterdam's colonial past in a relevant way.

With exhibitions such as The Golden Coach (18 June 2021 - 27 February 2022) and the decision to stop using the term 'Golden Age' as a synonym for the seventeenth century (September 2019), the museum contributed to a broader picture of Amsterdam and Dutch history. At the same time, the Amsterdam Museum is still at the beginning of a (self-)investigation into the many ways in which the city is intertwined with the colonial past and how these stories about it are reflected in the collection and museum practice. The ''work in progress''. In this exhibition, the Amsterdam Museum shows how the colonial past is currently being researched. What does new research yield, for example as recently conducted by the city of Amsterdam on the history of slavery? Which stories are or are not represented? How do artists play a role in critically rethinking the collection? And how do you collect the stories emerging from current social developments?

Collecting the City #1

In the Collecting the City project (2021-2025), the Amsterdam Museum 'collects' the stories and objects of today's city together with communities, individuals and institutions in Amsterdam. The collected stories and objects from partners will be displayed alternately in the four rooms of Collecting the City. The presentations change every six months. On view from 5 March 2022 until September are:

- Jacob Geel tells: back to a connected neighbourhood by Fouad Lakbir, Jesper Buursink and MAP (Moving Arts Project): Residents of the already demolished properties in the Jacob Geel neighbourhood tell their stories of being forced to say goodbye to their neighbourhood.

- Spices! by Julie Ng of the Meer Dan Babi Pangang Foundation: on the Asian influence on Dutch food culture, using five spices. How did they end up in the Netherlands and how are they used in Dutch cuisine today?

Culinary experts reflect critically.

- In the last three spaces of Collecting the City #1, a special collaboration will take place with 'Museum de Hoek', where 23 neighbourhood museums from Amsterdam will create small exhibitions in varying combinations. The first presentation will be made by the Cacaomuseum, Museum Perron Oost, Buurtmuseum Indische Buurt and the Multatuli Museum.
Margriet Schavemaker, artistic director Amsterdam Museum: ''With this permanent presentation and temporary exhibitions and an extensive public programme, we hope to be able to tell our public interesting and multi-voiced stories about the city of Amsterdam also in the next 3.5 years, when our main location on Kalverstraat is closed. We ourselves have found new perspectives in our own collection by collaborating with others and show that you can look at certain periods in the history of the city of Amsterdam from different angles.''

Conversion Kalverstraat 92

The museum complex on Kalverstraat, the former civilian orphanage, will be rebuilt and renovated over the next few years. Pending the environmental permit, preparations for the move continue steadily. From Monday 28 February, the museum's doors will close. During the multi-year renovation, the Amsterdam Museum will programme in the Amsterdam Museum wing in the Hermitage Amsterdam.

Good to know

The Amsterdam Museum's temporary location in the Hermitage Amsterdam (Amstel 51) will be open to the public from Saturday 5 March 2022 for at least 3.5 years. The presentation will be designed by design studio L A. The Amsterdam Museum is structurally supported by the City of Amsterdam and the Friends Lottery. The Amsterdam Museum's presentations at the Hermitage are made possible in part by the Mondriaan Fund and Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie.