Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam 125 Years: 21st Century Challenges for the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art and Design

Stedelijk Studies encourages proposals that invite critical discussion on such issues currently dominating the art, design, and museum world. The specific circumstances of the Stedelijk necessitate an analysis of its position on a local, national, and international level in comparison to other museums of similar size and status in various parts of the world.

Authors are invited to reflect on the position of the museum of modern and contemporary art and design within these varying contexts, and to address possible future models for (the concept of) the museum, with respect to their diverse histories and collections. We encourage scholars from various disciplines to offer distinctive views on one or more of the topics outlined below, using innovative, explorative, and experimental methodologies and research approaches.

Possible questions and topics could include, but are not limited to:

• To what extent can the museum of modern and contemporary art be a trendsetter of the new, now other players in the cultural field seem better equipped to fulfill this role?
• How can the museum service society and facilitate insights acquired by groups and individuals within it?
• How can museums of modern and contemporary art and design become instigators of change, and strive for new ethical standards and innovative museum practices?
• Should a museum take a position within public debates or should it support multivocality?
• How will the new museum definition relate to (the disproportionalities of) the extant collection?
• What does decolonization mean for museums of modern and contemporary art and design globally, including the 5/5 Stedelijk? Are there any best practices for collection policy and curatorial strategies? Are these culturally specific?
• Apart from post-colonial theory, what other theoretical frameworks that set out to develop new ethical standards and innovative museum practices could be analyzed?
• What is the impact of local politics on museum management? How do other (municipal) museums of modern and contemporary art and design balance the local and the global?
• Should departmental structures with specialized curators in time periods as well as certain media be considered outdated, or does it still have potential for the future?
• Can we revisit the Stedelijk’s told and untold histories in order to formulate goals for the future?
• What models are necessary to develop for the museum to properly engage and accommodate new and diverse audiences?
• What has artistic and institutional critiques brought to the museum and how do they continue to shape its future?
• How can private and public funding interests, conventional museum tasks and mass cultural entertainment be balanced and autonomy and content retained?

ABOUT STEDELIJK STUDIES Stedelijk Studies is a high-quality, peer-reviewed academic journal published by the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. The journal comprises research related to the Stedelijk collection, exploring institutional history, museum studies (e.g., education and conservation practice), and current topics in the field of visual arts and design.

image: Museum for Asian Art in the garden room of the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, in the foreground, left and right, l, respectively Hindu-Javanese stonework and a Javanese mask. Ill. from: Maandblad voor Beeldende Kunsten, June 1934.