in this NYTimes article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/24/arts/design/amsterdams-new-stedelijk-museum.html?_r=0
The author is pretty hard on Amsterdam officials and Museum Plein, on which it sits - especially excoriating the supermarket built next to it - a bogus charge IMO since the supermarket is underground - he just laments its above ground entrance - I think Amsterdam is right in making such things as supermarkets available to its residents and this was one of the few areas a large new one could be built in the city centre.
I think the writer suffers from a serious case of snob nose-in-the-air attitude I all too often find in art critics - missing the whole picture to give his witty take on things and how they should have been.
I also applaud Amsterdam officials for OKing such a monstrous to some addition to a world-famous museum.
Unlike Venice for example Amsterdam in recent years has shown it is a real city and modern protrusions that such boorish art critics may lampoon signify just that..
Vive Amsterdam!
Anyone have an opinion on the new Modern Art Museum (Stedelijk) addition?
Amsterdam's Stedelijk 'Bath Tub" Addition Panned...
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The addition has a certain "look-at-me aspect" that suggests a lack of concern for its surroundings; was the intent to exteriorize the Dada elements of the Stedelijk's collection?
Can't access that article without logging in unfortunately. I won't bother with that since there are plenty of other news sources that don't require that the reader creates an account just to read an article.
But the new wing does look like a giant bathtub. Not sure whether I like it or not, but in any event, the Albert Heijn supermarket was there before the new wing was built. Also, there's that concrete grass covered slope between the museum and the supermarket which, like you say, is underground.
I've lived in Amsterdam for around 25 years now, but I can't say I'm particularly enamoured by modern Dutch architecture. Most of it is downright ugly IMHO. I just love the old city and its quaint houses some of which look like they're about to topple into the canal.
I had no trouble logging in by clicking on the link? Perplexed as I have no account? Curious.
It is really ugly, but it's what is in a museum that matters isn't it?
The simple fact the author calls it Museum Plaza says enough about him. Why not use it's correct name? I'm sure most new Yorkers can understand Museumplein.
As for the Van Gogh extension - it works, and works well. I don't give a fig about how it looks.
A city cannot become a massive museum, no matter how ugly the new architecture is considered now. Over 50 years it may be regarded as an icon.
It is really ugly, but it's what is in a museum that matters isn't it?
But why have an ugly building, just so the architect can say "look at me!"?
<<Over 50 years it may be regarded as an icon.>>
Agree. The Tour Eiffel was slated to be razed. The Pyramide du Louvre was considered an abomination. So were the sculptures in the Place des Vosges. Folks said the Centre Pompidou was not only hideous, but a fake (with regard to the pipes and all on the outside), and that it would never last. People decried the Vietnam Memorial here in DC. They're all pretty much considered welcome contributions to history and art now.
Which isn't to say artists and architects don't make gross mistakes, sometimes. Museum Plaza (and I agree - what's he trying to achieve by calling it that?) seems pretty grotesque to me, but Amsterdam has always been a rather edgy art city, at least since I've been going there, so it doesn't seem terribly out of place. By the same token, because A'dam has a long and varied history of art, if the guy and his work turn out to be nothing more than an ego trip, citizens and visitors will be sure to let him know over time.
I've seen some of the new buildings in A'dam (we were there at the end of October) and like a lot of them that we saw out around the port. They were interesting and refreshing. Sorry I can't post photos of them. But this thing, IMO, is awful. There is such a thing as context, plus something called restraint, and I think both were violated in this instance. Plus, no matter where it would be, I think it is a terrible design.
I totally agree, charnees, but I also think that my single opinion isn't particularly relevant when it comes to art and architecture anywhere. As I mentioned, the public will form some sort of consensus over time, and he'll either be ridiculed (as I believe he should be), or some level of acceptance will be achieved. Or the tub will be emptied and the faucets turned off.
What is worse than the relative merit of the architecture is the fact that the Stedelijk has lost its stature as a top modern art museum. I think the article points that out too and I think it's a shame and a shambles, because the whole preposterous closure of the Stedelijk came about because political machinations. The entire re design of the Museumplein has failed from the grass not taking root to the skatepark being so dangerous that it can't be skated. Even the situation with the high way through it was better than this. And that the Stedelijk should have turned its back on Paulus Potterstraat is equally awful. I'm glad it's open again, but it's now a provincial "me too" museum instead of the modern art hotspot it once was.