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Time Machines Reloaded
On the second floor of the New Building you will find four presentations based on special museum models from the past. Each takes an inspiring look at the dynamic genesis of museums for modern and contemporary art and raise questions about the future of this institution. These projects show the developments that took place in the turbulent years before and after the Second World War and suggest different kinds of museums outside the familiar “white cube”.
The Museum of American Art in Berlin presents an ‘ethnographic’ installation in two galleries about the genesis of New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) (1929-1936), the twentieth century’s most influential modern art museum. The writer and poet Daniel Miller is invited to reinterpret this room.
Lina Bo Bardi: director Charles Esche and curator Christiane Berndes used Bo Bardi’s design to display artworks from the collection of the Van Abbemuseum. They have chosen paintings in which human figures are depicted, works bij ao Marlene Dumas, Charley Toorop, Asger Jorn and Karel Appel. Together with the viewer the depicted persons constitute a community, rich in differences that make our society so particular.
There is also a documentation area where the different museum modules have been placed in the context of the twentieth century’s exhibition history. There is also a presentation about the Old Building in the small gallery next to the lift. The Old Building, designed by A.J. Kropholler, was built during the period when most of the modules mentioned above were developed.
In September 2012, the exhibition Art, Property of Politics IV: Freethinkers' Space is added, a project by artist Jonas Staal and a concept of Jesse Klaver (GroenLinks) and Rogier Verkroost (D66).