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Part of the
exhibition

In the Presence of Absence proposals for the museum collection

Sep 5, 2020 until Jan 31, 2021

Artist page — Sep 2, 2020

In the Presence of Absence, the bi-annual show of proposals for the museum collection, presents 23 artists (collectives). This artist page includes a text on the work and an artist contribution.

The International Colonial and Export Trade Exhibition of 1883 ran from May to October in the open area of Amsterdam now known as Museumplein. Timo Demollin’s installation Visit (1883–2020) comprises old prints of scenes from this colonial world fair, on loan from the Stedelijk library and displayed at various locations throughout the museum. Prints such as these were sold to visitors and helped sustain the Netherlands’ colonial consciousness in the longer term. The distribution of the prints around the galleries occupied by In the Presence of Absence replicates the layout of the site of the world fair, which featured displays of not only objects, plants, and animals, but also members of colonized communities from what were then Dutch colonies. In consensus with the artist, the curators of In the Presence of Absence took the decision to omit from the exhibition four prints displaying stereotypical representations of these communities and their living environments. Demollin has substituted these images with inventory numbers that can be used to consult them in the museum library.

For the duration of this exhibition, the original ground plan indicating the location of the various pavilions making up the world fair has been added to the timeline next to the stairs leading down to Stedelijk BASE, where the permanent collection is displayed. The timeline shows milestones in the history of the Stedelijk Museum, such as landmark exhibitions and the establishment of the Stedelijk, which opened on Museumplein twelve years after the colonial world fair.


Illustration by Haitham Haddad after Timo Demollin’s, “Visit (1883–2020),” 2020.
Illustration by Haitham Haddad after Timo Demollin’s, “Visit (1883–2020),” 2020.
Timo Demollin, “Visit (1883–2020),” 2020, detail, sixteen souvenir prints and a map of the International Colonial and Export Trade Exhibition from the set “Herinnering aan Amsterdam in 1883” (library collection Stedelijk Museum).
Timo Demollin, “Visit (1883–2020),” 2020, detail, sixteen souvenir prints and a map of the International Colonial and Export Trade Exhibition from the set “Herinnering aan Amsterdam in 1883” (library collection Stedelijk Museum).

Visit (1883–2020) investigates the symbiotic relationship between industry, cultural consumption, and exhibitions. This site-specific installation, which sees museum visitors reproducing the route taken by visitors to the world fair, emphasizes the urgency of the need for critical self-reflection and the responsibility, shared by institution and spectator alike, to actively devote attention to the history and establishment of institutions, collection policies, and knowledge structures.

Timo Demollin’s (b. 1988) work encompasses context-specific installation, sculpture, video, and text, through which he conducts his inquiry into the property relations and institutional structures affecting the arts. He studied at the Sandberg Instituut in Amsterdam. Demollin’s work has been exhibited at puntWG in Amsterdam, Gastatelier Leo XIII in Tilburg, and Pompgemaal in Den Helder.

Artist Contribution

Copy number

Shelfmark

Title

2019/2000

WTT Doos 7

Internationale koloniale en uitvoerhandel tentoonstelling te Amsterdam : officieele wegwijzer

2019/2001

WTT Doos 7

Souvenir de l'exposition internationale coloniale 1883 Amsterdam

2019/2002

WTT Doos 7

Kermis van koophandel : de Amsterdamse wereldtentoonstelling van 1883 

2020/0388

241 D 35

De koloniale vertoning : Nederland en Indië op de wereldtentoonstellingen (1880 - 1931)

ING023790

Doos WTT 5

Catalogus van de Nederlandsche Afdeeling der Galerij van Schoone Kunsten [fotocopie]

2018/2316

Doos WTT 6

Souvenir de l'Exposition Amsterdam 1895 [leporello met foto's]

[CatSM 01693]

SMA 1898-3

Rembrandt : schilderijen, bijeengebracht ter gelegenheid van de inhuldiging van Hare Majesteit Koningin Wilhelmina [tentoonstelling Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam 1898]

retro212

SM 2

Catalogus der tentoonstelling van schilderijen en teekeningen door Vincent van Gogh [tentoonstelling Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam 1905]

[CatSM 01668]

SMA 1906-2

Catalogus van de tentoonstelling van Ned. Indische kunst, kunstnijverheid en huisvlijt in het Stedelijk Museum te Amsterdam [tentoonstelling Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam 1906]

[CatSM 01625]

SMA 1913-7

Koloniaal-aardrijkskundige tentoonstelling ter gelegenheid van het veertigjarig bestaan van het Koninklijk Nederlandsch aardrijkskundig genootschap [tentoonstelling Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam 1913]

2015/1715

ZKW Doos 64

Catalogus van de tentoonstelling ter herdenking van het 300-jarig bestaan van Batavia [tentoonstelling Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam 1919]

[CatSM 01564]

SMA 1919-10

Catalogus der tentoonstelling van Oost-Aziatische kunst = Catalogue de l'exposition d'art d'extrême orient [tentoonstelling Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam 1919]

[CatSM 01301]

SMA 1936-13

Catalogus der tentoonstelling van Aziatische kunst in particuliere en openbare collecties in Nederland [tentoonstelling Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam 1936]

1993/0551

1 A 33

Museumplein 1866 - 1988, de museumterreinen te Amsterdam : een inventarisatie van de plannen

1997/0210

23 B 100

Het Museumplein : een groen stadsplein in het hart van Amsterdam = Herinrichting Museumplein

1999/1590

40 A 2

Siebe Swart : Museumplein (werk in uitvoering) = Museumplein (work in progress)

2003/0438

82 F 1

Panorama Museumplein [ned. ed.]

2007/2254

82 F 2

Museumplein Panorama [eng. ed.]

R2004/0526

66 F 54

Stedebouwkundige maatregelen betreffende het Museumplein en omgeving : advies van de Amsterdamse Raad voor de Stedebouw

2011/1456

133 D 49

Visie Museumkwartier : vormgeven aan het culturele hart van Amsterdam

2011/3002

122 A 18

2008 Museumplein en omgeving : experts aan het woord

2015/3667

206 B 9

Nota van uitgangspunten [herinrichting van het Museumplein]

2017/0171

215 D 41/I-II

Outline masterplan Museumplein Amsterdam

Knmap00475


Sven-Ingvar Andersson [Knipselmap/Clippings folder]

Knmap06703


Carolien Gehrels [Knipselmap/Clippings folder]

20001495

KN SM Alg 1999

Het nieuwe Museumplein

200009035

KN SM Alg 2005

Laissez faire met een torenhoge ambitie. Job Cohen over zijn creatieve stad Amsterdam

200009724

KN SM Alg 2006

Een steen van de wethouder [Carolien Gehrels]

200011518

KN SM Alg 2008

'Blockbuster hoort aan Museumplein' : Stedelijk Museum en Van Gogh Museum willen grote tentoonstellingen niet naar de Zuidas verplaatsen

200011568

KN SM Alg 2008

Kapitaalkrachtige toerist op niveau naar het plein [Museumplein]

200012175

KN SM Alg 2009

Musea krijgen alle ingang aan het Museumplein : [interview] Judith van Kranendonk, directeur-generaal van OCW

200012586

KN SM Alg 2010

Tussen ezelsoor en badkuip : hoe de massamens zijn weg vindt naar het museum

200012973

KN SM Alg 2010

Fixatie op amusement : Janneke Wesseling over het toenemende populisme in Nederlandse musea

200013269

KN SM Alg 2011

Cultureel hart is tragedie van gras : gesprek met vijf directeuren over het Museumplein

200013540

KN SM Alg 2011

Closed for business on Amsterdam's Museumplein : why part of the Stedelijk, most of the Rijksmuseum and all of the Van Gogh Museum will be shut too

200013748

KN SM Alg jan 2012

Profiteer juist van de cultuurtoerist : bereid Amsterdam erop voor en pas het Museumplein aan

200014332

KN SM Alg juni 2013

Rumoer op het plein : de grote drie musea over hun merkenbeleid ; over de positionering van 't Rijks, Van Gogh en Stedelijk    

200015414

KN SM Alg april 2015

'Kiezen voor kwaliteitstoerisme' [Museumpleindebat]

2005/2484

DVD VD 3 A 2

Het Museumplein [Video]

200016077

T 587

Ontleren in het museum : tweegesprek tussen Nancy Jouwe en Jelle Bouwhuis

200016107

T 1378

Decolonial aesthesis and the museum : an interview with Rolando Vázquez Melken

200016108

T 1378

Temporality and universalism in the contemporary ethnographic museum : two collection presentations at the Tropenmuseum

1999/1075

36 B 12

Destination culture : tourism, museums, and heritage

2000/1550

44 B 13

Cathedrals of urban modernity : the first museums of contemporary art 1800 - 1930

2004/0509

61 C 17

The ephemeral museum : old masters paintings and the rise of the art exhibition

2008/0619

173 A 47

Ethnics and trade : photography and the Colonial Exhibitions in Amsterdam, Antwerp and Brussels

2012/2088

56 F 48

John Knight : autotypes

2016/1752

209 C 60/I-II

De moderne museumwereld in Nederland : sociale dynamiek in beleid, erfgoed, markt, wetenschap en media

2017/1610

220 C 19

The global work of art : world's fairs, biennials, and the aesthetics of experience

2018SAN/208

229 B 25

Universal experience : art, life, and the tourist's eye

2018/2247

232 A 25

Triple bond : essays on art, architecture and museums

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