The Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (NL) acquired three artworks by Saskia Noor van Imhoff from the exhibition When Things Are Beings (2022). The exhibition is part of the biennial project Proposals for Municipal Art Acquisitions, which invites designers and artists living and working in the Netherlands to submit work in response to an open call. This edition showcases a selection of works that bridge the material and non-material worlds.
Saskia Noor van Imhoff’s oeuvre examines systems, hierarchical structures and ideas about collecting. While addressing the underlying dynamics that lead to decisions about what we keep for the future, and what we decide to dispose of, she questions the idea of a collection as a knowledge system and a mechanism that selects, differentiates and classifies. She approaches these structures using a variety of media such as photography, sculpture and architecture, which merge into a whole in her installations.
Rein Wolfs, director of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam:
“Expressing magic and spirituality through art is nothing new. As these works demonstrate, the inner power of objects is still central to the practices of contemporary designers and artists. These acquisitions fill gaps in our collection by adding perspectives from different histories, generations and places. Thanks to the City of Amsterdam’s biannual budget for the Municipal Art Acquisitions project, we can expand our collection with new stories for the future.”
