PRESS RELEASE
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam wins first Turing Art Award
Amsterdam, 25 mei 2009 - Amsterdam, 25 may 2009 - The exhibition concept Mike Kelley, A Retrospective 1973 - 2010, submitted by the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, has won the Turing Art Award 2009-2010. On behalf of the Turing Foundation the award was presented to the director of the Stedelijk Museum Gijs van Tuyl by the Amsterdam mayor Job Cohen. The Turing Art Award is a € 450,000 donation to be awarded biennially to a Dutch museum for an exceptional exhibition concept. The Mike Kelley retrospective was deemed best in quality, originality, and concept. A complete solo exhibition of this Californian artist has never before been organised in The Netherlands. Moreover, this exhibition can be expected to make a large new audience to become interested in modern art. Four nominees The Turing Art Award challenges museums to make an ‘impossible dream’ come true in a strong and feasible plan that sets out to realise an exceptional art exhibition, involving works that would otherwise only be on view in museums abroad. Sixteen Dutch museums took part in the Turing Art Award competition. The members of the advisory board, Carel Blotkamp, retired professor of Modern Art, Free University of Amsterdam, and Jan Piet Filedt Kok, retired professor of Studio Practice and Technical Art-Historical Research and former curator and co-director of the Rijksmuseum, nominated four exhibition concepts for the Turing Art Award 2009:
Mike Kelley is regarded as one of the most important artists to enter the art scene since the seventies. His work is technically varied, complex in both form and content, and has strong psychical and emotional undertones. A complete solo exhibition of this Californian artist has never before been organised in The Netherlands. It promises to become a both fascinating and inspirational event, due to the work itself as well as to the way it will be presented - hopefully a sign of the new policy of the Amsterdam Stedelijk Museum. The exhibition can be expected to make a large new audience to become interested in modern art. The exhibition is put together by guest curator conservator Eva Meyer-Hermann, who was responsible for the exemplary Warhol exhibition in the Stedelijk Museum in 2007-2008. The concept as well as the work itself promise to realise a full-scale, fascinating and inspirational exhibition - hopefully a sign of the new policy of the Amsterdam Stedelijk Museum. The exhibition can be expected to make a large new audience to become interested in modern art. Following the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the exhibition will travel to Paris (Centre Pompidou), Los Angeles (Museum of Contemporary Art), and Munich (Pinakothek). About the Turing Foundation The Stichting Turing Foundation was founded in 2006 by Pieter Geelen - and his wife Françoise - using the profits he received as a co-founder at the stock-market flotation of navigation company TomTom NV. Upon its establishment, the foundation received a donation of € 100 million. It uses approximately € 5 million every year to make a significant contribution to its objectives in the areas of education, leprosy elimination, nature conservation and art.
Note - not for publication: For additional information please contact: Tel. +31 (0)20 - 52 000 10 or mobile +31 (0)6-128 300 24 Email: milou@turingfoundation.org Website: www.turingfoundation.org
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