Art in the stairwell*
*Always on display, from 14 May onwards.
Since the festive reopening of the museum on Saturday 14 May 2022, you can see the beautifully updated stairwells of the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam. Before the renovations, windows were blocked by walls but now the sunlight can stream in once again. ‘To celebrate the updated stairwells we asked six contemporary artists to place a work in these beautiful spots in the building,’ says museum director Anne de Haij. The chosen artists are Joana Schneider, Timo Demollin, Jennifer Tee, Femmy Otten, Zoro Feigl, and Iriée Zamblé together with the duo Opperclaes. ‘The museum has work by the last four artists in its collection,’ says De Haij, ‘and Schneider and Demollin both make work relating to the history of Schiedam.’
Read more about each work of art below, and look forward to Zoro Feigl’s piece, completed in September 2022 following his exhibition Sun-spark spraying.
With thanks to
These artworks have been made possible thanks to Gemeente Schiedam, Mondriaan Fund, and a generous contribution on behalf of Piet and Ida Sanders-Sanders
Turns
Timo Demollin
In 2020, Timo Demollin (1988) bought 20 wooden doorknobs from around 1880 to 1919, originally from Sint Jacobs Gasthuis, now the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam. His installation features six abstract wall sculptures based on these doorknobs.ppen (1880-1919) uit het Sint Jacobs Gasthuis, het huidige Stedelijk Museum Schiedam. Zijn installatie in het trappenhuis, Turns, bestaat uit zes abstracte wandsculpturen gebaseerd op deze deurknoppen.
Spectrum
Joana Schneider
Two monumental works by Joana Schneider hang on either side of the stairs as you head to the first floor from the museum entrance. These brightly coloured abstract pieces appear to slowly change colour, from orange, yellow, green and then to blue.
Abstraction of a Form, Shape or Presence
Jennifer Tee
Created especially for the stairwell, Jennifer Tee's (1973) installation reflects on the soul in limbo. This metaphor describes an unspecified, conceptual, mental, psychological and physical space on the border between reality and the impossible.
Birds Eye View of the Works
Iriée Zamblé en Opperclaes
Look into the eyes of a Black woman gazing directly and confidently back at you. Black bodies have long played a subordinate role in art history, but Iriée Zamblé (1995) and Opperclaes (2010) show that their portraits do belong in a museum.
Undressed days III
Femmy Otten
Hanging in the stairwell to the first floor is a large marble droplet with ears, noses, mouths, faces, vaginas and penises. It's one of three installations by Femmy Otten (1981) created especially for the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam stairwell.
Top image: Femmy Otten, Undressed days III, 2021–2022. Photograph: Gerrit Schreurs