‘Proxy will be a welcoming venue aimed at the local community and our future museum visitors’, says Director Beatrix Ruf, ‘and serve as a platform for our future Hartwig Museum.’ But this does not mean the usual white rooms with paintings on the wall: ‘In Proxy, programmes will be presented in a range of media and formats and ideas will be discussed and food cultures explored while films are being screened in the basement.’ Proxy will open at Parnassusweg 213 this spring. Ruf says that it will be within viewing distance of Parnassusweg 220, where the Hartwig Museum will be. ‘That will enable us to keep a close eye on the refurbishment of the old courthouse.’
Vibrant piece of Amsterdam
At the same time, contractor J.P. van Eesteren will be setting to work on the refurbishment to enable the Hartwig Museum to open its doors by 2028. Joined by a varied group of local residents, artists and representatives of other cultural institutions, Deputy Mayor for Culture Touria Meliani spoke enthusiastically about the new museum: ‘The museum fits in perfectly with the vision that the city has for Zuidas: to be a fully-fledged vibrant city district where art and culture play an essential role.’
Creating and exhibiting
The museum will not only be a place to admire the work of up-and-coming young artists, but also where art is created. In addition to an exhibition space, there will therefore also be studios, where artists and partners can spend time. The building will also feature an auditorium, workshop spaces, a foodlab, a garden and a bistro. It’s an ambitious undertaking, says Ruf: ‘We’re renovating a national listed building and creating new rooms, but we’re also building a museum completely from scratch in terms of the ideas, staff and content.’
Time capsule
On arrival, attendees had an opportunity to write their wishes for the museum on a postcard. All of the wishes were collected in a steel box that was buried underground as a time capsule at the end of the evening – a symbolic glimpse ahead to the future in which the old courthouse has been transformed into a contemporary museum. But until then, you can visit Proxy, which Ruf says will open this spring: ‘Everyone will be very welcome to come and enjoy a cup of coffee, read a magazine in the library or just drop in without a plan.’
Hartwig Museum
The Hartwig Museum is an initiative of the Hartwig Art Foundation. It was back in 2021 that we first reported about the plans for a museum for contemporary art in the old courthouse building. For the museum to be given the go-ahead, a council decision needed to be made to enable the building to be purchased by the City of Amsterdam and the Central Government Real Estate Agency (RVB). This was followed in 2022 by the necessary change to the zoning plan, and, a year later, work started on stripping out the interior of the listed part of the building. In early 2025, the contractor will begin work building the basement.
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