'past / present / future' by barbara kruger, 2010
image © designboom


american artist barbara kruger's installation -- designed especially for the building’s largest gallery, known as
the hall of honor -- wraps the floor and walls with printed texts that speak directly and loudly to the spectator in
a chorus of voices.



black-and-white barbara kruger-ified room
image © designboom



images © designboom



text line among others: the illustration of a pathetic stereotype
image © designboom



please touch
image © designboom


her provocative, emotionally charged statements about how people regard and treat each other disrupt the decorum of a
traditional museum space. bringing the world into her work and her work into the world, she confronts stereotypes and clichés,
shattering them with a rigorous critique, a generous empathy and a sharp wit.

the temporary stedelijk at the stedelijk museum amsterdam
august 28 , 2010 - january 9, 2011

the installation 'past / present / future' by barbara kruger is part of the current exhibition 'taking place' at
the temporary stedelijk (the stedelijk museum amsterdam).
by addressing its history, the spatial and temporal conditions of the unfinished building and the ways in which artists use,
occupy and animate museum spaces, 'taking place' shows works by local, national and international contemporary artists,
who range from well-known and established figures to emerging artists.
the renovated gallery spaces on the ground and upper floors of the building, ultimately designated for the presentation
of the museum’s collection of 19th- to 21st-century painting, are for this occasion used in an innovative
and experimental way that takes advantage of their current state.

through newly commissioned site-specific works, historical reconstructions, video projections, audio work,
architectural interventions, performances and graphic design, 'taking place' addresses the distinctive conditions of the
building at this moment in time.
another feature of 'the temporary stedelijk' is an opportunity to directly experience the luminous, gracefully proportioned
gallery spaces themselves, some of which will remain empty in strategic intervals between these room-size installations.