AMSTERDAM.- For the fourth consecutive year, Amsterdam hosts Amsterdam Art Weekend - a unique opportunity for art lovers and professionals to explore Amsterdam's contemporary art scene and discover the latest talent in a single weekend. The event takes place from Thursday November 26 to Sunday, November 29. Alongside many exhibitions specially staged for the event, there will be performances, film screenings and debates at 50 galleries, project spaces, museums and institutions: 90 events in total. This surprising diversity makes Amsterdam Art Weekend unique of its kind, and one followed by several other European capitals.

Beatrix Ruf, Director of Stedelijk Museum, "What makes Amsterdam Art Weekend so special is its unique access to exceptional art and the city’s post-graduate curator programs, and the exciting, varied programs offered by the galleries and art institutions.”

“I am proud that the Stedelijk is playing a central role in this event. We are teaming up to present the work of influential artists, to contribute to contemporary art and to give young talent a platform.”

“I look forward once again to welcoming a very special group of international art lovers and professionals to Amsterdam. This event has become a delightful annual tradition celebrating contemporary art, and the opening of the exhibition Isa Genzken: Mach Dich hübsch! is an absolute highlight."

Art to see and experience
Amsterdam in the last weekend of November is the place to see and experience art in all its forms. The diversity and dynamism is impressive:

Amsterdam Art Weekend and RijksakademieOpen were opened officially by His Royal Highness Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands on Thursday evening November 26 at a festive gathering of the national and international art world. From Saturday, all are welcome at the studios of 46 talented international artists, and throughout the event the latest trends and developments in the visual arts will be there to be discovered.

Stedelijk Museum presents Isa Genzken: Mach Dich hübsch! Genzken is one of the most influential artists of the last forty years. Saturday evening sees the opening of her exhibition, which will be open to the general public from Sunday, November 29.

De Balie and SMBA present a highly topical debate. Abdulnasser Gharem (artist), Abdellah Karroum (director of Mathaf, Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, Qatar), Nilüfer Göle (Turkish sociologist) Luit Mols (curator Middle East, West and Central Asia at the Museum of Ethnology), and others, discuss assumptions and contradictions concerning contemporary art and Islam.

No fewer than 30 galleries will present new exhibitions and organize special activities including performances, tours and artist talks.

Platform Amsterdam The capital city is the place for art lovers, collectors, artists and art professionals during Amsterdam Art Weekend. Numerous gallery owners and representatives from world-renowned institutions are present, including the Jeu de Paume, Documenta, Kunsthalle Sao Paolo, Centre Pompidou, Serralves Museum, and more.

Amsterdam Art Weekend is an initiative of, and is coordinated by, Amsterdam Art Foundation. With its deep knowledge of the city’s cultural landscape, the Foundation is a dependable guide for both art enthusiasts and professionals. It offers visitors to Amsterdam Art Weekend several options to enjoy a carefully-prepared program. For example, the website offers thematic routes, and the favorites of curators and museum directors.

A varied program
Amsterdam Art Weekend 2015 offers a diverse and dynamic program, both for the art loving public and the art professional. Highlights include:

A selection from an overwhelming range of galleries: Galerie Gabriel Rolt hosts an exhibition by the brothers Jake and Dinos Chapman, contemporaries of Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin. It is their first exhibition in the Netherlands since their solo exhibition at Groninger Museum in 2002. The Chapmans’ work is often considered sinister and shocking, and has also been shown at Tate Britain and White Cube in London, and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. Folkert de Jong will give a tour of his exhibition Court of Justice - exploring the moral status of objects and sculptures - at Galerie Fons Welters. Lumen Travo presents works by Otobong Nkanga, previously seen at Tate Modern, The Tanks and 14 Rooms during Art Basel. She is exhibiting in the Muhka.

New to this edition of Amsterdam Art Weekend, various project spaces will present their own performance program. Another welcome addition this year, also for the first time, is the participation of auction houses.

De Oude Kerk presents an exhibition of works by Germaine Kruip. On the basis of, among other things, simple, geometric forms, she makes subtle interventions that show the historic building in a surprisingly different light. Alongside the exhibition, De Oude Kerk has programmed various performances during the Weekend.

Stedelijk Museum presents a forum on live art. How do we make sense of and preserve immaterial work that exists only temporarily? Speakers, following A Year at The Stedelijk: Tino Sehgal, include Beatrix Ruf and Catherine Wood, Senior Curator of International Art (Performance) at Tate Modern.

The last weekend of November is a perfect time to see video art in the cinema. Some 15 artists will exhibit their work under the banner Amsterdam Art Weekend at IDFA. Famous names include Saskia Olde Wolbers, Hannah Perry, Meiro Koizumi and Barbara Visser. This part of the program is a collaboration between IDFA, Stedelijk Museum and Amsterdam Art.

Amsterdam Art Afternoon is reserved for members of young patron circles of museums and young professionals. It is an exclusive event; a sort of crash course. How do you purchase your first work of art and how do you start a collection? After an introductory lecture and gallery visits, the afternoon concludes with a networking reception.

Amsterdam museum directors and curators act as tour guide for groups of national and international colleagues, presenting their own personal selection from the complete Amsterdam Art Weekend program.

Amsterdam Art Weekend Participants
Galleries: Akinci, Andriesse Eyck Gallery, Boetzelaer|Nispen, Borzo Gallery, Ellen de Bruijne Projects, C & H art space, Marian Cramer Projects, Galerie Alex Daniels - Reflex, Flatland Gallery, Galerie van Gelder, Annet Gelink Gallery, Grimm, Gerhard Hofland, Jeanine Hofland Juliette Jongma, Galerie Wouter van Leeuwen, Lumen Travo Galerie Ron Mandos, The Merchant House, Gallery Unrest, Ornis A. Gallery, Galerie Gabriel Rolt, Slewe, Stigter Van Doesburg, tegenboschvanvreden, Torch, Upstream Gallery, Van Zijll Lanhout / Contemporary Art, Galerie Fons Welters, Martin van Zomeren.