PUBLISHED

Creating a full catalogue and research driven history of Street Art Museum Amsterdam’s collection will provide the foundation necessary to create a dynamic archive that is available online to a wide variety of audiences by the end of 2020. With Prins Bernhard Cultuurfond’s help this catalogue will become a tool for participation and education both outside and inside the museum. The museum’s collection and staff expertise have already been cited in more than 100 research papers and the catalogue will give the museum the opportunity to provide a globally accessible tool for research.  Most importantly, the catalogue will continue the museum’s mission of using art as a tool for dialogue with disparate social and ethnic groups. One such example of this is the museum’s plan to further our community outreach, using the stories of our artworks as a starting point, and to bring in other emerging technologies, through partnerships with companies like TechConnect and MolenGeek, as an additional method to engage local stakeholders, particularly those young people interested in digital technology fields.

The research and development of the collection catalogue is also an important step as SAMA plans for 2021 - 2025. Once the collection catalogue is complete, SAMA will join many institutions in maintaining online photography databases of their collections. However, much of SAMA’s collection is intangible heritage that cannot be fully conveyed or appreciated in just a photograph. This is why beginning in 2021 the museum plans to use the collection catalogue as the basis for transitioning into using Virtual Reality technology as an archiving tool. VR allows SAMA to capture the scale, scope and the setting of our street art collection.  Furthermore, VR captures the environment in which we have displayed the art, which remains critical in preserving the narratives of Nieuw-West. Finally by 2025 VR capsules, that tell the stories of the artworks, the artists, museum staff and the community stakeholders, will be available to the public in time for the celebration of Amsterdam’s 750th birthday celebration in October, 2025.

Currently, SAMA’s website attracts more than 100,000 online visitors per month. We work with roughly 25 schools throughout the year, many of which have established long term relationships with SAMA and return regularly to attend to tours and workshops. Furthermore, the museum attracts around 7,000 visitors, many of those are drawn to Nieuw-West due to the museum and then experience the neighborhood because of the collection. With additional support, we can continue to grow our platform through a mix of cutting edge technologies, heritage preservation and street art. By supporting our foundation Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds has the chance to help a team of young, international, interdisciplinary professionals and local community members with grassroots knowledge to develop cutting edge tools that bridge the gap between art and community.