"Out with the old, in with the new" is an adage that the gallery scene often lives by. To celebrate the
start of the new year, Salon Amsterdam does something new by showing something old. Ten
friendly galleries team up and each exhibit art from their archives. Together, we turn the
Hazenstraat area into a publicly accessible depot full of artworks ready to be (re)discovered.
The focus on anything that new makes sense: artists want to show what they have just created, and
visitors want to see what is happening right now. But what happens to the artworks after they had
their moment, their spot in the exhibition or on the wall of an art fair? When they disappear into
storage, they might lose the public attention, but they certainly don't lose their value.
The title "Salon Amsterdam" refers to the 18th- and 19th-century Parisian art salons, where the walls
would be filled with artworks from floor to ceiling. Our joint exhibition aims to recreate this
overwhelming experience of the richness of art. The participating galleries have delved into their
storages (and collections) and showcase a wide selection of classic, iconic, almost forgotten and
newly relevant artworks from their exhibition history.