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All Dutch artists of importance should have a show at the Stedelijk! No question about it. Beatrix Ruf comes to Amsterdam.

It is a big day for the museum today.

There is a giddy atmosphere in the museum. In the elevator up to the press conference, my chaperone confirms: ‘It is a big day for the museum today.’ No one knows yet who the new director of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam will be. There have been rumors, lots of rumors. And plenty of names were being mentioned the last months and weeks. Some with increasing certainty by people who had done the maths and figured it out, others ending on a question mark. ‘Would he or she want it?’, ‘Be suitable?’

Then the big moment is here!

Beatrix Ruf walks in! Happy faces. ‘A little nervous. Extremely honored. Extremely happy.’ This is her sympathetic entrance. She talks about the Stedelijk as a light-tower for curators and writers. The exhibition history, the collection, the books. She will keep encouraging this courageous stand, the accessible attitude of the museum and carry that into the future.

The Netherlands

As a ‘baby curator’ she visited the Stedelijk, right before its long term close. Over the years of growing up professionally, she has worked with many Dutch artists and kept in touch with the Dutch art scene. The contemporary artists are very much at the front of her mind. She visited the museum many times over the years.

She will learn the language soon she promises the eager journalists. She understands Dutch already pretty well. Ruf will get involved in the museum immediately from now on. From November 1st she will be here full-time as director. Till then, she will be here weekly.

Collections

Having a collection will change her work, although she worked at museums with collections before and she loves collections in general. She was able to built two collections with companies in Switzerland.

Future

‘Moed, courage, adventure’ is what she aims for the museum. Throwing a Dutch word to the lions. Being adventurous as a museum. She likes being adventurous herself. Private-public partnerships have to be negotiated every day. That is part of our job. This will only become more prominent given political changes. In Switzerland, museum started private and are moving towards the public.

She comes from a smaller museum so this move will be a big change for her. So a combination of "desire, hope, enthusiasm and doubt" guided her decision making. But she inherently likes to work with other people and looks forward to it. The polyphony of the institution is what she looks forward. She will listen to the curators and in 2015 there will be space in the program for her own projects. But first she wants to listen to the personnel and to people in Amsterdam, before she makes any choices.

Choice

‘We found the best candidate. Nationality was never a driving force for the choice.’ That is a clear statement to do away with all the sentiments regarding nationality. ‘The DNA of the museum is international’, Ruf adds. ‘And we can be proud to add her to our DNA.’