AMSTERDAM.- Ann Goldstein, Director of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, announced that this leading international institution of modern and contemporary art will celebrate its opening ceremony on Saturday, September 22, 2012, and will begin welcoming the public on September 23, following the completion of the most ambitious renovation and expansion project in its history.

A complete renovation of the Stedelijk’s historic 1895 building, designed by A.W. Weissman, has converted virtually all of its program spaces into galleries, enabling the first comprehensive display the Stedelijk has ever mounted of its permanent collection, widely acknowledged to be among the most important in the world. The vibrant new building designed by Mels Crouwel of Benthem Crouwel Architects, measuring 10,000 square meters (98,400 square feet), will provide vast new space for the Stedelijk’s renowned and influential temporary exhibitions, as well as a host of new amenities. The innovative design also re-orients the entire Museum to face onto the great public lawn of Amsterdam’s Museumplein (Museum Plaza), creating an active common ground for the first time among the Stedelijk and its neighbors, the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum, and the Concertgebouw.

“With this long-awaited opening, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam will reaffirm and strengthen its place among leading international art institutions, cast light on today’s Amsterdam as a center of artistic experimentation and bring new life to the Museumplein, one of the world’s most important cultural landscapes,” Ann Goldstein stated. “What is more, with the completion of Mels Crouwel’s bold yet brilliantly functional building, we add a major new work to our collection of Dutch modern design.”

The museum also announced details of the installation of the permanent collection and of two inaugural temporary exhibitions. Beyond Imagination will feature new projects and commissioned works by an invited group of 20 artists, both Dutch and foreign-born, now active in the Netherlands. It will be installed in the new second-floor galleries and spill out into the auditorium and public spaces in the new building. The first temporary exhibition in the new building’s 1,100 square-meter (10,800 square-foot) column-free, open plan gallery will feature a major presentation of large-scale contemporary works and installations from the collection by Carl Andre, Rodney Graham, Joan Jonas, John Knight, Barbara Kruger, Melvin Moti and Diana Thater, among others.

The Stedelijk will proceed with its plans for the eagerly anticipated retrospective Mike Kelley: Themes and Variations from 35 Years, following the artist’s untimely death. The exhibition will open at the Stedelijk on December 14, 2012, and then travel to other major museums in Europe and America.