M O D E R N   A R T  - W H O  C A R E S ? AMSTERDAM 10 may 2008 15 containers with ART destroyed.   The work of Jacobus Kloppenburg,* Amsterdam1930, was kept hostage by the City of Amsterdam from October 1997 till may 2008, the month the City Council ordered its destruction. The Artchive for the Future which was Kloppenburg’s major sculptural project, had been forcibly removed from its site on October 1997 under strong international protest from Modern Art authorities lead by Walter Hopps, Founding Director The Menil, Houston TX/ Sen. Curator Guggenheim NY and Hans van der Grinten, Founding Director Museum Schloss Moyland, Germany. 1997, 9th of October: TELEFAX Just weeks before its planned and publicly announced removal into the collection of Museum Schloss Moyland in Germany, the Artchive for the Future was dismantled carelessly by a professional demolition company and dumped in sea containers. The City had promised the museum to handle the Artchive with “utmost care” In an official letter from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OC&W), they acknowledge, on the basis of their ICN (Instituut Collectie Nederland) commission of investigation report, the “total loss” of the Artchive. 2005, 3rd of May: Letter from the secretary of O C en W, Medy van der Laan The City denied responsibility and insisted on being paid for the demolition. Museum Schloss Moyland refused and retreated. The City than kept Kloppenburg’s Artchive for the Future hostage, charged the artist for accumulating storage coasts and threatened with destruction.   Mounting international and national protest resulted in a stay of execution that lasted till May 2008. COMMITTEE OF RECOMMENDATION The past 8 months there were negotiations as to the future of the Kloppenburg work, which Walter Hopps the famous senior curator of the Guggenheim Museum in New York had referred to as a great masterpiece of the 20th century comparable to the Merzbau of Schwitters, even in significance to the work of Joseph Cornell, the latter which Walter Hopps had saved for the Smithsonian, after years of legal and other wrangling. January 2008 F.I.U. had send a letter of concern to HM Queen Beatrix (17 jan. 08 letter to HM Queen Beatrix)  HM handed the letter to The Minister of Interior to deal with. (20 march 2008 Answer from the Minister of Interior) The destruction was announced as a fait accompli during a Council meeting held to discuss the state of negotiations, which slowly moved out of an impasse created by the refusal of the City of Amsterdam to acknowledge its responsibility – legally or ethically- and in the middle of protracted negotiations and running correspondence between F.I.U. / Amsterdam City officials/ the Minister of Education, Culture and Science, OC&W  (28 april 2008 FIU letter to Minister of OC&W ) and followed shortly after a F.I.U. request for an new  Investigation under the expertise of foreign institutes.* The extent and scale of the loss is really catastrophic. Kloppenburg’s most fundamental life work has been destroyed, a complete F.I.U. study course interdisciplinary research.  According to official reports: 52.400 kg Currently F.I.U. Amsterdam is doing everything in its power to save the remaining works. We appeal to everyone who can, to help and assist with the current work around Kloppenburg and underline the scale and substance of this deadly circumstance for all artists in the world, and most especially for the fate of a city which projects daily such a different cultural image to millions world wide.   Publications, web sites and exhibitions have drawn attention in detail to the life work of the artist. A permanent Kloppenburg exhibition /installation will open at the 29th of November 2008 at the Verbeke Foundation, Belgium This website is to become informed and engaged. Research continues and updates will follow.

Jacobus Kloppenburg

M O D E R N  A R T  - W H O  C A R E S ?
F.I.U. Art-Defense, Defense-Art
The ongoing Artchive for the Future Affaire:

The work of Jacobus Kloppenburg has been kept hostage by the City of Amsterdam since October 1997, for almost  a decade. The Artchive for the Future which was his major sculptural project, was removed from its site under strong international protest from Modern art authorities lead by Walter Hopps, Founding Director The Menil/ Sen. Curator Guggenheim NY, and Hans van der Grinten, Founding Director Museum Schloss Moyland, Germany. Just weeks before its planned and publicly announced removal into the collection of Museum Schloss Moyland, the Artchive for the Future was dismantled carelessly, and placed in containers awaiting destruction ON the say- so of the City Council of Amsterdam. That decision has been on hold for some years, but never fully rescinded. F.I.U. Amsterdam has continued with its actions of defence, and a stalemate has resulted, with the city still considering the fate of the entire archive. In the meantime the mounting international and national protest has resulted in a ‘stay of execution; Recent publications, web-sites and exhibitions have drawn attention in detail to the life work of the artist, and this web-site is an appeal to all interested parties to become informed and engaged with the protection of this extraordinary oeuvre and to protest against the actions of the City Council of Amsterdam to witch the ten questions posted in an exhibition at Vlissingen, 2005, remain, questions since that time never directly answered and that therefor will be publicly repeated during the Biennale in Venice, 2007. 100 Days Permanent F.I.U. Conference, organized by Lucrezia De Domizio Durini.

For detailed information on the affair see Biography.

COMMITTEE OF RECOMMENDATION to save the "ARTCHIVE FOR THE FUTURE" 2005

-WaIter Hopps / Senior Curator 20th Century Art Guggenheim Museum New York USA - Founding director of the Menil Collection, Houston, Texas, USA. -Hans + Franz Joseph v.d. Grinten / Founders of the Sammlung van der Grinten, Museum Schloss Moyland, Bedburg-Hau, Germany. -Chris Dercon / Director Museum Boymans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. -Ron Manheim / Adjunct director Museum Schloss Moyland Germany. -Ferdinand Ulrich / Director Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, Germany. -Rudi Fuchs / Former director Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. -Patrick Healy / Author, art critic, professor Free International University Amsterdam/Dublin and faculty of architecture, TU Delft, boardmember Free International University World Art Collection, founder Paleo Psycho Pop Magazine. -Saskia Bos / Director Foundation De Appel, Amsterdam. -Tijmen van Grootheest / Chairman of the board of directors Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam. -Frank Lubbers / Adjunct director, head curator Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven. -Lothar Baumgarten / Artist and professor Hochschule der Künste, Berlin, Germany. -Luk Darras / Ambassador of Belgium, Australia. -Katharina Sieverding / Artist and Professor Hochschule der Künste, Berlin, Germany. -Hilarius Hofstede l Artist, founder Paleo Psycho Pop Magazine and boardmember Free International World Art Collection. -Felix Droese / Artist. -Laurent Jacob / Director Espace 251 Nord, Liège, Belgium. -Eric Amouroux / Art critic, Paris, France, Sao Paulo, Brazil. -Adrian Dannatt / Art critic, New York, USA. -Michael Rutkowsky / Artist, CoIgne, Germany. -Virgil Grotfeldt / Artist, professor Free International University, Baptist University, Houston, Texas. -Johannes Stüttgen / Artist, author, professor Free International University, Düsseldorf, Germany. -Alfons Alt / Artist, professor Free International University, Marseille, France, boardmember Free International University World Art Collection. -Jan Hoet / Director StedeIijk Museum voor Aktuele Kunst, Gent, Belgium. -Waldo Bien / Artist, professor Free International University, Amsterdam, founding director Free International University World Art Collection -René Block / Director Museum Fridercianum, Kassel, Germany. -Edy de Wilde / Former director Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Amsterdam. -Sjarel Ex / Director Centraal Museum, Utrecht, The Netherlands (currently at Boymans van Beuningen). -Babeth Mondini van Loo / Film producer, program director Buddhist Broadcasting Service, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. -Oeke Hoogendjjk / Filmmaker, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. -Leon Riekwel / Director Buro Beeldende Kunst, Vlissingen, The Netherlands. -Ton van Gestel / Director Stichting Kunst in Openbare Ruimte, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. -Evert van Straaten / Director Museum Kröller-Müller, Otterlo, The Netherlands. -Catherine David / Director Witte de With, centre for contemporary art, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. -Klaus Staeck, lawyer, artist and F.I.U. founding father, Heidelberg BRD. -Steven Cadwalader, Director Jason McCoy Gallery, NY. -Jan Willem Schrofer / Director Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunst, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. -Prof. Dr. Christian Holland, Chairman Ges. N.R.-Sculpturenachse Hoch Elten - Kleve, BRD. -Prof. Dr. Klaus Bussmann, Director Westfälisches Lande Museum, Munster, BRD. -Dr. Uwe Rueth, Director Skulpturen Museum, Marl, BRD. -Hendrik Driessen / Director Foundation De Pont, Tilburg, The Netherlands. etc.