Amsterdam's Stedelijk Museum has cancelled a major retrospective of work by Memphis group founder Ettore Sottsass, blaming the architects' representatives for attempting to "dictate" its curation.
The retrospective, which would have been the first overview of the Italian designer to take place in the Netherlands, was meant to open this Spring.
However, Sottsass' relatives and representatives withdrew their agreement to loan works to the museum, following lengthy discussions regarding the exhibition content and layout. They also denied permission to allow the publication of Sottsass' texts.
"I regret that the museum felt compelled to take this decision," said Stedelijk interim director Jan Willem Sieburgh.  "We were looking forward to working with heirs to produce an exceptional, public-friendly exhibition about Ettore Sottsass. Months of discussions, however, proved fruitless." "As a museum, we cannot and will not allow the way in which we conceive our exhibitions to be dictated to us," he continued. "Heirs and the gallery owner gave too little scope for interpretations we wished to explore in the presentation."
Curators and Sottsass' relatives disagreed on exhibition format
Curators at the museum planned to present the work of the Italian designer thematically, as opposed to the standard chronological format.
They also wanted to combine work from different decades and disciplines, as well as display works by other Mem...