Presence and Production with Hirschhorn

Thomas Hirschhorn visited the Bijlmer for the second time. During his last visit in November 2007, we had a long, cold walk along the Open Source route. The aim at that time was to get a feel for the location. This time we had an action-packed programme, with back-to-back meetings.

The first appointment was with Achfaaq Mohamedjoessoef and Emmanuel Koney. Achfaaq is the director of the child care organisation Yoesboef. He is also the organiser of the internationally known Bijlmer Checkers Tournament. Emmanuel is the charismatic minister of the Pentacost Revival Church. Thomas came well prepared; he had list of questions, such as ‘what does art mean to you and your community?’, ‘ what would be a good site for an art work?’, ‘Do you know Spinoza’? etc. It was a very good meeting: both Achfaaq and Emmanuel were very honest and open, offering encouragement and as well as caution.

Then we had to race to De Nieuwe Stad, where we met Henk de Boer, the beadle of this church building, shared by 5 different parishes. To our surpirse, Henk had made print outs for Thomas of all public art works in the Bijlmer, with pictures and details of the works. Our next stop was Sammy Monsels, a former 6-time sprint champion and founder of the Bijlmer Athletic Club. Sammy had just finished his coaching duties, so we had tea in his office next to the track. It turned out his activities and drive encompasses much more than just athletics: the work he does has immense social significance within the Bijlmer community, especially among the youth. In 2004 he received a royal award for his efforts.

We ended the day with diner at Mavis – and her food was as fantastic as ever. Even during diner, Thomas did not stop working, interviewing the cooks and other kitchen personnel while enjoying his roti.

After diner, we had the final meeting of the day, with long time Bijlmer resident Henk van de Belt, with whom we talked about the Bijlmer plane crash disaster and its aftermath.

The next morning we went to see Ina Liebregts. Unfortunately, she had fallen ill, so we had to cut our visit short. This meant we had some time left, so we paid an unannounced visit to RaZo, the local multicultural radio- and television station. There we talked to Ibrahim and Mufti, Ghanese radio presenters who had just finished their broadcast, while Kees Kunta Kinte did his radio show in the background. We hung around for half an hour, enjoying the company, the coffee and the conversation. And then it was off again to the train station, back to Paris.

All in all both Thomas and I were very pleased with the results. The people we met were all very different, with various perspectives, but all were very open and appreciative. I can’t wait for the next phase in the research, which will start in June.

Totem Today

This was a lovely Saturday afternoon. At around 1 PM I went to Jennifer's house to pick up my 'word totem': I got LOCAL MYTHS. With me, 9 other performers - a very diverse group of local inhabitants, children and curators - received their totems and then we started to walk, 3 minutes after each other, carrying the totem through the neighbourhood, over the market and passed the metro station. The destination was a area underneath the railway track: like the others, I carefully positioned my totem against a designated pillar. I turned around, to have a look at the overall result, and I must say it made a beautiful, poetic and somewhat mysterious picture.

We left the totems behind. I wonder how long they will stay there....

Wet your thistle

I had a sneak preview of Rob Voerman's proposal for Open Source yesterday afternoon. But alas, I cannot disclose anything yet – you’ll have to wait until April!

However, I have attached two images to this item. One is Annex #4, a work made by Rob in 2006. The other is a hint. So it is a matter of putting two and two together.....

PamFlat

I just received an invitation to the opening of PamFlat, the first project of artist initiative Flatstation, a group of artists, curators, designers, scientists and musicians who live in studio apartments of the Bijlmer flat Florijn. Two participating artist of Open Source Amsterdam are members of Flatstation: Jennifer Tee and Peter Stel.

At Pamflat, Jennifer will present Totem Today, a performance, using the raised monumental metro line as a dramatic backdrop. Peter will introduce an ad-hoc campaign via a short and domestic slogan, which reflects upon the image of the Bijlmer as a transit zone.

I'll be back next week with full report!

ZieZo

The sketches for Open Source Amsterdam will not be made public before the end of April 2008. However, I do want to share with you this proposal by Peter Stel. Peter has a different commission than the other artists. His commission is to create a work of art that can function for several years as the nerve centre of the Street of Sculptures, which we would like to realise this year.

The location of the work is the roof of the - mostly empty - parking garage near metrostation Kraaiennest. The site is truly spectacular: the building is a brute from the seventies and the roof is a massive concrete landscape.

On the ground floor of the garage is a supermarket. A new super market is being developed on the other side of the road and when that one opens, the parking garage will be demolished - probably sometime in 2011.

Peter's proposal is ZIEZO. The word is a pun. Ziezo as one word can be translated as 'that's that' or 'there you are'. But separately, it can be read as 'look at the Bijlmer', since Zie means 'look' or 'see' and ZO is the well known acronym of Zuidoost (Southeast), the district of Amsterdam within which the Bijlmer is located. With both meanings, the letters exude something very powerful, very proud and perhaps a tat cocky even. All in all very in line with the general feel and culture in the Bijlmer.

ZieZo is a response to many issues. Within the context of the Street of Sculptures it is great, since it creates spaces on top of the building that can be used as an information centre or a meeting room. And it is a huge indicator for the art event. If people pass the building, either by car, by metro, by bike or on foot, it is very clear that something is going on.

But I think the work also adds something to the neighbourhood. As you can see from the pictures, the building is not maintained, since it will be demolished in the near future.

So now we have to figure out whether this idea is feasible. One headache is the construction, since the building is very old. Another challenge is getting all the 'stakeholders' on board (owner of the parking garage, owner of the super market, local council, etc.). And then there is always the matter of money. We need a serious amount of euros in order to make it happen financially.

Are you feeling generous?

Tee Time

YesterdayJennifer Tee and I had a walk through the Bijlmer to discuss possible locations for her work. The weather was gorgeous, so we took our time; we strolled over the market at metrostation Kraaiennest, watched a local resident feeding geese, pigeons and ducks and mingled with students of the OSB, a local high school. And before you think it was all play, play, play and no work, Jennifer did choose her site that lovely afternoon.

Allora & Calzadilla

Yesterday morning I went to the Stedelijk Museum to try and talk to Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla. I have tried to contact them for a very long time. But since they are the hottest artists in the world right now, it is practically impossible to get in touch with them.

When I arrived, they were busy getting the last details right for 'NEVER MIND THAT NOISE YOU HEARD' their first solo show in the Netherlands. And just after the photo shoot with De Telegraaf and just before the interview with Het Parool, I met them at the coffee machine and got a couple of minutes to pitch the project to them.

Amazingly, with everything going on around them, Jennifer and Guillermo actually found the attention and the concentration to listen and to look at what Open Source is all about. I would like them to create a (permanent) work of art in the public space - something they have never done before as far as I know, so I was not sure they would go for it or not. I am truly delighted that Jennifer and Guillermo have agreed to make a proposal for Open Source.

Later that afternoon I went back to the Stedelijk for the opening of the show, which was pretty spectacular. Open Source is very fortunate to have these two talented artists in the project.

The generic house-style

We are the second customer - after Rein Wolfs - who have bought The Generic House-style. The identity will be used for Open Source Amsterdam and will co-exist along side the blue diamant logo of the Street of Sculptures. I am very pleased with it. The idea of a non-identity-identity is just the sort of concept suitable for the event. Also, it is a design that can grow and develop over the next year: it is not a rigid format. And most of all, the designer, Simon Davies understands exactly what I want with the Street and the event.

However, Layana, our communications advisor is a bit worried that 'normal' people may misunderstand; does the character of the logo reflect the seriousness and ambition of the project? She does acknowledge that the idea of the logo and the underlying principles of the generic house style fit the project perfectly. The thing is, you'd have to know about it in order to see it.

So, here are some words, written by designer Simon Davies on his Generic House-style:

The graphic design of a house-style for a small business, a cultural institution, or a museum is often referred to as a 'corporate identity'. Even though none of the above is in fact a corporation. Not even the museum. Well, not yet anyway. The generic house-style is a reaction to this surprisingly enthusiastic acceptance of the privatisation of our collective visual culture.

The generic house-style was developed by crossing the two most prevalent and paradoxical aspirations of modern Dutch graphic design; neutrality and differentiation. It combines Swiss school functionalism – sans serif typefaces such as Helvetica seemingly devoid of all decoration or embellishment – with our need to be visible and differentiate ourselves within the corporatist reality.

The generic house-style endeavours to represent not our differences but that which we have in common. It is a collective form of identity. One which, by sampling visual culture in all it's facets, offers not an illusionary image of ourselves mediated by private interests but a vision of our collective identity represented by the diversity of our visual cultures. As well as the urban complexity that these visual cultures attempt to capture.

The generic house-style it is priced at €500,- for residents of either G8 or NATO countries. For residents of countries outside the G8 or NATO we aim to give the generic house-style for free. The generic house-style will soon be available from www.generichousestyle.com and is now available by calling 010-2650263.