Great (UN) BBQ!

We had a great time inaugurating the U.N.B.B.Q at the Open Source Amsterdam exhibition.

Great opening!

What a crazy crazy day. So many people and so much press. And a great vibe. Everybody is really happy and content.

Night before the Day After

A picture says more than a 1000 words?

ROYAL START OF OPEN SOURCE AMSTERDAM

It is official: Her majesty the Queen will open Open Source Amsterdam on 9th May, 09:30 AM.

The general public is welcome to attend the opening. The festivities will start at 9:00 AM at the athletics court under the metro, near metro station Kraaiennest with performances by The Breathing Band.

From noon on, the Bijlmerfanfare will accompany the general public along the route.

change of site

Production is in full swing now. The whole team is running from one work to the other, solving problems here and there. In general, things are going great and already you can see the works emerging in the area. Thomas's BOOK is practically finished (we just hope the building inspector will approve: he will come and check things on Wednesday). Hadassah's work is almost finished and so is Jennifer's. This afternoon Pascale's fountain will be mounted and Michael's 'bagelboat' will enter the water on Sunday. The foundations for Rob and Amalia are waiting for the installment of their objects.

It is so busy right now that I do not expect to be able to write a lot the upcoming weeks. So I herewith refer you to the website of Open Source Amsterdam and the flickr album, which has great photo's by Jan-Reinier, tracing 'the making of'.

See you on the 9th of May!
Helga

Child's Play

I saw a rehearsal of Child's Play this afternoon, a project by Guillaume Desanges at The Bijlmer Spinoza-Festval. I thought it extraordinary: it is really cute, impressive and touching at the same time.

Clay figures...3

I went by the OSB this morning to have a look at the results of the first two workshops by Michael. The pupils are creating small clay figurines, that will become part of the 'Small Milky Way' beach.

Bijlmer Objectives

On the roof of Parkinggarage Kraaiennest we will have a small exhibition about the Bijlmer. The exhibition is part of a larger event on the so-called Objective-2 projects of the European Union. The commission for the exhibition is given to Rovorm and this morning Peter and Marjan had a look at the location. They have quite a task: the exhibition has to be ready by 9th May and the budget is small. So they'll have to be very fast and very creative...

Invisible colours

This afternoon it was make or break for one of the projects: we had a special gathering to have a look at the glass dodecaeder (yes, I had to look it up too). The idea is that it makes visible with the naked eye the flares that can be seen through a camera lens. And it actually worked! Sometimes the dodecaeder is completely transparent, but when the light falls on it in a certain way, all these colours appear.

However, the problem is that it is not allowed to have any lights or reflections in red or green around the train platforms, because it could confuse the train conductors.

But there was good news too: it may be that the experimental pigment paint can be produced, with the help of a special lab at the Technical University in Eindhoven. So now we'll know in two weeks time whether Nicky can paint the platforms with this magical material.

Bagelboat

This morning Michael and I went to Arjen Bouwmeester Yachting Wharf. This is the place where one part of the Big Satellite is being built, the part we have nicknamed 'the bagelboat'. It is practically finished and Michael looked very pleased and happy with it. Arjen, Erwin (the main carpenter) and Michael discussed the final details. On Sunday 26th of April, the bagelboat is transported to the location, which is in the water in front of the OSB.

Clay figures...2

A thousand things happening at the same time. I waited at 8 AM this morning at the OSB for the delivery of the clay. Henk, the chauffeur arrived 4 hours later. But the clay is for free, so I am not complaining. Toon (the facilities manager at the OSB) and Henk unloaded 9 pallets (sic!) from a huge truck unto the school grounds. Tomorrow Michael will be here, so then the whole set up will be built (tent, tools, etc). And on Thursday he will start working with the pupils of the OSB on the clay figurines.

The tilers started today on Hadassah's work, but there is not much to see yet - so I will publish images of the work in progress later this week. And Amalia is arriving tomorrow to inspect her work at Anything is Possible.

Don't jump

Battling wind speeds of up to 60 km/h a brave crane operator hoisted our new little office up on the roof. Balancing on the edge of the façade, this crow’s nest will be our new home until the parking garage is demolished.

Licensed to install

This afternoon we received (almost) all licenses. Well done Harold! What a relief, because this morning Thomas's construction activities were already stopped. But now we can go ahead and install all the works in the upcoming weeks.

Constructing Spinoza 2

Today Thomas and his crew of 10 inhabitants started with the construction of The Bijlmer Spinoza-Festival. They can be seen working on site every day from 8 AM to 5 PM, except Sundays. It will be ready by May 2nd, or so we all hope!

Rollercoaster times

These are rollercoaster times...problems arise on a daily basis but also fantastic things happen on a daily basis. We’ve had some major problems today and the whole production team has gotten to a point that we just have to laugh about it. After months of negotiations with the local authorities, planning everything up until the tiniest details , up until the very last centimeter, socket and nail, one of our transport companies arrives and dumps a huge container on exactly the wrong spot. And then leaves. Next we hear the location of Sanja’s work has to change at the last minute, again. And that we have to arrange the electricity for Pascale’s work in another way. The clay sample for Michael has somehow been lost in the virtual world of delivery services. There is not enough electric power available on site for Chika’s planned performances. A lawsuit, that has nothing to do with us, causes insufferable delays in the finalizing of Peter’s work. And for some reason, we still do not officially have our licenses, while Thomas starts tomorrow. And the saddest thing of all: Nicky’s work cannot be realized on time, due to a disappointing result of the durability test of her experimental materials. And so on and so on. Welcome to art in public space.

But then something happens that really lifts you up. Today, while being interviewed in front Kraaiennest, I was approached by a local inhabitant, who told me that she really loves Peter’s work. And I got a call from the Bouwmeester wharf: Michael’s ‘bagel boat’ is practically finished, which is way ahead of schedule.

Constructing Spinoza

On 2 April, a week from now Hirschhorn and his construction team will start working on the Book. After the last instruction, it was time for the group picture. These are the people who will be working 8 hours a day, 7 days a week to finish the temporary structure for The Bijlmer Spinoza-Festival.

Brunch at the Lloyd

This morning we had a brunch with the most of the team working on the project. Left to right: Nienke (coordination), Monique (secretary of the board), Jan Reinier (photographer), Marianne (editor), Layana (communication), Carel (texts), Wendela (fundraising), Harold (production), Rick (researcher), Willem (chairman of the board), Marion (education) and Bert (logistics). Not present: Simon (design), Delano (education), Gieneke, Nathalie and Eugene (artist liaisons), Stefanie (intern), and Eva (communication).

Spring finally hits Amsterdam - ZIEZO

Journalist Marlou Visser from Dutch newspaper Het Parool visited us for an interview with Helga and to get acquainted with our project. She couldn't have chosen a better time. The sun shining over the colourful market, ZIEZO in progress (okay, one minor disappointment: unfortunately a closed access to the rooftop where our information point will be) - a very good glimpse on how the manifestation will feel like in summer: lively, colourful, variety and full of surprises ;-)

Michael at the OSB

After our little experiment Michael and I visited the OSB together with Delano MacAndrew, our education coordinator. The OSB (Open Schoolgemeenschap Bijlmer) is a high school right opposite Michael's work.

We spoke to Lita van Rij, one of the art teachers at the school. Her students will work together with Michael on the Milky Way part of his work.

Measuring the water

Well, this was an interesting morning. When I picked up Michael from his hotel, he carried with him this huge apparatus, a self made depth measuring device. He had bought all the parts in the local shop: a couple of broomsticks, a candle, balls etc.
We went to the site, and dropped the device in the water, and guess what: it actually worked! I was very impressed.

Guilt trip

I am riddled with guilt. My ridiculously small team is working overtime. The production team officially consists of one person, assisted by two volunteers. The coordination team (arranging all the finances and correspondence) also is one person with one volunteer. And ditto for the communication team. And this for a project with fourteen artists and 16 works of art. And now I am leaving them to cope by themselves….I am on my way to France for a short skiing trip. I feel very guilty, but I am so tired I just need a break from my 70 hours work week. Nowadays it is not that much of a problem to be connected on the slopes … so I hope I actually can get some rest. If things really get out of hand, I can always cut the trip short and hop on the plane back to Amsterdam.

Getting to know us

Not only the production team is in full swing, so is the communication team. Next week, our website will go online, I am touring the Bijlmer, doing presentations for the neighbourhood, the invitations for the opening will go out in two weeks, and Jan-Reinier van der Vliet is visiting the artists, capturing 'the making of..'

But we are still extremely understaffed. Layana is doing what she can with the non-budget that she has. Hopefully we will get a lot of free publicity....

So if you read this...spread the word!

Unbelievable 2

HOORAY!!! Well, I am very relieved. today we presented jennifers proposal at the 'Welstand', a Dutch institution impossible to explain to foreigners. And the Welstand approved the proposal!

Clay figures...

We do the craziest things during this production stage. This may look like fooling around, but it is actually a very serious excercise on our way to getting a permit.

The J.R. Ritman Library

Today Thomas, Nienke, Raggae (Thomas's temporary PA) and I went to see Esther Oosterwijk-Ritman and Cis van Heertum at the J.R. Ritman Library, a.k.a. Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica. I have known about this library for a long time, but I never had a chance to visit, so I was thrilled to finally see it.

Esther and Cis are great. They showed us some very precious books and letters, about and by Spinoza. Cis knows a lot about them. And Esther is very generous indeed. She may lend Thomas some of the works.

The extraordinary collection, the smell of the room, the beautiful handpainted manuscripts, made this a memorable visit.

Big Book

A meeting this afternoon with the structural engineer and the supervisor about Hirschhorn’s Big Book. It is one of the most complicated things in OSA. Of course it has to comply with all sorts of regulations, so that the book – which will be 11 meters high! – will stand for at least 2 months. We should also find some way so that it won’t sink in the blubber (the Bijlmer is a polder after all and one with an extremely high ground water level at that). Then we have to use materials that won’t cost that much money. And last but not least, it should be low tech enough so that it can be built by amateurs i.e. inexperienced youths from the Bijlmer. If this isn’t a challenge, I don’t know what is…but we are very fortunate to have a top class structural engineering firm and architectural office working on it. And the supervisor is a retired, very experienced building inspector. So I am optimistic.

There is other good news: Thomas just e-mailed me from New York, where he is working on an exhibition at Gladstone. He has contracted the first world famous philosopher to come to the festival. I am dying to tell who, but I may not (yet).

The website for The Bijlmer Spinoza-Festival will go on air pretty soon. Maybe he'll disclose the name on the site.

Adventure

Nicky Zwaan came by today discuss her project, Invisible Colours. It is an exciting work, because the materials she is going to use are highly experimental and never used in this way or on this scale. The problem with experiments is always getting a guarantee by the manufacturer. And then trying to persuade the commissioners to accept the work without any guarantee. So now, in China they’re doing a durability test, but even if the results are positive, we are not sure if a guarantee is possible. What an adventure this project is!

In the meantime....

While here in Amsterdam we are running from one problem to the other, Rob is quietly working in his studio in Arnhem. It is coming along nicely - sorry about the pixels, but the actual design has to be a suprise.

This morning, the whole OSA crew, including the communication team, showed up to help Jennifer try out a possible new location for her work. So in the freezing cold, we held on to 5 meter high models of the totems, arranging them in different ways. Despite the harsh weather conditions, we were all happy because the new location looks very good indeed.

Unbelievable!

As I moaned on January 13th, the city district decided that Jennifer's proposal would interfere with the monumentality of the metro viaduct and that nothing is allowed in the area underneath the tracks. So you may understand my outrage this morning: that same city district has planted trees on exactly the same location as Jennifer’s’ proposed work. Unbelievable!

ZIEZO

This week has been so much better than last!

I walked past the parking garage Kleiburg and Ursem (the contractor) has started the mounting of the pixels of Peter Stel's work. This is the first work of Open Source Amsterdam!

Crunching

Well, as I said before, the financial crisis is hitting us hard also. But yesterday, at a special meeting, the Board of the Street of Sculptures Foundation, decided to go along with our budget cuts and give a full GO on the production of the works of art. Any other cuts have to come from the organisation and communication. I am very grateful.

It is distressing not to be able to realise my dream fully. But when I hear the horror stories around me (galleries not having any sales at all in 4 months, and not informing their artist about any sales they do make, etc) I cannot expect Open Source Amsterdam to be unscathed.

I talked to some artists, and they believe that the slump in the art market is not that much of a bad thing. They believe that people will have more interest in the content of art now, instead of its market value. And that Open Source Amsterdam comes exactly at the right moment. I hope they’re right.

NEW/NEU/NIEUWS/SHINHATSUBAI: James Beckett has joined Open Source Amsterdam

This afternoon James Beckett presented his proposal. The CBK Zuidoost has commissioned James to create a temporary work within the framework of Open Source Amsterdam.

I am very pleased! His work will be a good addition to the event. OSA will showcase a great variety in artistic points of view, media and disciplines.

This is how the process of the project goes right now: good news, disastrous news, bad news, excellent news, bad news...often all within a matter of hours. Only 4 days back from my holiday and getting exhausted already...Thank god for Nienke, Gieneke, Harold and Bert!

My Street of Sculptures

Last Thursday the exhibition My Street of Sculptures opened at the CBK Zuidoost. Unfortunately I could not attend the opening, but today I went over to have a look. Niesje and Annet showed me around and I was very much surprised by both the individual works and the exhibition as a whole.

The CBK Zuidoost developed an educational project for the Street of Sculptures/Open Source Amsterdam. They produced a great DVD for the junior high school students, featuring Jennifer Tee and Pascale Tayou.

The last couple of weeks, groups of students created their interpretation of Open Source Amsterdam and My Street of Sculptures is the result.

It really cheered me up, after this disastrous week...