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.