Visit Amalia Pica

Amalia has moved to London recently, but she came over to the (cold cold cold) Bijlmer to walk the Open Source Amsterdam route with me. And guess what! We have found a perfect location for her work. I can show you where it will be (see above), but not what it will be.

Visit Michael Beutler

Michael was in town for 2 days. He gave a lecture at De Ateliers - which apparently was very well received. Unfortunately I could not make it to the lecture (stuck in a meeting, as usual), but we met up the next day to discuss his proposal for Open Source Amsterdam.

I am dying to show you his sketches, but alas....you'll have to come to the event (9 May - 11 July 2009) to see what he's created.

4rth visit Thomas Hirschhorn

Thomas was here again, his fourth visit in less than a year. And again, I was overwhelmed by his fire and energy. We actually have a GO for the Bijlmer Spinoza-Festival, which will take place from 9 May - 11 July 2009.

The sculpture will consist of a BIG BOOK (Spinoza's Ethica) which houses among others a Spinoza exhibition, a library, a Bijlmer documentation centre an internet cafe, a take-out restaurant, a workshop space and a stage. Every day, for two months, Thomas will be there, together with local inhabitants and a group of invited philosophers and art critics. There will be daily philosophical lectures, a Spinoza play (written by Marcus Steinweg and performed by an amateur theatre group form the Bijlmer), live radio or tv broadcasts, etc.

You gotta admire the man's ambition and determination.

Less of a frenzy!

Well, the financial crisis resulted in considerably less frenzy at the Frieze Art Fair than the previous years. I went with Nienke this year. It was a great trip, combining hard work (Frieze, Zoo, Tate x 2, etc) with plent of leisure (Le Caprice x 100, Michael Gambon in Pinter's No Man's Land and a splash out at Saka No Hana).

We were delighted to spot some works by 'our' artsists. Hirschhorn was of course represented (Croussel and Arndt) and we saw a very suprising work by Allora & Calzadilla at (I think it was) Gagosian. Michael Beutler - who has submitted a great proposal for Open Source Amsterdam - tranformed the booth of Galerie Christian Nagel.

Monika Sosnowksa's beautiful Portavilion was one of the public space projects. In spite of the sign, the sculpture is very popular as a climbing object for kid's and their fathers alike.

Launch of our Friends of the Street

Today two events took place at the same time.

1. the Karspeldreef, one of the border roads of our project area, re-opened to the public after a complete make-over.

2. the Day of the 1000 Cultures, a yearly event marking the new cultural season in Amsterdam Southeast.

For the Street of Sculptures, it was a perfect opportunity to launch our Friends of the Street programme. It is a programme through which people can support the project by means of a small donation (20-500 euro).

For the Karspeldreef event, we had a presentation in an abandoned store within shopping centre Kraaiennest. Unfortunately, the store was way in the back (and smelling a bit musty). And since the weather was absolutely fantastic, everybody was enjoying the sun outside on the Karspeldreef.

At the other event however, the Street had its own outdoor booth, attracting a lot of people.

Location research with Sanja

Sonsbeek 2008

The team of Street of Sculptures went to Sonsbeek to get inspiration for our own very first art event. Lots of interesting, funny and beautiful art in a beautiful park.