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Last week NS Vastgoed agreed to having the Liberty City exhibition in Amsterdam Central Station.The exhibition commissioned by the Amsterdam 4 & 5 May committee will take place at the place where the national 5 May train is ending its tour through the country.
The space is the former International Ticket Office of the Dutch Railways at track 2 in direction of track 1.
In the coming weeks Partizan Publik will work with architect Theo Deutinger, graphic designer Jasper van der Berg and producer Pieter Schipmolder on the realization of the exhibition.
From 26 April the Liberty City exhibition will be opened for visitors.
Theo Deutinger and Andrew Snow of TD Architects, partner in the Liberty City project published in MARK magazine in collaboration with Partizan Publik an info-graphic of Free Cities in the world.
They found out that 90% of the free towns on the globe are in English, Spanish, German or Slavic speaking nations.
Deutinger and Snow distinguish between German free-market towns, Sloboda settlements and 'New World' cities.
Reference: Robert Thieman (ed.), Mark 24 (2010).
Amsterdam Centraal, or the central train station in Amsterdam, is in transformation since 1997. Stationseiland Amsterdam, Station Isle Amsterdam, is the name of the project.
The main partners of this reconstruction project, the dutch railways company NS, railway developer ProRail and the Amsterdam Municipality anticipate with this transformation the impact of the realization of the North-South Metro Line and the High Speed Train connection to Paris on the Central Station area.
The re-design is led by Benthem Crouwel Architects and Merkx and Girod Architects.
The People united will never be defeated: The People properly guided will never stray.
Last Saturday, the Studio Beirut collective launched Beyroutes in the city that it honours: Beirut. With many of the contributors packed into the tiny Papercup Bookstore, it became a happy, emotional, and shamelessly self-boosting affair.
From an upper shelve of a book cabinet, Chris Fruneaux speeched about the deep friendships that underlie the making of the book. In a talk with the Royal Netherlands Embassy’s Cultural Attache, Joost Janmaat revealed some of the inner workings of the beast we refer to as Studio Beirut. In a far corner, Rani al Rajji could be found recruiting stunningly beautiful girls into the ranks of the Bounyaks. Joe Mounzer got into a signing frenzy of his own; brazenly scribbling away at every blank spot of paper that got near. And all along, Steve Eid and Pascale Hares were standing on the pavement outside Papercup, between them the intimidatingly pretty latest addition to the squad: baby Noa.
Hard core locals, engaged tourists and nostalgic diaspora: this guide was made by a broad array of committed amateurs that project themselves onto the city. For years, they have looked to this particular city to accommodate their dreams, ambitions, curiosities and insecurities.
The result was a book about Beirut disguised as a guide. For a guide, it is a pretty lousy one. it does not have much listings of great bars and fancy restaurants. it does not give you splattering colourful accounts of the luxurious places to sleep, nor the latest haunts to dance the night away. It does, however, give you personal, subjective, intimate, and contested accounts ways to look at, experience, understand or even judge the city. Thus, you can navigate the city with Joe’s assassination tour, dig into Ashrafieh with Tony Chakar’s statements on Catastrophic Space, step into the head of artist Jan Rothuizen, who drew the annotated maps or written drawings that illustrate the cover.
Beyroutes is a guide about Beirut that could be of use in any city. They say all people are unique; the cities they live in are surprisingly similar. In every city, for example, the cheap and trashy hostels can be found just around the corner from the train or bus terminal. In every city, next to the official monuments of the state you will find the accidental monuments of the people. Thus, rather than propose a re-enactment or simulation of a particular city, in Beyroutes we propose four lenses, or looking glasses to look at the city (or any city). We give you the first impression city, the official city, the accidental city, and the emotional city. In Beyroutes, these ways of looking have lead to Zinab Chahine's survival guide to Dahiyeh, and the ultimate pieces on the infrastructure of intimacy by Maureen abu Ghanem (on the etiquette of commercial sex) and Joane Chaker (on teenage love).
With so many people present, the launched resulted in a (almost) sell out of the first print, a total depletion of the Lebanese National Reserve of Stroopwafels and a smiling stack of empty 961 bottles.
the constuction site of a part of the Skopje 2014 Urban regeneration scheme
The Pretext
The Dutch Embassy wants to promote the 'Creative Cities' concept in Skopje, and they would like to see the municipality, the independent arts & culture scene and NGO's to collaborate. Together with Robert Kluijver (who worked for NGO's the UN and his own cultural heritage institution in Kabul) I went to Skopje, uncertain what to preach and what role to play in this post-colonial creative class propaganda scheme. Personally I have been very skeptical and critical of the projects that are rolled out under the banner of Creative Industries/Class/Cities etc. Being teleported to Skopje has been an interesting confrontation with my own temperaments an opinions on the matter. In Amsterdam I am critical of everything branded as 'creative', here in Skopje I find myself preaching the creative city, an awkward feeling...
The Context
The reason is quite simple, before I can be critical of a concept, the local authorities must first have adopted it as policy, which is not the case in Skopje. Here the municipality thinks of arts & culture as handicraft and traditional artisans; like blacksmiths, weaving rugs or manufacturing baskets. When you associate culture and art with urban development in Skopje it is mainly instrumentalized to broadcast the nationalist agenda of the ruling party as put forward in the Skopje 2014 plan. Skopje 2014 is an urban regeneration plan for the city that was presented a few weeks ago which has caused quite a stir and lots of discussion in the cultural scene and society at large in Macadonia. Without any open or transparent process, the future vision of the city came as a complete surprise. See the video below they posted on Youtube
The plan consist of the installation of a dozen statues of national heroes, like a 30m high statue of Alexander the Great, a triumph arch, a huge fountain, an orthodox Christian church, and a series of neo-classical and baroque museums and institutes. A celebration of a manufactured national identity based on glorifying icons and very selective and flimsy historical arguments. So pick your way of reading this: an enormous investment and support of Macedonian culture and arts or a impressive piece of propaganda of the ruling nationalist party. Oh, and by the way the project costs something between 150 and 200 million euro. (here you can read more on the local turmoil around the 2014 plan)
So, there we are with our mission to enlighten the locals with the idea of a 'creative city' suddenly all your criticism starts to evaporate in a context like this, the propagation of the creative class emerges as a lesser evil, or as a much needed alternative to rewriting history in support of nationalist propaganda. If only the government would realize that vibrant contemporary culture is essential for modern urban life and would attract the high-educated creative class, in other words money. But it's impossible to convince them that gays, subcultures and espresso-bars are good for the city's economy.
In Control
That the authorities cannot make this leap of imagination is understandable, and not even the most problematic issue here. Cultural and creative scenes can flourish without authorities stimulating or heavily subsidizing them. But the first step is acknowledging that there can be such a thing as an independent cultural scene. One that is not under direct supervision and control of the state. 'Why would you give money, if you cannot control it?' is the governments logic. All public funds should be under absolute government control. Macedonia does has a Ministry of Culture, and you can apply for funds. But although democracy is installed, the Ministry of Culture basically is working as a favor system. There are no criteria formulated upon which applications are judged. The independent art scene hardily gets funds granted from local government institutions.
Basically there is a lack of trust that is bothering civic society on all levels. In the span of little more than a decade real estate property for instance was transfered from the Federation of Yugoslavia to the Republic of Macedonia, and then again de-nationalized to municipalities and/or privatized. All this causes a lot of ownership disputes within the government itself, where members of parliament are claiming and having disputes over property, in other words mafia practices. People remain loyal to their own networks, their own groups and are quick to distrust others. This is not a fertile ground for giving space, time and trust to things you are not in absolute control of.
The Paradox of Criticism
The paradox that I experienced in Skopje is that I am criticizing the status quo, in order that it will develop in a certain direction. Progress is the aim right? The status quo is different everywhere, and progress as well. The paradox is that the direction I'm preaching for in Skopje, is the one I'm trying to overcome in Amsterdam. It's the tragedy of criticism and progress, and that as the critical intellectual you are integral part of the causing the perpetual crisis that causes the system (and what 'system' actually?) to develop. The system will perpetually encapsulate, incorporate and claim all critical inquiry and proposed alternatives. A mixed blessing, cause you got what you wanted, ... right?
Skopje on Mediamatic Travel (as part of the workshop we collectively filled Skopje's page)
Last Wednesday, the third episode of the Syrian Film Festival Box Docs kicked off with a Dutch production as its opening film. Shout, directed by Sabine Lubbe Bakker and Ester Gould, is a documentary about two Golani teenagers that get the chance to study in their homeland Syria.
As a rogue desert storm swept the streets of Damascus, Kindi Cinema - a no-nonsense concrete theatre from the sixties - filled up to the rim. The walkways were totally clogged, television crews were crowding the aisles, and film enthusiasts were quite literally hanging from the balcony. As the last spectators tried to secure themselves a spot inside the projector room, a classic coming-of-age story unrolled.
We meet best friends Ezat and Bayan in their home village Majdal Shams on the Israeli occupied Golan Heights, as they prepare to cross one of the most contested and heavily guarded borders in the world. They are about to go to Syria, the motherland they only know from their parents’ stories. Two best friends, on an adventure of a lifetime.
[Screen shot]
Where the wildest thing in their village was getting drunk in the apple orchards, Damascus totally overwhelms them. The city takes them on like a pinball machine. But as Ezat passionately starts his drama classes, finds a warm welcome with his relatives in Syria, aggressively embraces his new freedoms and falls in love with the cutest girl of the school, Bayan struggles. With his study in medicine, with living by himself, but most of all with his longing for the village and the girl he left there. As the Golani students are not allowed to cross the border until the end of the term, we see him travel as close to the border as possible, as often as possible. In the cold, he and his loved one can just talk to each other by shouting through megaphones. At the end of the term, Ezat decides to stay in Syria, while Bayan goes back to his old life.
[Kindi Cinema]
Shout is a stunning documentary. It is a road trip through family life, friendship and adolescence. It is a tale of two cities. And it is about choice and decision. About checkpoints: quite literal, as the story moves back and forth through the UN guarded borderland between Israel en Syria, and on a more emotional level, as the two teenagers constantly force themselves and each other to assess their dreams and ambitions.
[Sabine Lubbe Bakker interviewed]
As the audience started discussing amongst themselves how two European girls had succeeded in making such an authentic, a-stereotypical movie, director Sabine Lubbe Bakker charmingly weaved her way through a series of interviews, in Arabic.
Shout will be screened in the Netherlands at Movies that Matter, the Amnesty International Film Festival, Sunday 28 March at the Spui Theater in The Hague.
Tijdens een ruimte-tijd odyssee door drie decennia van stedelijke ontwikkeling, overheidsbeleid en ‘counter culture’ in Amsterdam zou u het volgende retrospectief zien: de overgang van sociale maakbaarheid naar ruimtelijke maakbaarheid of van volksverheffing naar de verheffing van een locatie.
Het huidige station in deze reis is I Amsterdam™, een sterk merk vergezeld van het ‘broedplaatsenbeleid’ oftewel de Amsterdamse poging tot city branding in combinatie met een interpretatie van het stimuleren van de ‘creative city’. De vraagt die opkomt is echter: wiens creatieve stad, wiens Amsterdam? Filosoof Henry Lefebvre benadrukt ‘the right of the city signifies the right of citizens and city dwellers [...] to appear on all the networks and circuits of communication, information and exchange.’ Is de volgende stop van stedelijke ontwikkeling daadwerkelijk het Amsterdam waar burgers van alle rangen en standen meegenieten van creativiteit en rijkdom, en het recht kunnen claimen op de stad? Aan de hand van drie kritische onderzoekers van de Amsterdamse ontwikkeling, Justus Uitermark, Merijn Oudenampsen en Eva de Klerk, resumeren we pogingen in de afgelopen dertig jaar om de het recht op de stad in praktijk te brengen.
Tachtiger jaren: ‘De stad is van ons’
In de jaren tachtig was kraken een vorm van ‘politieke ideologie en strijd’. Het streven was een ‘staat in een staat’ omheind door fysieke barricades, als militante en exclusieve vorm van een vrijstaat met de neiging tot generieke verwerping van gezag en instituties. De beweging werd gekenmerkt door een ongedifferentieerde kritiek op de ‘heersende klasse’, het stadsbestuur, de speculanten, ‘de staat’ en de sociale democratie. Belangrijk voor de lokale, stedelijke gebiedsontwikkeling in deze periode is een strategiewijziging van de gemeente Amsterdam, die vanaf midden jaren 80 ontruimingen van kraakpanden gaat combineren met de bestuurlijke aankoop van de panden in kwestie. De panden blijven zodoende behouden voor huisvesting. Aan de krakers wordt daarmee een gewetensvraag gesteld: zijn zij bereid te verhuizen om zo het algemeen belang boven hun eigenbelang te stellen? Dit is het begin van de selectieve toenadering van de overheid, of zoals Uitermark het noemt de ‘omarming van de subversiviteit’.
Negentiger jaren: 'De stad als Casco'
‘Geld verdienen in de panden, niet aan de panden’, dat is het credo van de stad-als-cascomethode. Zowel in theorie als in de praktijk keert zich deze coöperatieve stadsontwikkelingmethode tegen de gemeentelijke, op winstmaximalisatie gerichte, grondprijspolitiek. Om met het top-down ‘een ontwikkelaar, een financier’- paradigma voor een heel gebied te kunnen breken, legt deze strategie de nadruk op de collectieve verantwoordelijkheid van gebruikers voor de ontwikkeling en het beheer van stedelijke gebieden. Van meet af aan worden eindgebruikers (wonen, werken, recreëren) als actieve partners bij het ontwikkelingsproces betrokken. Collectieve afspraken vormen de basis voor een geleidelijk stadsontwikkelingsproces van onderaf, met zeggenschap en verantwoordelijkheid aan de kant van de eindgebruiker bij kwesties omtrent financiering, ontwikkeling en beheer van zowel de bouwstructuur als de omliggende buitenruimte.
Nu: broedplaatsen en de creatieve stad TM
In het ‘Creative City’ paradigma worden kunstenaars omgevormd tot creatieve ondernemers, (sub) culturen vermarkt en de ‘lokale cultuur’ moet een trekpleister zijn voor toeristen. Het beleid is gericht op de annexatie van de culturele sector, waarin een versmelting plaatsvindt van het culturele veld met de politiek-economische agenda van de overheid. Cultuur als ‘software’ voor de bestaande of nog te ontwikkelen ‘hardware’. ‘Creativiteit’ wordt eerst gelokaliseerd, gehuisvest, in haar fragiele fase door beleid en regelgeving beschermd en gemest, om na een periode van groei geslacht te kunnen worden. In principe is dit zowel van toepassing op grootschalige top-down projecten als, op het eerste gezicht meer radicale, nicheprojecten.
Partizan Publik bezoekt op zaterdag 13 maart het Gangeviertel in Hamburg en spreekt ook onder de titel 'Sprechtstunde Amsterdam'
Referenties: Justus Uitermark ‘De omarming van subversiviteit’. Agora 24.3, (2004): pp 32-35, Merijn Oudenampsen 'Back to the Future of the Creative City: An Archaeological Approach to Amsterdam’s Creative Redevelopment'. MyCreativity Reader (2007): pp 165-176, http://www.evadeklerk.com/downloads/stad%20als%20casco.pdf. Photos of NDSM by Christian Ernsten
Launching of 'Beyroutes, a guide to Beirut' 6 March, 5 - 7pm at Papercup Bookstore, Beirut.
25.02 detroitunrealestateagency.blogspot.com
ReadyMade Magazine visited Detroit and published a photo series of the works of artists Jimini Hignett, Tyree Guyton, Mitch Cope & Gina Reichert and Gregory Holm & Matthew Radune on its blog. The commentary on the trip starts with a comparison of these works and French high-wire artist Philippe Petit walk between the unfinished twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York in 1974.[Image taken from ReadyMade blog]The writer of the blog post - ReadyMade editor-in-chief Andrew Wagne...
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The russian revolution of 1917 unleashed the biggest experiment in applied social utopia in human history. For more than a decade, the bolsheviks set off a barrage of extravagant visions for the total transformation of their world. They were in search for the Happy Man.
Picture from Stites, Revolutionary Dreams
One of the leading figures in this swirlingly creative dream was Alexei Gastev (1882-1939). He was a fighter and agitator in the Revolution, and in 1920 he became the founder and director of the Central Institute of Labor in Moscow. Richard Stites discusses Gastev's utopian ambitions in Revolutionary Dreams: Utopian vision and experimental life in the Russian Revolution (1991).
At the Institute, Gastev became one of the most active advocates of taylors scientific management. He set about to transform Russia into the Soviet Union - a rural society into an industrial society - by developing means to engineer mass behaviour. People that had worked with a shovel for generation had to be taught mechanical, repetitive motions. To promote an ultimate symbiosis between man and machine, worker and factory, he developed the Social Engineering Machine.
However, the exact plans to this contraption appear lost. They probably were destroyed when Gastev fell from grace and was executed during Stalins Reign of Terror. For a brilliant and beautiful introduction into Gastev, his machine and the social engineering of the early Boshevik, watch Adam Curtis' Pandoras Box, part 1: The Engineers plot.
Dutch sculptor Diederick Kraaijeveld will present his three ´Icons of Hope´: monumental assemblages, done in originally colored wood the artist salvaged in numerous abandoned buildings in Detroit. Proceeds of the sale of the pieces will go directly to urban renewal projects in the city of Detroit. This project is backed by the Detroit Unreal Estate Agency.
Opening Friday the 5th of March 2010 18:30 until 21:30 at Carhartt Store Hartenstraat 18 Amsterdam Music by DJ Taco Fett. You are cordially invited to celebrate the opening with us.
Het Amsterdams 4&5 mei Comité riep in Theater Frascati Amsterdamse organisaties op om zich aan te sluiten bij de avondprogrammering op 4 mei en het Amsterdamse Bevrijdingsfestival op 5 mei. De onlangs aangetreden voorzitter Sijbolt Noorda presenteerde dinsdag 16 februari de plannen van het comité. Eén van de opvallendste veranderingen: de viering van 5 mei verhuist naar verschillende locaties in het centrum van de hoofdstad.
4 mei: extra aandacht voor avond en nachtprogramma
Naast de meer dan zeventig herdenkingsactiviteiten die op 4 mei 2010 in Amsterdam plaatsvinden, werkt het Comité mee aan nieuwe programma’s tijdens de avond en nacht van 4 mei. Het initiatief Theater Na de Dam is daar een voorbeeld van: in theaters in en rond de Nes vinden voorstellingen plaats. Ook in Felix Meritis, verschillende kerken, de Hollandse Schouwburg, de OBA, het Concertgebouw en diverse andere locaties worden na de twee minuten stilte activiteiten georganiseerd.
5 mei: nieuwe locaties Bevrijdingsfestival
Het Amsterdamse Bevrijdingsfestival krijgt een programma met muziek, theater, debat en tentoonstellingen verspreid over de Amsterdamse binnenstad. ‘We willen een nieuwe generatie kritisch mee laten praten en denken over vrijheid. Elke organisatie die daaraan een bijdrage kan leveren is zeer welkom’, aldus voorzitter Noorda. De titel van het festival dit jaar is Amsterdam Liberty City.
Op de Dam zullen onder andere Junkie XL, Moss en Gotcha! Allstars optreden. Er is ook een muziekpodium op het Nesplein en in drie clubs in de binnenstad. In een tentoonstelling staat de vraag centraal of Amsterdam de meest vrije stad ter wereld is. ‘De Grote Vrijheidsstrijd’ is een avondprogramma in Felix Meritis, waar tal van opinieleiders en kunstenaars hun visie geven op het thema vrijheid. Daarnaast zijn er ook op het Spui, het Beursplein en de Veemkade activiteiten. Op de Amstel vindt traditiegetrouw het 5 mei-concert plaats, georganiseerd door het Nationaal Comité 4 en 5 mei.
Voor meer informatie en interviewafspraken kunt u contact opnemen met:
arthur@partizanpublik.nl
The renovation of the Bus has started. A team of VMBOT students from the Bredero College began their internship today under the guidance of Joost Janmaat, Gerbrand Dros and Jaspar Harlaar. Below the student group will be shortly introduced.
Milo Lammers. Milo is heading towards a bright future at the Maritime Academy after graduating. He likes the renovation project since together with his father he’s used to working on their own house boat in Amsterdam Zeeburg.
Ralf Hovers. With his 17 years of life experience, Ralf is a senior at Bredero. After graduating he’s in for a career in the media field.
The bus from above.
Sander Roos. Sander is 17 and working as a pizza delivery boy, which is a fundamental function in the food chain for the Staalvilla.
Michelle Cairo. Michelle is going to be a real estate agent later on. But as a experienced carpenter - helping out her dad regularly at home - she’s going to teach the boys a lesson, if need be.
The bus from the back.
Jonathan ‘John’ Cakici. John is 15 years old, and despite the freezing temperatures, he says he likes the project until now. John is gonna shake up the media landscape later on.
Bülent Karay. This 15 years old guy knows what he wants. His master plan is becoming a pilot, and if this does not work out, as a back up he ’would consider’ becoming a teacher.
Jasper and Gerbrand at the workplace.
Photos and text by Bjorn and Christian
12.02 eldersishetook.wordpress.com
De World Press Photo van het jaar 2009 is gewonnen door de Italiaanse freelance fotograaf Pietro Masturzo. Zijn foto toont vrouwen die ’s nachts uit protest vanaf hun dakterras over de daken van Teheran schreeuwen. Volgens de fotograaf is dit in Iran momenteel een veelgebruikte manier van protesteren tegen het regime. Het van de daken...
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'Since the development of technology and the dissapearance of ideological differences has led to a globalization of economic, cultural and social life on our planet, the horizontal frontier is vanishing.'
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This writes Bart Goldhoorn, former editor in chief, in Project Russia (2000/1). He follows by saying: '[...] our challenge lies in the vertical direction - in space.' But what is the value for contemporary culture of the exploration of the cosmos does Goldhoorn ask.
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He suggests that the key for solving this question might be found in the work of Igor Kozlov. He and his colleagus tried to find an answer to the question: 'how to create satisfactory living conditions in an environment that does not offer physical impulses.'
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Here above some examples of his work as published as published in Project Russia.
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5. Cosmic architecture and the Russian Avant-garde
Partizan Publik's Christian Ernsten and architect Andrea Brennen are leading a Volume research project on the relation between architecture and science with as a case study the Moon.
The Staalvila started its first collaborative project: the Bus.
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Partizan Publik and Tolhuistuin-caretaker Jasper Harlaar in collaboration with students from the Bredero college in Amsterdam-North will execurte a first renovation.
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The bus is strategically located at the back entrance of the Tolhuistuin and the front entrance of the Van der Pek Neighborhood. Next steps might include a workplace/residency for local neighbors, a coffee bar and a free wireless project.
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Joost, Jasper, Pieter-Paul, Touria en Francis hebben met vereende krachten de Moonshine Bus een zeer lastige bijzondere verrichting laten uitvoeren. Na een paar rondes langs de pont en een mislukte poging om de bus achter uit in te steken, reed Joost terug naar de Mosveld rotonde, alwaar zij opgewacht werden door de politie die hen vroeg; of waar zij wel niet mee bezig waren?
Met een grijns en een knipoog reden Jasper en Joost en Leon( van Whilling Wheels) langs de dubbelgeparkeerde auto's op de Van der Pek. Hier werden zij met luid gejuich ontvangen door Touria en Francis.
Op naar de Tolhuistuin voor poging twee. Na veel heen en weer gemanoeuvreer, heeft de bus voor de Staalvilla een straatje weten te keren. Palen en nietjes en plantenbakken werden door de noeste strijders naar betere oorden verwezen.
Joost op de trekker, Francis achter het stuur, Jasper het brein, Touria het hart en Pieter-Paul de longen en interne organen (koffie en Gas op die Lollie!)
Kortom......feest!
De Bus staat.
En kijk dan hoe strak hij langs de stoep staat!
02.02 detroitunrealestateagency.blogspot.com
Last Monday on Dutch (VPRO) television bro "Doorstart Detroit" (reboot detroit) was broadcasted. About the shared faith of GM an Detroit, and if the crisis will lead to new insights or not. Watch it full below, (All in English, Dutch Subtitles)
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Beyroutes. A guide to Beirut was reviewed in NRC Handelsblad, the Dutch quality daily newspaper on 30 January 2010. The guide book initiated by Studio Beirut was celebrated because of its succesful collaboration between Lebanese and Dutch architects, artists and others.
Journalist Herien Wensink mentioned the maps by artist Jan Rothuizen, photos by photographer Cleo Campert as well as the 'Fantasy Houses' article by Rani al Rajji and Christian Ernsten.
Order at your local bookstore: Beyroutes. A Guide to Beirut ISBN 9789077966549. Or online via NAi Booksellers of Reisboekhandel Pied a Terre.
In 2004 heeft de Gemeenteraad gekozen voor de slogan ‘I amsterdam’. In de opdracht stond dat deze helder, kort en krachtig moest worden. Reclamebureau Kesselskramer is hierin geslaagd: de huidige slogan is makkelijk te onthouden en mensen kunnen zich eenvoudig mee identificeren. Maar is dit genoeg?
[Photo via Flickr, By Duncan Davidson]
Den Haag staat bekend als de ‘stad van de vrede’, en ‘Rotterdam werkt’. De boodschap ‘I amsterdam’ daarentegen verwijst slechts naar zichzelf. Er worden geen kwaliteiten van de stad of haar inwoners benadrukt of uitgelicht. Het benadrukt eerder individualiteit dan gemeenschappelijkheid. Wanneer zou je ‘Amsterdam’ zijn? Ben je ‘Amsterdam’ na een dagje in de Kalverstraat? Ben je ‘Amsterdam’ als je er als expat woont maar de taal niet spreekt? Ben je ‘Amsterdam’; zodra je je hebt ingeschreven in het register? Is iedereen ‘Amsterdam’? Maar wat ben je dan?
'I amsterdam' blijft een inhoudsloze slogan, een zwakke kopie van de beroemde slogan‘I love New York’ (waar een sterke emotie uitspreekt). Of scherper geformuleerd: I amsterdam lijkt een hedonistische oneliner voor een stad die veel meer te bieden heeft. Waar gaat het nu echt om in Amsterdam? Wat maakt Amsterdam nou echt tot een unieke plek in de wereld?
Op vrijdag 2 oktober jl. stond er een interview in NRC Next met priester Wilson Varela die in 1999 vanuit Colombia naar Nederland kwam. Hij wist bij aankomst niets van Nederland, maar zijn gedachte over Amsterdam was tekenend: ‘Mijn beeld ging niet verder dan kaas, molens en Amsterdam als icoon van vrijheid.’ Inderdaad, Amsterdam is internationaal bekend als hoofdstad van een gidsland op verschillende terreinen, zoals euthanasie en het softdrugsbeleid, homoseksualiteit en vrijheid van meningsuiting. De Amsterdamse openheid richting andersdenkenden en de bereidheid omstreden kwesties met een objectieve blik tegemoet te treden is een traditie die eeuwen teruggaat. En dit is wat Amsterdam wereldwijd bekend en geliefd maakt.
Amsterdam zou erkend moeten worden als stad van de vrijheid. Nergens anders dan in Amsterdam is het zo duidelijk dat vrijheid een handeling is - Amsterdammers nemen de vrijheid: van Gay Pride tot het in de wind slaan van het rookverbod - maar ook een dialoog. Discussies over gedoogbeleid, het recht om te discrimineren en kraakbeleid zijn geen trends, maar kenmerken van een diepgewortelde traditie van vrijheidsbeoefening die voortdurend getest wordt.
Dit is Amsterdam. De stad waarin buurtinitiatieven floreren, waar alternatievelingen naar hartelust kunnen experimenteren met kunst en muziek, waar iedere nieuwkomer de kans krijgt eigen initiatieven te ontplooien. En vooral de stad waar we over al onze verschillende waarden en opvattingen kunnen discussiëren. In Amsterdam leeft men, sinds eeuwen, in vrijheid. Dat moet we koesteren en toekomst geven.
Partizan Publik
P.S. Bij onze oosterburen in Hamburg is in augustus 2009 een manifest gepubliceerd dat in gaat op de gevolgen van city branding, herstructurering en top-down gentrification. Het manifest was de aftrap van een in Duitsland inmiddels op nationaal niveau gevoerde discussie over stedelijke ontwikkeling en het 'recht op de stad'.
Reactie van Richard Florida op het manifest van Hamburg.
Or actually - finding a wind turbine - for electrification was one of the outcomes of a meeting Partizan Publik had with people from the Tolhuistuin about designing a self-powered Neighbourhood-Coffee-Bar-Bus.
1. Bus, Buiksloterham. 24 January 2010.
Inquiry with our friends from Design 99 in Detroit proved very usefull. Mitch Cope explained that for their Power House project they use the Air Breeze wind mill. Mitch also explained he's using a Deka 8a8d 225 amp/hr battery.
2. Power House by Design 99, 16 December 2009. Air Breeze on the roof.
3. Power House by Design 99, 16 December 2009. A Deka 8a8d 225 amp/hr battery.
In the Netherlands the Air Breeze is sold amongst others by Eco-Energy in Spaarndam. I remembered then that also artist Marjetica Portc did projects with wind turbines. She did a project at the Catherine Ferguson Academy in Detroit, but also more recently she did a project in collaboration with Vriza at the Piraeus buiilding in Amsterdam, entitled Wind Turbine and Look Out.
4. 'Look Out with Wind Turbine' by Marjectica Portc. 24 January 2010 Piraeus Building
5. 'Look Out with Wind Turbine' by Marjectica Portc. 24 January 2010 Piraeus Building
It will be an interesting assignment to figure out how to use a wind turbine for the electrification of the bus. But besides that we still have to do work on isolation, heating, the roof, the floor and furniture. Help and advise is more than welcome.
6. Bus, Buiksloterham. 24 January 2010.
7. Interior Bus, Buiksloterham. 24 January 2010.
8. Driver's Seat. 24 January 2010.
HOW ARMENIA'S FUTURE OUTNUMBERED IT'S PASTS
Yerevan, March 2009. Photos by Karin Grigoryan
In March 2008, Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, a former Soviet republic in the Southern Caucasus, briefly made its way to our television screens. News channels displayed how, after a disputed election, angry masses filled the city’s central streets and squares. Northern Avenue, a recently finalized prestigious development project in the centre of Yerevan, being one of them. After an intense period of daily demonstrations and protest, outgoing president Robert Kotcharian declared a state of emergency and restored order. In response to his aggressive intervention, during which many were severely beaten and imprisoned, citizens made Northern Avenue into the key site for civil disobedience. During several months, mothers with children, elderly and veterans ignored the ban on public gatherings and held daily meetings at five o’clock in this street to demand accountability of the public administration.
Yerevan, March 2009. Photos by Karin Grigoryan
Although the buildings’ mortar is still fresh, the Northern Avenue is the final realization of a city plan, designed by bolshevist architect Alexander Tamanyan in 1924. Tamanyan circle shaped city is based on the fictional Sun City in Tomasso Campanella’s early utopian work La città del Sole (1602). The twenty-seven meter wide Northern Avenue with eight to nine floor buildings on either side is the first pedestrian street in Yerevan. The owners of the expensive apartments are, amongst others, the more affluent members of the Armenian Diaspora. The assortment of shops and boutiques on the ground floor, notably Dolce & Gabbana or United Colours of Benetton and alike, clearly also cater to the high-end consumer. With the Northern Avenue the post-soviet elite of Armenia fulfilled their desire to create a place for all Armenians to be proud of and ‘an earth quake in terms of the architecture of their city.’(1)
Aerial photo of central Yerevan, the circle shaped city.
Indeed, some distraction from daily life of Yerevan seems more than welcome to its inhabitants. The ending of the Soviet Union and the subsequent war between Armenians and Azeris over Nagorno Karabakh (1988-1994) brought the average Armenian a lot of hardship. Not only in terms of war trauma and loss of family, but since 1994 a clan controlled economy, as well as, a blockade imposed by Azerbaijan and Turkey have resulted in widespread poverty. Fifty percent of the population lives below the poverty line. And even though a committed Diaspora guarantees a steady influx of money, really only the happy few live a better life since the political transformation from communism. (2) That said, the Northern Avenue has little to offer for the majority of the inhabitants of the city accept as a shortcut route for pedestrians or as a symbolic place to protest at against the current regime.
Destruction of homes
The city quarter of which the Northern Avenue is part is as large as ten hectare and used to be made up by ‘illegal’ partly wooden houses of one or two stories. These buildings were in bad condition. According to Narek Sargsyan, the city architect, the structures were of no particular architecture and could be considered as ‘a cancer in the city’(3). The privatization of the area in 2000 cleared the way for a radical urban makeover. Approximately 2000 inhabitants were convinced to evacuate from their houses. They were entitled to have a reimbursement of 300 USD per square meter. Interestingly, a bonus system gave people an incentive to abandon their houses promptly: leaving within five days meant gaining 40 percent extra per square meter. Yet, since real estate prices in Yerevan during the last few years rose at an incredible pace none of the original inhabitants of this area found alternative housing in the neighbourhood.
Numbered house, Yerevan 2008. Photo by Aukje Dekker
Not only were tenants forced from their homes and were their houses destroyed, the realization of the Northern Avenue project also meant the destruction of an important site of memory. When clearing the area, bulldozers destroyed the green zone in the nineteenth-century Pushkin Street. The old fruit trees in this street were of symbolic meaning to the inhabitants of the city. They had survived the onslaught onto the city’s greenery during the winters of the early independence years. In this harsh period electricity black outs were so frequent that people desperately burned whatever they could find to survive temperatures of minus 25. Yet, families living in Pushkin Street adopted the fruit trees. They protected them and confined them their secret stories. And over the course of time also many others sought shelter and comfort with these plants. The destruction of the neighbourhood let to protest and to the founding of a National Citizens’ Initiative, which examined potential violation of property rights. Yet, the government muted its efforts by incriminating the lawyer who defended some of the residents.(4)
Numbered house, Yerevan 2008. Photo by Aukje Dekker
Instead, in order to pacify the people, officials promised to preserve some houses on a different location. Indeed, they pledged that the buildings would be carefully taken down stone by stone, stored, and rebuild on a later moment. They envisioned a proper nineteenth century street to be fabricated, a thematic collage from the fragments of the old buildings. Twenty-nine houses were considered worthy of rescuing according to government researchers. And thus, in a truly bureaucratic way – numbering each stone of the houses carefully - the facades of the newly appointed monuments were rescued. Yet, most inhabitants of Yerevan do not believe the government’s story. The only house that was reconstructed until now happens to be the current headquarters of the ruling Armenian Nationalist Party. Still, no one knows for sure what happened to the stones, feeding to the haunted ambiance of the Northern Avenue area.
Dreams of the future
‘This street makes me afraid’, remarked Vardan Azatyan, a local art historian.(5) According to Azatyan the new avenue, connecting Republican Square with the Opera House represents a new type of totalitarian politics, which came about since the ending of the Soviet Union. The street’s architecture is the product of an agreement between the post-soviet political regime and the capital from the Diaspora and Russian developers. The cultural vision transpiring from this agreement seems to be based on a complex set of Armenian experiences. The Northern Avenue could namely be understood as inspired by a four-vectored dream of the Armenian future: to the left – based on the remnants of the country’s Soviet legacy, to the right - celebrating the country’s national traditions, backwards - into the mythical Christian past and forward – firmly embracing market capitalism.(6) And, as such, the realization of Northern Avenue is an attempt by the Armenian elite to fix the post-soviet identity.
1.
2. Northern Avenue, Yerevan 2008. Photos by Aukje Dekker
Indeed, strangely enough, the design of Northern Avenue is inspired by Stalinist architecture but becomes carrier of new type of Armenian nationalism (7), ‘high technological nationalism’, according Azatyan. To Sargsyan, the architect of the city, the Northern Avenue is, first and foremost a stylistic synthesis of the Neo-classicist Opera House and Modernist Republican Square. Yet, in explaining the origins of the project, he firmly places the dream to finalize Tamanyan’s city plan in the period of the nationalist war with Azerbaijan. It was in 1990 that Sargsyan and his colleagues were under siege in Nagorno-Karabakh, when he decided that Armenians all around the world needed the Northern Avenue as a new national symbol.(8) For Diaspora Armenians their visits to Yerevan could be seen as a spiritual experience and, align to this, their contribution to the city’s renewal a way of paying redemption for their absence. Financing the Northern Avenue is a way for them to re-root or regain a home they were once forced to abandon.
Northern Avenue, Yerevan 2008. Photos by Aukje Dekker
Mourning the past
Paradoxically, due to the construction of Northern Avenue again a part of Armenia’s past is lost, namely that of the Pushkin Street quarter. The realization of the street exemplifies how one man’s dream can be another’s nightmare. Moreover, it displays how the destruction of habitat appears to be a returning element in the Armenian history (e.g. the Armenian genocide and the loss of the national symbol, Mount Ararat). Azatyan detects a strategic mourning amongst Armenians leading to an extreme spiritual seclude in terms of the national collective experience, namely a focus on the exclusive role of the Armenians in the Christian history and the suffering they had to endure. Explaining the remaking of the capital, he argues that Armenians make their own suffering last longer by a perpetual destruction of their own cultural environment. As such, Northern Avenue can be seen as cutting open an old historical wound.(9) And, as a result, the every day memories of the old neighbourhood are erased by mythologized history of collective survival.(10)
Northern Avenue, Yerevan 2008. Photos by Aukje Dekker
Northern Avenue constitutes a particular dream about the Armenian future, align to a nationalist ideology; the numbered stones of the houses are the evidence of a more fragmented past. The memory the neighbourhood only lives through in oral history of the people. Consequently a question comes to mind, namely: who owns the Armenian past? And, would there be space for a different politics of hope? Instead of contributing to a further marginalization of the urban poor, urban professionals could give an incentive to deal in a more profound way with the socio-economic and cultural challenges of post-Soviet Armenia. Could the Armenian dream encompass an ambitious urban agenda and a vision on human rights and social justice? At the moment, the first people move into the new apartments above the fancy storefronts of the Northern Avenue. As their first act they could reconcile with the old inhabitants of the place, which pasts were outnumbered by their vision on the Armenian future.
By Christian Ernsten and Joost Janmaat
Sources
1. Interview with Narek Sargsyan, 29 May 2008.
2. URL: http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=2454&l=1 (5 October 2008).
3. Interview with Narek Sargsyan on 29 May 2008.
4. URL: http://oneworld.blogsome.com/2007/02/28/protest-outside-presidential-palace/#more-1388 (12 October 2008) and URL: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/EUR01/017/2006/en/dom-EUR010172006en.html (12 October 2008).
5. Interview with Vardan Azatyan on 17 Januray 2008.
6. Idem.
7. Interview with Vahram Aghasyan on 22 January 2008.
8. Interview with Narek Sargsyan on 29 May 2008.
9. Public Culture 2 (2008).
10. Interview with Vardan Azatyan on 17 Januray 2008.
Housing Corporation Ymere, which owns about 100% of the housing stock in the Van der Pek neighborhood in Amsterdam - North has made two buildings available for testing out future model homes.
1. Looking from the Van der Pekstraat towards the Tolhuistuin.
2. The boarded up building on the Van der Pek Street.
The buildings at the Van der Pek Street and the Begonia Street, which will be transformed from eight household blocks into something new, are boarded up at the moment. The neighborhood use to be totally social housing for lower income families.
The families are in a process of being relocated to elsewhere in Amsterdam and during the last years these houses where inhabitants by artists.
3. The Van der Pek Street
4. Side view of the building on the Van der Pek Street.
A critical discourse on these urban renewal development in Amsterdam is coming together. Take a look for example at the Nomads in Amsterdam - West project or at the work of academic Justus Uitermark.
5. Gardens behind the building.
6. The boarded up building on the Begonia Street.
7. Front view of the building on the Begonia Street
8. View from the Buiksloterweg on the transformation of the former Shell terrain.
At the Staalvilla we're in the process of setting up a cooperative, why? The Staalvilla is part of the Tolhuistuin a so called: incubator or broedplaats. Amsterdam has the 'creative class' high on the agenda, and these incubators are part of their vision on how the cit should develop. But what is our possition is creatives in this? Especially we as small independent creatives, that are not primarily driven by earning money, but by doing the projects they believe in.
We as 'creatives' have to acknowledge that we are being instrumental:
- IN THE CITY’S IDENTITY A.K.A ‘CREATIVE CAPITAL
- IN THE CITY’S URBAN DEVELOPMENT A.K.A ‘BROEDPLAATS’ OR ‘INCUBATOR’
- IN THE GENERATION OF REAL ESTATE VALUE A.K.A ‘AWARENESS OF A PLACE TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC’
- IN THE PROCESS OF ‘GENTRIFICATION’
We as 'creatives' are primary driven by oppurtinism:
- AS LONG AS THE RENT IS LOW ENOUGH
- AS LONG AS THERE ARE ‘KINDRED SPIRITS’ AROUND
It's all OK, because what we want is:
- AS LITTLE HASSLE AS POSSIBLE.
- TIME & SPACE TO CREATE.
So how do we move beyond being used by, the municipality and real estate developers, we could ask ourselves these questions:
ECONOMICALLY
- CAN’T WE GET A BETTER DEAL FOR ‘MAKING A PLACE’ ‘GENERATING REAL ESTATE VALUE’ THAN JUST A “LOW” RENT?
IDEOLOGICALLY
- AS ‘CHANGE AGENTS’ CAN’T WE PLAY A MORE MEANINGFUL ROLE BESIDES KICK-STARTING GENTRIFICATION?
SO: LET'S UNITE!
A perfect way to do this, where economic and ideological interests of the group 'small creatives' can be brougth together is in the cooperative model.
- DEFINITION: A co-operative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise.
- VALUES: Co-operatives are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. In the tradition of their founders, co-operative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others. - More can be found here: Statement on the Co-operative identity
So what would be the objectives of a cooperative for small creatives are our interests:
ECONOMIC
- SHORT TERM: GET A BETTER DEAL - LONG TERM: DEVELOP OURSELVES
IDEOLOGIC
- SHORT TERM: GET INFLUENCE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF NORTH - LONG TERM: DEVELOP AND EXECUTE ALTERNATIVE STRATEGIES OF CITY DEVELOPMENT IN WHICH ‘GENTRIFICATION’ IS COUNTERED
Now we'll work out what would be the first steps in terms of who to enter in dialogue with, and how to actually set up a cooperative in legal terms.
More next time ...
12.01 eldersishetook.wordpress.com
Maandagmiddag tekende de twintigjarige voetballer Vagif Javadov, in aanwezigheid van FC Twente voorzitter Joop Munsterman en zijn vader Fizüli, een contract dat hem voor drieëneenhalf jaar aan de club uit Enschede bindt.
De aanvaller van FK Qarabagh Agdam is het grootste talent van Azerbeidzjan. Hij maakte indruk tijdens de Europa League-ontmoeting in augustus. “That’s Javadov, right?”,...
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11.01 detroitunrealestateagency.blogspot.com
The front section of the New York Times featured two extensive articles on midtown Detroit--one on several small creative enterprises, the other on TechTown, the Wayne State sponsored incubator. Most of the businesses in the first--Leopold's Books, Good Girls Go to Paris, The Bureau of Urban Living and the excellent Burton Theatre are all within walking (!) distance of one another. Leopold's specializes in graphic novels, Good Girls has a great, diverse bustling vibe, and The Burton show...
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In fields of business, politics and design unfamiliar partnerships focused on the necessity of radical urban change seem to be occurring. These collaborations are focused on sustainable innovation among communities of different types of users. Local neighborhood strategies are enriched with experiences from elsewhere on the globe. Industrial research organizations are trying to mobilize knowledge from across the globe to innovate better and faster. Municipalities are trying to stimulate neighborhoods and their industrial base.
The incentive of these experimental collaborations, which could perhaps be referred to as ‘community labs’ is a refreshing type of culture of engagement: a process–oriented collaboration, with an open type of communication, which is not necessary end-goal driven, yet focused on sharing knowledge in order to improve.
This type of engagement can be observed among artists and architects. It is emerging out of a sense of urgency and seeks to exploit the opportunity for a new kind of artistic agency in post-industrial cities, in which, to paraphrase curator Charles Esche, ‘regional art and site-specific production are combined, a kind of everyday life art’. The role of Design 99 in Detroit is notable in this context. The architect and artist that make up this collective do not only work as commercial design consultants, they collaborate with neighbors in a social and economic deprived neighborhood where urban governance has failed to make a difference in order to develop a more sustainable security level in terms of energy and security.
These unfamiliar partnerships can also be seen to emerge in business and social institutions. The roundtable projects of economist Jeremy Rifkin are of interest. In collaboration with national and city governments Rifkin intends to develop a system for generating clean energy and of sharing the production surplus through an exchange network with the neighbors. In collaboration with architects as Stefano Boeri, he is developing a scheme for buildings that can produce energy.
A third example is the lightning division of the Dutch company Philips, which is collaborating with local governments and museums in Eindhoven in order to further develop their society driven innovation approach. In a quest to find the successor for their successful home lab, an innovation test facility, Philips opened its communication channels to communities.
As Rifkin says, if successful, these projects could very well help what explore different types of human settlements. These cooperative projects, which have a clear local basis yet are very globally linked in the peer-to-peer world wide web. They could represent a form of transformation in which a small community supervises a process of improvement in close communication with the larger urban community, which is perhaps more skeptical and less flexible.
Sources: Jeremy Rifkin, The Hydrogen Economy (New York 2003), URL: http://www.bamboostones.net/, Stefano Boeri Lecture, 'Sustainanable City', Amsterdam 18 March 2009.
03.01 detroitunrealestateagency.blogspot.com
And yet Hantz is fully aware of the potentially historic scope of what he is proposing. After all, he's talking about accumulating hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of acres inside a major American city. And it's clear that he views Hantz Farms as his legacy. Already he's told his 21-year-old daughter, Lauren, his only heir, that if she wants to own the land one day, she has to promise him she'll never sell it. "This is like buying a penthouse in New York in 1940," Hantz says. "...
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