02 May 2009

Open Source Amsterdam: Biennial of Art in Public Space, Amsterdam Zuidoost

Open Source Amsterdam is the first edition of a series of five biennial events dedicated to art in public space organized by the Foundation Straat van Sculpturen.

Curated by Helga Lasschuijt, this year's project traces a new 'street of sculptures' within an area that has been subject to profound transformations over the past few decades. The Bijlmer is one of the Amsterdam neighbourhoods where several urban and architectural experiments have taken place, which have generated a unique interaction between the corporate culture and its futurist architecture, the community of artists living in the area, and the local inhabitants' colourful mix of identities.

Open Source is more than just a title; it refers to the principles of accessibility and peer-based collaboration familiar from the world of computer software, while also underlining the curatorial approach both to the invited artists as well as the local context.

The project's mission is to investigate how the past can be a vitalizing and inspiring force from which we can draw strength in the present, and generate opportunities for the future. The Open Source's 'street of sculptures' consists exclusively of newly commissioned works realized by well known international and Dutch artists:

Jennifer Allora & Guillermo Calzadilla (USA/Cuba), James Beckett (Zimbabwe), Michael Beutler (Germany), Hadassah Emmerich (The Netherlands), Thomas Hirschhorn (Switzerland), Sanja Medic (Serbia), Amalia Pica (Argentina), Peter Stel (The Netherlands), Pascale Marthine Tayou (Cameroun), Jennifer Tee (The Netherlands), Rob Voerman (The Netherlands ), Chikako Watanabe (Japan), Nicky Zwaan (Burkina Faso), and the collectives Vinger.nl and Urban Alliance (the Netherlands)

The exhibited projects reflect upon the various types of relations established within such a hybrid architectural and social context, proposing various interventions that unravel the city grids and subjectively reconstruct the very notion of public space.

Without a doubt, an unprecedented exchange with the local community is highlighted in Thomas Hirschhorn's project 'The Bijlmer Spinoza Festival'. This 'presence and production' art project offers a new perspective on the very definition of public participation, while at the same time stimulating, as Thomas Hirschhorn has said, the creation of 'non-exclusive audiences', the 'coexistence' and 'cooperation' with the inhabitants of the Bijlmer. A daily program of lectures, seminars and performances will be announced on the project's website: www.thebijlmerspinozafestival.nl

The event is open to the public from May 9- July 11, 2009. After the closure date, five of the 15 exhibited works will remain on permanent display. 


A map describing the route of the event will be available both at the visitor's information centre as well as on flyers that will be distributed during the course of the event, and can also be downloaded from our website: www.opensourceamsterdam.nl

The visiting route starts from the Parkeergarage Kraaiennest, Kleiburg 1, 1104 EA Amsterdam Zuidoost, where you'll also find also the visitor's information centre, designed by the artist Peter Stel.

The information centre is open daily from 9:30 AM – 5:30 PM.

Visitors who chose the alternate route from the train station Bijlmer Arena can find a second information centre near the station, which will be open from Tuesday to Saturday, from 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

Every weekend, several guided tours will be organized for groups and individual visitors. For reservations, please contact the organizers by e-mail (rondleidingen@straatvansculpturen.nl), by phone (tel: +31.20.60086100, or by registering at the visitor's information centre.

For more information: info@straatvansculpturen.nl