Art City NDSM

What is Art City NDSM?

Firstly, it is the Art City - the Kunststad - the complex of self-designed, self-built and co-owned studios and workspaces which together form the original 'breeding ground' (broedplaats) in the NDSM Loods at the NDSM shipyard on the shores of the IJ in the north of Amsterdam.

Secondly, Art City is a artists and makers initiative arising out of this community.

Art City NDSM defends and develops the ideals and ideas of the NDSM breeding ground and builds on the collective memory of this space and community of artists and makers. Art City NDSM works to honor and maintain the public function of the breeding ground as a hospitable, open and inspiring sanctuary, and to help it grow and flourish. We do this by opening our doors, by enabling new work and offering existing work a home, and by creating space - physical and mental - so that we can consciously position ourselves in the present and together shape our shared future.

We endeavor to be consciously in relation to each other and to the city around us – residents old and new, visitors from far and near. Relationship demands that you see the other - you make an effort, you take it into account. It's an active, not a passive stance, it can be complex and uncomfortable. What would it mean for you to relate to the NDSM, its spaces, its arts and makers, its history, its community? How do we relate to you? Visit us and let us discover this, together.

Scroll down to read more about the goals and organisatie of Art City NDSM.

Photo above: the exhibition The Makers Gaze (De Blik van de Maker), June - October 2021, in the main hall of the NDSM Loods.

NDSM OPEN

Save the Date in 2023: Zaterdag 7 Oktober !

Een keer per jaar doen de kunstenaars en makers hun deuren open voor NDSM OPEN. In 2022 was NDSM OPEN op zaterdag 1 oktober.

NDSM OPEN is meer dan een dag. NDSM OPEN is een state of mind, een uitnodiging, een voorstel en een belofte. NDSM OPEN staat voor een open geest, voor vrijheid en gastvrijheid, voor open deuren en een open blik.

NDSM OPEN is de jaarlijks open studio dag op de NDSM-werf. De normaliter gesloten ateliers en werkplaatsen stellen dan hun deuren open voor een dag vol kunst, ambacht, mode, architectuur, performance, design en alles wat je niet verwacht.

Volg NDSM OPEN op Facebook, Instagram en op www.ndsmopen.nl

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NDSM OPEN is more than one day. NDSM OPEN is a state of mind, an invitation, a proposal, and a promise. NDSM OPEN stands for an open mind, for freedom and hospitality, for open doors and an open mind.

NDSM OPEN is the annual open day at the NDSM wharf. The normally closed studios and workshops open their doors for a day full of art, craft, fashion, architecture, performances, design and everything you might not expect.

Follow NDSM OPEN on Facebook, Instagram and at www.ndsmopen.nl

NDSM OPEN is produced by Art City NDSM together with the artists and makers of the NDSM broedplaats.

NDSM OPEN 2022 was made possible with support from Stichting Kinetisch Noord, Tenants Association the Toekomst and the Amsterdam North City Council.

Photo above: artist Catarina Rabanada (Studio Rabanada) talks with guests during NDSM OPEN.

Lookback

ASCENDING - common space for reflection, solace and wonder

ASCENDING is a large, temporay architectural installation assembled of living plants and natural materials: jute, wood and steel, created by Balthasar Prinsen, Sarah Payton and Thomas Akerboom. In 2022 ASCENDING was free to visit seven days a week from June to October in the NDSM Loods. The 15 meter high construction hung from the steel beams in the rear of the NDSM Loods, in the unbuilt section known as the "Northstrip" (Noordstrook). In the space of ASCENDING, Art CIty invited guest artists and performers, among them Bas Kosters, Nirman Cain, Patricia de Ruijter, Thomas Kwakermaat, Klaas Kuitenbrouwer, Valerie van Leersum and Pieter Post.

Makers statement:

"The large empty space at the back of the NDSM Loods is often seen as a cathedral. The pioneers of the artists community saw the intrinsic value of this 'empty' space in which the layered history of the former shipyard is still tangible. In this industrial cathedral, ASCENDING takes the place of the choir, the most sacred space and the location of the altar.. Despite this, ASCENDING is not affiliated with any specific religion; instead, ASCENDING investigates the relationship between physical and metaphysical space and explores the extent to which art and architecture can contain transcendent functions. The installation touches on current issues that we see as urgent: the need for togetherness and community in a time of far-reaching individualization; the link between past, present and future; the desire for meaning and the need for awe, beauty and admiration"

The presentation of ASCENDING in the NDSM Loods in 2022 was made possible with support from the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts, Stichting Kinetisch Noord., Amsterdam North City Council and the Stichting NDSM. Produced by Art City NDSM.

We are currently investigating the possibility of travelling with ASCENDING in 2023. You can still follow ASCENDING on instagram and facebook

NOW ON VIEW IN THE NDSM LOODS

Wander through the NDSM Loods and you will find artworks large and small. Some of these are (semi) permanent artworks which Art City NDSM has produced or brought to the building. Others are hidden treasures placed,. often anonymousely and without fanfare, around the building. Below some of the works now on view.

While exploring the loods please be respectful of the artists and makers working in their studios!

Francesco Zorzi / no-rocket

Painted on two sides of the pre-existing wooden letters of the word “NOORD” (‘North’), the artwork Fluxes is a visual representation of invisible energy of the NDSM. The colored tubes or channels literally cross empty space to link the wooden letters, just as the invisible fluxes which daily shape the area are constantly reforming to bond together diverse individuals, groups and situations in ever shifting constellations and interconnections. Fluxes is created by No-Rocket, an interdisciplinary studio based in the Art City, that finds inspiration on the borders between painting, installation and design.

An Art City NDSM initiative. Made possible thanks to support from the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts, Stichting Kinetisch Noord and Stichting NDSM-werf.

cargocollective.com/no-rocket

C-CHAIN CARPET

C-chain Carpet is a (semi) permanent installation for public space by artists collective WE MAKE CARPETS. Made of 55,000 plastic C-chain links in four different colors the artwork emphasizes the function of the Art City in which artists, designers and other creative professions work together 24/7.

An Art City NDSM initiative. Made possible thanks to support from the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts, Stichting Kinetisch Noord and Stichting NDSM-werf.

www.wemakecarpets.nl

Focus Red Eye

Jeroen Bisscheroux and Nanny Kok

The color red symbolizes danger, threat and unrest. The color refers to blood, fire, perhaps boiling lava. It is the color that makes you vigilant and keeps you away. But it is also the metaphor for warmth, for energy and new life ... the heart that beats. And the eye that sees. Focus: Red Eye responds to everything that a year of corona and corona measures has brought us: sleepless nights, worries, loss, grief, panic, illness, death, distance, cancellations, not being able to see each other , to embrace one another. Focus: Red Eye sits on the roof of the NDSM Loods, the breeding ground. Just as every 'free thinker place' is under pressure from urban expansion, project developers, the housing shortage and urban manageability, the NDSM too is a constant plaything in this urban power game. The NDSM is the largest and perhaps most important ‘free space’ in the city; a place that offers breathing room and mental space. Focus: Red Eyes brings these two extremes together: the idea of breeding ground, the new life vs. the constant threat of economic assertion.

An Art City NDSM initiative. Made possible thanks to support from Stichting Kinetisch Noord and Stichting NDSM-werf.

www.bisscheroux.eu

niets/iets (nothing/something)

Henk Schut

High up among the old steel beams hangs a small white neon light work which flashes a changing missive: one moment it reads ‘iets' ('nothing’), the next moment 'iets' ('something'). The contradictory message raises questions about the vast empty space where the work is displayed. What is the meaning precisely: just what is “nothing” and what “something”? Does it refer to a emptiness waiting to be filled, a completion which would make it something? Or might the emptiness in itself have value? These questions about the meaning and value of empty space are not only applicable to the recently renovated and still empty northern section of the Scheepsbouwloods. They apply equally to the other not yet filled spaces within the warehouse, and also to the vast outdoor grounds of the former shipyard. In the current building frenzy in which it seems all remaining gaps in the city are rapidly filled in, the artwork asks you to pause and to reflect on the significance of empty space.

An Art City NDSM initiative. Made possible thanks to support from Stichting Kinetisch Noord and Stichting NDSM-werf.

www.henkschut.nl

NDSM Playground

Marc Faasse

Photographer Marc Faasse photographed the NDSM shipyard from above for seven years. He did this with his signature rod camera, a camera mounted on a long pole. During seven years Marc could regularly be found with his striking camera at many events that took place at the NDSM. He edited the photos into one photographic map of the area. With a scroll function you can zoom in deeply. This makes NDSM Playground a unique time document that offers a surprising and revealing insight into a number of unforgettable NDSM moments.

NDSM Playground was made with support from the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts. The presentation in the NDSM Loods is an Art City initiative: in 2014 for NDSM OPEN the entire work was reproduced on extra large floor tiles, which formed a giant puzzle that visitors could play with freely. After NDSM OPEN Marc reassembled the puzzel onto an exterior studio wall for all to see.

www.marcfaasse.nl

Hidden Treasures

Below some of the hidden treasures. See if you can find them!

Photo: Untitled, Octant Objects / Kjell van Norel

Art City NDSM, NDSM-plein 83, 1033 WC Amsterdam