Ontmoetingsplaats (Forum) 1976, Shinkichi Tajiri, Breedveld t.h.v. Het Breed 701, Amsterdam-Noord. Foto: Shakuru Tajiri

For this edition we organized walks and meet-ups, often in conversation with the participating artists. 

At Plan van Gool in Amsterdam Noord we started these gatherings in an existing work of art, called Ontmoetingsplaats (Meeting Place). It is exceptional in the oeuvre of artist Shinkichi Tajiri (1923-2009), which frequently features knots of heavy materials. He made an object not just to look at, but he created a place with a clearly defined use function. With this, Tajiri links up with a new movement in visual art in the 1970s, which aimed to integrate art as fully as possible into everyday life. Works of art had to fulfil a function in people's everyday existence. I made complete sense to start here and invite people for a talk. From there we welked through the neighborhood ending at the only communal space left at Plan van Gool; the space of Bewoonersvereniging, where the film Het Hoogt en het Laagt was screened and we continued the conversation. 

At Wittenburgerstraat we had coffee and croissants and spoke about Spreekbuis. A young girl, around 9 years old, was standing there with her parents. Her dad announces that the girl had a question that she’d like to ask. We all looked at her. After a few seconds she plucks up the courage to speak and said, “what happened to the dog?” Jacob have no idea what she was talking about. He stood there confused and nervously chuckle a bit then replied, “I’m not sure what happened to the dog.” This seemed to be enough for her and the Q&A moves on. When the formalities ended we spoke to the girl and her parents. They elaborated on her question and we realised then that she was questioning a very specific moment in the script in which Jacob talked about throwing down wasabi nuts from his balcony to the neighbours dog below. He apologise for not understanding at the time, and explain that the script contained so many anecdotes and details that, on the spot, he didn’t remember the dog. They asked how long the script was in total. “50 minutes” said. In that case, they explained, they've probably listened to at least two thirds of it. They stop everyday for a few minutes and listen whilst walking to the girl’s school. We were so happy to hear this!

Michiel Huijben, board member of the BPW (Bond Precaire Woonvormen), spoke during the last meet-up at Kleine Wittenburgerstraat a little about the BPW and how it stands up for the housing rights of people who live temporarily, insecurely or too expensively.
His talk contextualised de spreekbuis within the housing crisis. It links to the artwork itself, this solitary voice, speaking out to anyone, speaking out to no one from the confines of their precarious living space. Unable to listen or even enter dialogue. The talk focused on the membership structure of the BPW. How people join to fix things together. Through this togetherness change and stability becomes more attainable. Michiel’s talk moved seamlessly into a group discussion and prompted some great conversations that eventually dissipate into splintered anecdotes regarding housing woes over beers. Inevitably everyone has a story and we leave a microphone in the letterbox and ask people to share their story by speaking it through the flap. We will create a sonic document that lives on beyond the works deinstallation.

At the bride where Spinozastraat meets Wibautstraat, right where Sarah van Sonsbeeck's artwork Keep up the good work! is seen best we also gathered a couple of times. From this spot, you can see the encouriging message is reflected by the sunlight off the windows of the Benno Premsela building, reminding us all to take heart. Once we met with around 30 students from the HvA and talked about what keeps them motivated every day. A subject at the heart of the work. We explored the many ways to motivate yourself and others, personal responsibility, and finding of your own voice- dwawing on the work of Russian philosopher Mikhall Bakhtin. It was a perfect lead-up to the last weekend with the last meet-ups.  

June: Saturday June 15 (Spinozastraat 9)  -.-  Saturday June 22 (Kleine Wittenburgerstraat 315)  -.-  Saturday June 29 (Spinozastraat 9)
July: Wednesday July 3 (K. Wittenburgerstraat 315) -.- Saturday July 13  (Spinozastraat 9) -.-

July & August: Sa July 27, Wed July 31, Sa August 31 (Plan van Gool*Live Screening* 12 - 15 pm.) 
September: Friday September 13 (K. Wittenburgerstraat 315) at 18.00 h-.- Saturday September 14 (Spinozastraat 9) at 12 h. 

This queue! @ Spinozastraat, 14.09.2024, 12pm. People lined up for Open monumentenweekend and stepped out of the line to have a brief moent with the artwork and join us for our meet-up, the final one of the season.