On Sunday 25 September 2022, the second exhibition from the collection project opens Collecting the City at the Amsterdam Museum. In the project Collecting the City (2021-2025), the Amsterdam Museum 'collects' and presents the stories and objects of the city of today together with communities, individuals and institutions from Amsterdam. In this second exhibition of the programme line, the Amsterdam Museum, together with three partners from the city, once again highlights different topics. This time with: Imagine IC (about the Bijlmervliegramp), photographer Cleo Campert (about her Club RoXY) and Museum om de Hoek (about the housing crisis in Amsterdam).
With the project Collecting the City the Amsterdam Museum wants to collect the Amsterdam of today together with the city. Until 2025, when the city of Amsterdam turns 750, the museum will work to supplement its collection with themes that engage people in the city. During that period, neighbourhood museums, networks, local artists and inspired residents will share their stories and objects about Amsterdam. Every six months, new individuals and parties are invited to implement their ideas. Think of a new perspective on the past, a beautiful or painful moment in the present or a future vision of the city.
"What do the Bijlmervliegramp, Club RoXY and the housing crisis have in common? Well, that people in the city find them topics that have shaped or are shaping the city and should therefore have a place in the Amsterdam Museum. " Says Gonca Yalciner of the Amsterdam Museum: "Who better than the people in the city to know what today's city is about and what engages people in the city? By listening and creating together (co-creation), we are trying to capture that vibrant city as much as possible so that at the end of the project in 2025, the Amsterdam Museum's collection will tell a much more complete story of Amsterdam. " This second edition of Collecting the City takes visitors through three themes from three collaborative partners.
30 years of Bijlmervliegramp
On 4 October 2022, it will be exactly 30 years since a Boeing 747 of airline El Al crashed into the Groeneveen and Klein-Kruitberg flats in Amsterdam's Bijlmermeer. A far-reaching event that many people in the city today still carry with them. Together with Imagine IC, the Southeast-based heritage institution, the Amsterdam Museum listened in several city conversations to Amsterdam residents who wanted to talk to the museum about the disaster. The content of these conversations formed the basis of this exhibition, which focuses on how Amsterdammers feel about the disaster, how they remember it and how different generations come to terms with the trauma together. An exhibition right in the centre of Amsterdam to raise awareness beyond the boundaries of the city district, as desired by its residents. At the same time, an exhibition about the Bijlmervliegramp is on show at Imagine IC in the Bijlmer.
The exhibition rooms at the Amsterdam Museum sketch an idea of the disbelief, shock and grief that many residents of the Bijlmer faced. This is done through headlines from newspapers published on 5 October - 'Fire, death, chaos' and 'Suddenly he went on his side and straight down' - and through conversations transcribed on canvas by the 112 emergency room staff of that night. Also on display are drawings by primary school pupils of the time. The drawings give an insight into how children experienced the event. Three teachers who at the time wanted children to process their trauma through drawing now look back.
Besides two pieces of the cargo plane found and preserved by private individuals, there are also works of art about the Bijlmervliegramp on display. For example, artist Samuel Sarmiento (Venezuela, 1987) made the painting 'The tree that saw everything - El arbol que lo vio todo' and, in a video installation, artist Fatric Bewong (Ghana, 1981) shows how the disaster is remembered within communities today. Both artists are affiliated with CBK Zuidoost, centre for contemporary visual arts from an intercultural, inclusive perspective. At the end of the exhibition halls, all visitors are invited to collectively make an embroidered patchwork of memories, according to Tess van Zalinge's idea.
At Imagine IC, a triptych exhibition on 30 years of the Bijlmervliegram disaster reflects on the impact the disaster still has 30 years later. Stories, memories and emotions can be listened to and viewed in a specially set-up room. living memory presentation, videos are shown with in-depth documentaries and a number of objects are highlighted that can be seen throughout the year as part of the permanent display of the Vitrine of Southeast.
Ode to Zubrowka, the Muse of Club RoXY
In her presentation Ode to Zubrowka, the Muse of club RoXY Cleo Campert shows an ode to Club RoXY in general and to performing artist Zubrowka International in particular. Campert was house photographer of Club RoXY, the iconic Amsterdam house club that burned down in 1999. Campert shares her memories of the club that in the 1980s and 1990s was a heavenly haven for anyone who wanted to escape the grey outside world. In an installation, using videos and cassettes from her own archive, Campert creates a reimagining of endless, wild night parties full of creativity and self-expression. A silent disco brings a micro version of the nightclub into the present.
Campert's second installation zooms in on the people who made Club RoXY such an exceptional place. In which Campert gives special attention to performing artist Zubrowka. A photo series, throne and viewing boxes offer an overview of her flamboyant appearances and humorous performances that embodied the free spirit of the nightclub. In the words of Campert: "The audience could relate to Zubrowka. For me as a photographer, she was a delightful subject, there was always something to do with her in front of the camera. Zubrowka is the Muse of the RoXY."
Museum around the corner #2: Operation live
In the last three spaces of Collecting the City will once again see a special collaboration with 'Museum om de Hoek', where 23 neighbourhood museums from Amsterdam create small exhibitions in varying combinations. This time, Museum Amsterdam Noord, Historisch Archief De Baarsjes, Van Eesteren Museum and Borneo Architecture Centre are jointly making an exhibition that looks back on a century of Amsterdam housing culture from the present. The result is a critical reflection on the development and current housing situation in four Amsterdam neighbourhoods in districts where the neighbourhood museums are located - Van der Pekbuurt, De Baarsjes, Slotermeer and the Oostelijk Havengebied.
One of the eye-catchers of the richly filled exhibition rooms of Museum om de Hoek is The Wheel of (Un)fortune from the collection of the Amsterdam Museum. The Wheel shows ten questionable possibilities for young people on housing in the capital anno 2021. A painful picture of the times because, like it or not, everyone from Amsterdam participates in the lottery that is our housing market. The makers of the Wheel, Hans de Tweede (1997) and Tycho (1994), took it to the mass housing protest in Westerpark on 12 September 2021. At this protest, over ten thousand people attended to voice their frustration with housing policy. The Amsterdam Museum included the Wheel of (Un)Fortune in its collection.
Collecting the City #2 can be seen from Sunday 25 September 2022 until Tuesday 21 May 2023 at the Amsterdam Museum aan de Amstel, Amstel 51. This edition was created in cooperation with ImagineIC, CBK Zuidoost, Cleo Campert and Museum om de Hoek. The Collecting the City project is supported by the VSBFonds and Gemeente Amsterdam. The Amsterdam Museum is structurally supported by Gemeente Amsterdam and the VriendenLoterij.
Due to renovation, the Amsterdam Museum has been co-located with Hermitage Amsterdam and Museum van de Geest in Amstel 51 since March 2022 for the next few years. There, the Amsterdam Museum displays a permanent collection presentation and changing exhibitions.
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