Fans of contemporary drawing can visit the winter exhibition of the Tekenkabinet (Drawing Room) in the Amstelpark from 1 December 2019.

Het Tekencabinet was founded in 2013 by visual artist Manja van der Storm.
The objective of the independent platform is to organize annual salon-like exhibitions with drawings by both renowned and up-and-coming artists. Sometimes these exhibitions take place in a museum, sometimes in a former showroom.

Since the summer of 2017, the Het Tekencabinet has been housed in a semi-permanent exhibition location in the Amstelpark. In the attractive, former Belgian pavilion, situated between the monastery garden and the Japanese garden, the Winter Cabinet can be visited during the whole month of December on Sundays.

There will be recent work by 101 contemporary artists from all over the country, but also from Belgium. Both well-known and new names contribute to a fascinating, multicoloured drawing oasis, with a multitude of styles, manuscripts, materials and types of paper. The maximum size of all the exhibited drawings is A3, which results in handy, accessible and affordable drawings. All drawings are for sale and can be taken directly into a handmade box with lid.

The exhibition is accompanied by a full-colour catalogue (A6) in which the work of all participating artists is depicted. On Sunday 29 December a festive finissage of the Winter Cabinet will take place, between 13.00 and 16.00 hours.

The exhibition Winter Cabinet will be on display from 1 to 29 December 2019 on Sundays, from 12:00 to 16:00. The exhibition can also be visited by appointment: (06) 20077891 (Manja van der Storm).

Tekenkabinet
Amstelpark 13
1083 HZ Amsterdam
(former Gallery Park Art, follow the signs in the park)
www.tekenkabinet.nl

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator

We’re looking at others, but are we seeing anyone? Are we still there for the other in a world that is becoming more and more virtual and distant? This is the theme of a performance with Danielle van Vree that will be performed several times at the Zuidas this month.The performance is called Act of Seeing, lasts thirty minutes, is free of charge and takes place in both Dutch and English.

The programme looks like this. On Thursday 19 and 26 September and Friday 20 and 27 September, interested parties can gather at both 12.30 and 17:00 at the entrance to the Circl sustainable pavilion on Gustav Mahlerplein 1B.

On 19 September, philosopher Rob van Gerwen will give a lecture on the importance of contact with the other. The lecture lasts 45 minutes and will be followed by the performance. For this lecture/performance one has to gather in front of café Ox & Bucks on the Zuidplein at 15.45 hours.

If you are interested in art and architecture in the Zuidas, which will also include ‘seeing the other’, you can join AkzoNobel Essential Art Space, Christian Neefestraat 2, on Thursday 26 September at 3 pm. After an art tour, the participants will walk to Circl, where the performance will start at 5 pm.

Due to the maximum number of participants, interested parties are kindly requested to register in advance via reserveren.performance@gmail.com. In case of bad weather, the performance will continue and an umbrella can offer a solution. The location is easily accessible by public transport, such as the North/South line.

The following people are involved in the programme: Huug van Tienhoven, Luc van Esch, Anna Benti, Kim Verbeke, Dennis Tiecken and students of the Gerrit van der Veen College. Iris Dik coordinates the programme.

(Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator)

The Zuidas needs cultural icons, if only to relieve the troubled city center. That is what Zef Hemel, professor of planning (University of Amsterdam) says in Amsterdam newspaper Het Parool.

Hemels has been asked by mayor Femke Halsema of Amsterdam to formulate a vision of Amsterdam’s city center. According to the professor, it would be nice if tourists, who spend an average of three days in Amsterdam, could spend two days on the Zuidas. He does not think of a museum, but of international names or institutions that act like a magnet on tourists, without giving examples of that.

Hemel is thinking of a natural route from the Museumplein to the Zuidas. He thinks that the municipality should work hard on this, because in his opinion the Zuidas is merely a business center, he says to Het Parool. According to him provisions are urgently needed at the Zuidas. ‘Now there is nothing at all, the residents can hardly go to a store there.’

According to the professor, the inner city has become far too busy and the social cohesion has disappeared. He sketches the image of people wandering through the city center with earplugs in, gazing on smartphones, but also city dwellers who put their house on Airbnb.

If it is up to the professor, the city center turns into a monumental garden where not only city dwellers come together, but all Amsterdam residents who now avoid the historic heart because of the crowds. Hemel will officially present its vision of the city center in October.

Beeld: ArtZuid-Cristóbal-Gabarrón-Enlightened-Universe-2015

The Amsterdam City Council has agreed to open a new library on the Zuidas in 2025: OBA Next.

It must become a place where àll Amsterdammers can increase their digital resilience. OBA Next has the ambition to become ‘the cultural heart of the Zuidas’. The Amsterdam Public Library (OBA) wants to turn it into a wide-ranging meeting place, which can also offer an inspiring study environment to pupils, their parents and students. It must also become a place where knowledge can be exchanged (Open Learning Hub) and where cultural activities take place.

OBA Next will focus less on the classical book, but more on technology, explains Hilde van Wijngaarden, director of the University Library (VU). OBA and VU are going to collaborate in a project called Community Service Learning. This project encourages debate, educational innovation, sustainability and language skills. The OBA hopes to be able to use the experiences gained with this at other library locations in the city.

The new library will be a three-minute walk from Amsterdam Zuid Station. A slow-traffic route will be made at the new western exit towards the Kenniskwartier, of which the VU and Amsterdam University Medical Center are already part.

The city council only approved the plans for OBA Next after a strong debate. This is because the city council has a shortage of money for youth care, reason for the opposition parties, in particular VVD, to propose the scrapping of the new library.

However, the city council, led by progressive GroenLinks, wants nothing to do with this. According to GroenLinks-spokesperson Femke Roosma, the new library is also intended to make it clear that the Zuidas is not only for expensive financial institutions and law firms. “The Zuidas is not only for the rich. It must become a place where all Amsterdammers like to go to, so that they will also see Zuidas as a part of their city. ”

The OBA asked students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology what the library of the future might look like. The American students made models, drawings, photos and texts, which are currently on display in study room 2B of the VU main building.

If something is recognizable in the work of Klaas Gubbels, then it is the coffee pot. You can’t miss them in the street scene of Amstelveen, because you will see them in different locations until September and at the same time you can see work by Gubbels in Museum Jan van der Togt.

Everyday objects are the motive for the sculptures and paintings by Klaas Gubbels. Often these are coffee pots that may or may not be on a table. By repeating this motif, attention is drawn to the form and treatment of making. Elegant contours and surfaces arise that give rise to all sorts of interpretations and associations.

For the Rotterdam-born artist, in addition to coffee pots – which he himself usually refers to as a kettle – there are mainly tables and chairs in his work. In his paintings, the coffee pot is like a character. He sits on a chair at a table or meets other brightly colored kettles in the flat surface. Gubbels wants to exploit the monotonous and puts the focus on the essence by omitting everything superfluous. “You can make a beautiful painting … that’s possible. But a painting that says something … that’s what I want “, he says about it himself.

Art event

Five images of Klaas Gubbels can be seen on Bovenkerkerkade and one on Dorpsplein. They are part of ARTZUID, the art event that is being held for the sixth time and is now being extended from Amsterdam-Zuid to Amstelveen for the first time.

The starting point of ARTZUID Amstelveen is the Roger statue on the Amsterdamseweg/Keizer Karelweg roundabout. Visitors then leave via the Keizer Karelweg southbound towards the Stadshart. A photo exhibition with work by Ed van der Elsken can be seen under the A9 viaduct. The last part of ARTZUID Amstelveen is via the Bovenkerkerkade towards the Oude Dorp. The sculpture route can be admired until 15 September.

Following the eighty-fifth birthday of Klaas Gubbels, Museum Jan van der Togt shows a selection of paintings that were created in close collaboration with the artist until 25 August. Around 25 works are exhibited that mean a lot to the artist and that he did not want to give up throughout his life. His paintings can be seen from various periods of his life; from the old investigative work to the well-known jug and new work.

Accessible

The idea for ARTZUID was born in 2009 from the idea of ​​bringing people into conversation again, says Cintha van Heeswijck, one of the initiators. The Apollobuurt in Amsterdam Oud-Zuid has always been a nice and involved neighborhood, but because more and more residents from outside came to live here and people lead an increasingly busy life, the mutual contact became less and less. By placing art in the public space, you create conversation topics. It’s a low-threshold way to get people to talk to each other, so we started working on that. ”

ARTZUID takes place every two years, each with a different theme. This year the leafy Apollolaan and Minervalaan are the scene of figurative images and interactive spatial installations.

The more than sixty images and interactive experiences are in South Amsterdam until 15 September and are accessible 24/7 for free. “Every Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. a tour starts from the information pavilion Minervalaan 1 for people who want to know more about the art pieces.”

Jan van der Togt Museum
Dorpsstraat 50
Amstelveen
T 020 641 57 54

W www.jvdtogt.nl

Opening hours:

Tuesday to Sunday from 11 am to 5 pm

More info about ARTZUID: www.artzuid.nl

Caption above:
Marieke Uildriks (director Museum Jan van der Togt), artist Klaas Gubbels, Cintha van Heeswijck (director ARTZUID Foundation), alderman for Culture Herbert Raat and mayor Bas Eenhoorn (v.l.n.r.) at the opening of the exhibition

Caption below:
Klaas-Gubbels-ZT-1994-70x80cm-fotoPeterCox-Courtesy-Livingstone-gallery1-868×714

The sculptures made by artist Jan Verschoor create an illusion of frozen movement. Their shapes are fluid and harmonious, from whatever side you look at them. His work is currently exhibited in the Museumhuis, adjacent to Museum Jan van der Togt.

Verschoor’s objects are fascinating due the various materials and colours he uses; they are a real feast for the art lover’s eye. But they are also very beautiful when captured on camera as photographer Eric de Vries showed by captivating impressive images of the sculptures and objects made by Jan Verschoor in the historic setting of Keukenhof Castle. 

In the 1960s, Jan Verschoor studied art at the Royal Academy in Amsterdam where he was educated in the figurative tradition. However, soon after graduating he began exploring different ways of artistic expression and from the early 1970s until now he has been focusing on abstract art.

Polyester

He uses traditional materials such as bronze, marble and glass but early in his career he started experimenting with modern materials like polyester. His first monumental assignment was a white, opened-up polyester sphere in the central hall of the Congress Centre in The Hague (1971).

Apart from his surprising use of materials and colours, his works are known for their craftsmanship and technical precision. Jan Verschoor is called the ‘sculptor of understated perfection’, because he is never trying to openly challenge or provoke and his art doesn’t carry a specific message. He is just looking for harmony and balance in form and space.

Smooth polish

The sculptures have a smoothly polished surface and are perfectly finished, showing the craftsmanship of his partner Rob Brünnmayer, who has been assisting Verschoor ever since his early years as an independent artist. Looking at art made by Jan Verschoor is first and foremost an aesthetic experience. There is an educational programme on the artist Jan Verschoor aimed at high-school students that is aptly named ‘Spatial beauty’. 

The multifaceted sculptures of Jan Verschoor are on display inside and outside Museum Jan van der Togt (where Jan Verschoor was museum director for 25 years) in Amstelveen, but also in public spaces: for example, in the pond next to the Amstelveen town hall and outside the Groenhof shopping centre, also in Amstelveen. Those looking for a more intense artistic experience and an encounter with the artist should make their way to the Museumhuis.

Museumhuis/Museum Jan van der Togt

Dorpsstraat 50

Amstelveen

Open Tuesday to Sunday: 11:00 – 17:00 hours.

W www.stichtingjanverschoor.nl and museumhuisjanverschoor.nl.

Text: Pim Mager
Photo: Tom Haartsen

KLM will be a hundred years old in October 2019. That birthday is kicked off with a free photo exhibition.

Amsterdam City Archives can now display one hundred very beautiful photos from the history of the Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij because KLM has had its own photo archive since its establishment. It is the oldest aviation photo archive in the world. The archive contains 250,000 high-quality images made by renowned photographers such as Paul Huf.

A million day trippers

But the exhibition also shows how flying has changed over the past century, says Lidy klein Gunnewiek, chairman of the board of the Maria Austria Institute, which has put together the photo exhibition. And manages the extensive KLM photo archive.

First it was businessmen, politicians, and celebrities who could afford it. For a long time, a day at Schiphol was the highest possible for most people. In 1955 the airport attracted no fewer than a million day trippers, a number that the Rijksmuseum couldn’t match.

An annual salary

During the opening of the photo exhibition, KLM director Frank Houben told those present about the First Air Traffic Exhibition Amsterdam, which took place in the summer of 1919 in Amsterdam-Noord, where the Eye Museum now stands. The exhibition lasted two months and attracted no fewer than 500,000 visitors. Houben: “Many people had never seen a plane up close. You could even fly around. That cost almost an annual salary and you did not know whether you would land safely. ”

Let’s Fly Away can be seen until 6 October – except on Monday – at the Amsterdam City Archives, Vijzelstraat 32. Admission is free.

At the photo above:

Arrival Convair PH-TEE Schiphol 1949.

Image: Paul Huf / MAI

At the photo below:

Breeder F.XX, PH-AIZ Herring Gull, circa 1935

Photo MAI

The investigation into the state of the Night Watch will start on 8 July 2019.

A team of researchers, curators and conservators is working in a special glass room, which is placed in front of the 377-year-old painting, so that the artwork remains visible to the museum visitors.

This probably most famous painting by Rembrandt becomes thorough because changes are taking place in the painting, such as the blurring of the dog in the bottom right of the painting.

11,400 photos are taken with an ultra-high resolution. The cracks in the painting are studied with special scanners and the pigments are examined with a high-tech laser. All this information is used to find out the best way to restore The Night Watch for the coming generations.

Upside down

“We are about to turn the world of painting conservation upside down and do things that have never been tried before,” says Robert van Langh, Head of Conservation and Restoration at the Rijksmuseum.

Paint experts from Sikkens/ Akzo Nobel also participate in the research team. AkzoNobel previously supplied 8,000 liters of paint that was used for the renovation of the Rijksmuseum that took ten years. The paint company developed a special color pallet for this, which corresponds to the colors that were originally used by architect Pierre Cuypers.

The restoration of De Nachtwacht can be followed live on https: // www. Rijksmuseum.nl/nachtwacht.

At the photo:

CEO Thierry Vanlancker of AkzoNobel and Taco Dibbits, director of the Rijksmuseum.

Image via Rijksmuseum