It felt bloody amazing to touch down in Amsterdam for the start of a 5 day trip across Europe culminating in a visit to see the Arc de Triomphe, Warpped by Christo & Jeanne Claude. However the 10 hours before this were filled with the kind of travel stress that leads to viral videos of people being escorted off planes and out of airports!
Dave the mastermind behind the trip had initially planned for us to meet in Edinburgh before setting off in the car for Holland and then back down to Paris. Unfortunately I'd made plans I couldn't change for the first day of our trip. Not to be dismayed, I decided to fly instead, meeting the guys in Amsterdam with enough time to take in the sights and sounds of the STRAAT Street Art Museum before a relaxing evening. The check in girl at Aberdeen Airport had different ideas. 'You can only travel to Holland for work' she said as I tried to check in for my flight. 'Ok, I'm going for work and pleasure' I replied. I could tell from her face she was in a foul mood and panic started to set in. 'Have you got a letter from your employer' she retorted. I thought here we fucking go. The guys sounded pretty disappointed when I phoned to say I might not make it after all having been turned away from the check in desk an hour before my planned departure. It seemed like months of planning and hundreds of pounds were down the drain.
To cut a boring story short, they let me book onto a flight heading out 7 hours later than my planned flight in the hopes I could get a letter to travel, which the next check in lady didn't even look at. Guess someone else was having a bad day and the second lady couldn't have been nicer. Once my bum was on that seat and the plane was in the air I was overcome with an immense sense of calm mixed with mild excitement as I'd made it. Or I would make it. The clouds on the flight over helped calm me down as they unfolded for miles all around. I don't fly often but I enjoy it when I do. Eventually we landed at Schipol and I headed straight to the first train to Amsterdam central. I made my way to our meeting point next to a giant creepy Lego man and tried to enjoy the ambiance of Amsterdam on a Sunday night. It was a little disorientating until the guys arrived and we headed off to a peep show, food we went to get some food I mean. The food was crap but the 2 euro show was even worse!
I jest but we did have a quick whizz around the infamous red light district. I was told it was a lot quieter than usual, one of the benefits of covid is that locals managed to reclaim some of their streets from the throngs of stoned tourists and lads on tour. It was strange to see family bikes, adult and children locked up a few yards away from the exotic window dancers and prostitutes. A quick scan above the well lit windows revealed the glowing windows of family homes and everyday people, a strange juxtaposition but perhaps not. Its been interesting to see people trying to change the narratives around sex work and sex workers over the last few years. The old blanket shame approach has been challenged mostly by women with a new ideology around the taboo subject. The best argument I've seen basically said if you sell your body to do manual or labour intensive work then it's the same as sex work, your literally selling your body in exchange for payment, except sex workers make good money and the manual workers will probably end up with a bent spine or some other long term damage. I guess on the work toll to pay benefits ratio I'd agree with them. But it still made me feel strange to see the ladies trying to catch the eye of every passer-by, some barely out of their teens.
We meandered back to the hotel stopping to investigate every tag and would be piece of street art we could spot. Dave had a full on day planned for us with a whistle stop tour of a few galleries, a road trip to Rotterdam to check out some of the Pow Wow murals before heading onto Paris. Our first stop took us to the Moco Museum who just so happened to have a Banksy show on along with work from Basquiat, Keith Haring, KAWS, Jeff Koons & Andy Warhol! A few firm favourites in that line up. We passed the giant KAWS statue on route too with its stunning olde dutch architecture in the background. Although these unauthorised Banksy shows are a bit dubious the 'Laugh Now' exhibition did a good job in showcasing a wide range of works that trace some of his evolution and delve into his early career with simple single layer stencil works on canvas that probably sold for £40. The early adapted paintings were fun to see too, a lot of the work feeling like a throw back to simpler times before big auction numbers and PR stunts.
Although the Moco Museum isn't a large building it seemed to house a lot of really interesting work. The majority of the Banksy pieces had come from private collections while the museum does own a lot of important works from notable artists. It was nice to see work from familiar names like Icy & Sot along with Brazilian twins OS Gemeos. Anyone who knows their art history will know Amsterdam was the epicentre of the European graffiti movement. Indeed many artists travelled to London & Berlin but its the Dam that really helped by bringing those original NYC writers to the city and inspiring countless generations to pick up a spray can. If you're interested in learning more check out 'The Rise of Graffiti Writing - Season 1'.
Walking around each room I mentally noted all the early KAWS & Banksy prints I didn't buy in 2007 when they were cheap but I enjoyed seeing work from New York darlings Keith Haring & Andy Warhol. I've just finished reading the Warhol Diaries and highly recommend the new Netflix show and grab a copy of the Keith Haring diaries. Both artists lived incredible lives and speak about their thoughts and daily lives to give us a unique insight into that period in time. After geeking out with the great and the good of the art world we found our way into the infinity rooms by Yayoi Kusama and then out again before exiting through the gift shop. I did pick up a Banksy poster at last, it won't buy me a house if I try to sell it on but it will look nice on my wall once its framed!
We swapped the gallery for the streets heading out for a quick explore before hitting the road for Rotterdam. It was nice to see a few familiar names on the gable ends including a giant Gaz from SWG3 by Smug and a beautiful Hera wall along with work from D*Face, Julieta XLF & Leon Keer. The walls were painted for the 'If Wall's Could Speak' festival in 2019. After a quick walk along the riverside we hit the road and made our way to Rotterdam for our second stop on the trip. Our heads turned as we drove through the cities quaint canal side roads and spotted a giant sculpture of a garden gnome holding what appeared to be a giant butt plug! I didn't manage to get a photo but google will sate your curiosity. Needless to say, the Dutch doing things differently.
Dave being the car park connoisseur brought us to the lower levels of the giant Markthal food hall, an architectural and culinary attraction in the city centre. Just a short walk from here lies the famous Kubiswonigen or Cube Houses. While we had post war concrete brutalism the Dutch opted for these wonderful yellow cubes designed by Piet Blom in the 1970's. Being a port town, you can see how much the city has changed over the years but thankfully one of the cubes has been kept as a time capsule, complete with its custom furniture that fits the cubist angles of the interior. The inside was roomier than expected but the steep staircases mean these houses aren't suitable for everyone. It's interesting to see how once risky and futuristic architecture cans till retain its impact while also being used for its intended purpose. Meanwhile in Aberdeen the bulldozers are busy making sure anything that isn't granite is demolished. The whole development was cool with little shops and public spaces scattered throughout and a path leading back to the water. You wouldn't know it but there's a tram line and a dual carriageway directly underneath the cubes but we couldn't hear a thing.
