VISION 2007
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PRELUDE
‘If buildings and roads are the city’s hardware, then culture is the software that brings the city to life.’ *
Toward the end of the previous century, talks began on the metamorphosis of Amsterdam’s Zuidas – at the time a neglected, undeveloped area between the Amstel and Schinkel rivers on the outskirts of the city – into a high-quality urban sector. The government (the city of Amsterdam and the Zuideramstel quarter) and private parties (developers and investors) involved in these talks placed great importance on ‘a high degree of function-mixing’ in the new district. Zuidas was to become a leading international business centre, with an airport – Schiphol – right around the corner. But besides being an office district it would also be an attractive extension of Amsterdam’s inner city, an area full of character in which living, working, recreation and amenities go hand in hand. In this way the Zuidas would distinguish itself from the world’s other leading business centres: global and local, multifaceted and made for people.
From the very first, the visual arts have been allotted an essential place in the development of the Zuidas: to promote liveability and liveliness, to give the new district character and identity and to create an atmosphere that encourages people to become attached to the area.
What’s more, art and culture can increase the area’s national and international renown and visibility. By now the concept of the creative economy, as described in The Rise of the Creative Class (2002) by the American author Richard Florida, can also claim general recognition. Creativity and the economy are – certainly in Amsterdam – inseparably tied to one another. A creative cultural climate makes it more attractive for businesses and individuals to settle in the Zuidas.
Just as an ambitious urban development programme was formulated during the glory days of conjecture on the Zuidas, an ambitious art programme was formulated and recorded in the Zuidas Art Concept (2001) at the request of Amsterdam’s municipal Zuidas Project Bureau at the end of 2000. That programme has to a certain extent been adapted over the course time to fit changing economic realities. But its main objective still remains firmly in place in the year 2007: a cultural climate which can attract people to the area is vitally important for the development of the Zuidas.
ORGANIZATION
To promote art and culture that is high quality and enduring, the city of Amsterdam appointed an Art Supervisor in 2001. The supervisor advises the city and project directors on setting up and stimulating an attractive and inspiring arts climate, and is also the contact person for art, culture and related matters in the Zuidas.
The supervisor is assisted by a Programme Advisory Committee appointed by himself, which set up the Zuidas Virtual Museum Foundation (ZVM) in 2003. The Foundation’s board is comprised of prominent partners from the business community, the Zuideramstel quarter, the Project Bureau Zuidas and Dutch art institutions. Working in close collaboration with the Urban Development Supervisor and the Project Bureau Zuidas of the city of Amsterdam as well as with partners and contractors, the Foundation develops policy, and initiates and stimulates projects in the area of art and culture.
The goal of the ZVM programme is twofold. Its main activity is the incorporation of permanent artworks in urban design, architecture and public space. The ZVM calls this ‘co-constructing with the architecture’. In order to bring about the desired art climate, the ZVM additionally focuses on a number of auxiliary programmes. These can be one-off or recurring projects. The ZVM also uses its knowledge and experience to support and facilitate the art and cultural initiatives of third parties.
CO-CONSTRUCTING WITH THE ARCHITECTURE
A typical Amsterdam flavour, original, rooted in local and regional culture, self-willed, impossible to copy, enduring, experimental, innovative – that is the desired character of the area and its art applications. Art and culture should strive for a characteristic identity that embraces the past, the future, and also the topicality of a Zuidas undergoing transformation.
Artists working in the Netherlands and abroad are invited to boost the visibility of the area, just as top architects are invited to erect eye-catching high-quality buildings. The Zuidas Virtual Museum sets store by projects that do justice to contemporary art practice while speaking to the imagination of the general public. In order to enliven the urban landscape, the architecture and public space, which at the moment are fairly neutral in tone, the ZVM has proclaimed colour as an overall connecting theme. This can be colour in the literal sense of the word, but also colour in the sense of light and projection, of new materials and of unexpected twists.
From the very start , the point of departure has been that art must be an inseparable part of the development of the Zuidas area. All too often, art in public space is the icing on the cake and artists are called in at such a late stage that they can only function as decorators. With the Zuidas, the idea is to integrate art in the urban planning, architecture and public space by means of structural interventions. Artists are involved at such an early stage that they can keep pace with the development of city sectors, buildings, public squares and visual axes, and thus make a real contribution to the planning. With an eye to that integration, the ZVM participates where possible in the planning of the sectors, in order to look for opportunities, possibilities and conditions for art along with the parties concerned. ‘Co-constructing with the architecture’, as the ZVM calls this, its main activity.
Carrying on from Berlage
The interweaving of art and urban design boasts a long history, just as the specific notion of co-constructing has its roots in Dutch tradition. To this day, Berlage’s Plan Zuid (South Plan) in Amsterdam is considered authoritative when it comes to integrating art, urban design, architecture and public space. At the end of the 20th century, the urban renewal of Barcelona was considered the model of Gesamt urban design. Taking Berlage as an example and elaborating upon the Spanish tradition of placing sculptural works on squares and at visual axes, the Spanish architect and urban designer Oriol Bohigas set up an ambitious programme. Just like in the Zuidas, Bohigas wanted to use artworks specially created for their sites by prominent artists in order to create a specific culture with room for memory, identification and a diversity of art views.
More and more cities are realizing the importance of art and culture in bringing life to an area, although this is often on an incidental basis. Inspiring examples for the Zuidas include the Serpentine Gallery in London and the suburb Cergy-Pontoise near Paris, where the artist Dani Karavan has laid out the urban design axis as an elongated painting. The Serpentine Gallery for modern and contemporary art, situated in park-like surroundings, goes all out every year on a temporary experimental summer pavilion designed by the most bespoke architect of that moment. With this combination of art and architecture, the Serpentine Gallery attracts some 600,000 visitors a year from all over the world.
The Millennium Park in Chicago also owes its pulling power to the collaboration of architects, landscape architects, urban designers and artists. Since its opening in 2004, millions of people have been drawn to architect Frank O. Gehry’s concert hall, the British artist Anish Kapoor’s mirroring stainless steel ‘bean’ and the Spanish artist Jaume Plensa’s Crown Fountain, in which streams of water spew from the mouths of hypermodern LED portraits of the citizens of Chicago, just like the mythological spewers of yore. ‘With a bit of luck, a place not only becomes the favourite hotspot of local residents, but also a tourist attraction,’ wrote Machteld van Hulten in the Volkskrant (August 31, 2006) in reference to America’s rediscovery – and re-evaluation – of public space. The combination of architecture, urban planning, design and visual art is crucial to this, according to Van Hulten.
Just as Barcelona places value on continuing its tradition of monumental sculptures at vantage points and plazas and translating this in a contemporary manner in today’s urban design, Amsterdam is gradually re-establishing the tradition of Berlage. In the city’s Oostelijk Havengebied (the east harbour area) a start has already been made with respect to art as an inseparable component of urban development, a concept that is being worked out and refined in the Zuidas.
The Zuidas aims at a coherent, integral programme for art, urban design, architecture and public space. Apart from the overall theme of colour, the programme contains hardly any concrete rules and regulations for art – it’s all about unique and unexpected solutions for each location and situation. In the range of possibilities there is room for a sculpture on a square, if made in relation to the site and its surroundings. But components of the city such as parks, squares, facilities, and buildings can also be regarded as artworks.
METHODOLOGY
To ensure that the art and the artist indeed become involved at an early stage, the ZVM looks for possibilities for art while plans for the various sectors are being formulated. The first priority is that art and site support and strengthen each other and that art makes the sector’s specific identity visible. For each site, if at all possible, a sub theme that distinguishes the location within the Zuidas is determined in close collaboration with all parties concerned – city, quarter, developers, possible owners and designers. Besides a distinctive theme, the ZVM also seeks out focus areas such as squares, parks, buildings and infrastructural junctions within the sub locations. After reaching a consensus, the opportunities and possibilities for art are recorded in a separate section of the Town Planning Programme of Requirements.
The Programme of Requirements for the Kop Zuidas (Top of the Zuidas), home of the future VandenEnde Theater, for example, ‘applauds’ ‘prospective institutions who wish to emphasize their location in the Zuidas through art.’
‘Two sites in the Kop Zuidas are particularly suited for the placement of art in public space,’ the art section of the Programme of Requirements continues. ‘The public square, pivotal as it is to the infrastructure and the surrounding buildings, lends itself outstandingly to one central work of (water) art. The water park, in contrast, is a suitable location for a series of artworks. Art that is an integral part of public space and/or a building is preferred. Highly visible buildings, such as the theatre, are excellently suited for projections on their façades. Here, for instance, variable exhibitions of video art could be shown to the many (night-time) passers-by.’
Unlike the Kop Zuidas, in the Beethoven sector, where the future quarters of Platform 21, centre for design, fashion and creation will be located, ‘design and applied art could preferably become a characteristic theme of the area’s urban planning.’ In particular, ‘the architecture of the Platform 21 building can be enriched with (integrated) design and/or art. The private museum can accentuate its presence in the surroundings through art. Art can also a component of the layout of a new border for the Beatrix Park,’ according to the Beethoven Implementing Order of May 1, 2006.
Unique and Permanent
For each area and theme, the ZVM seeks candidates from the Netherlands and/or abroad who are best suited for that particular assignment. Selection of the artists takes place in consultation with the parties involved. The final product is created especially for the site and therefore unique, and contributes both to the Zuidas and the artist’s individual development.
Due to the chosen strategy of consultation and durable development, the road to realization is usually relatively long. On the other hand, the artworks are inseparably and permanently connected with the city. Only if the Zuidas is demolished will they lose their function and power.
The Zuidas Virtual Museum takes the initiative, introduces possibilities and artists, and ensures that there is good coordination between public (the city of Amsterdam and the Zuideramstel quarter) and private (developers and investors) parties. But the key to success lies in collaboration with institutions expert in this field, such as the Amsterdam Art Fund, the Art and Public Space Foundation (SKOR), the Netherlands Foundation for the Visual Arts, Design and Architecture (Fonds BKVB), Gaudeamus and the VSB fund. The goal: some 100 artworks over the next 30 years.
ONE-OFF OR RECURRING AUXILIARY PROJECTS
What good is a city that only has ‘bronze statues’? Providing public space with high-quality permanent works of art is not all that it takes to bring about a desirable cultural climate. A multiplicity of auxiliary projects is also important. Short and long, large and small events and temporary art projects can increase interest in a sector, boost its attractiveness during the construction phase, and enliven the residential/work district. Through the organization of these sorts of activity a breeding ground slowly emerges, upon which new initiatives can grow.
The ZVM’s one-off auxiliary projects include Landfall (see ‘Not Words but Deeds’, auxiliary projects) and the possible decoration of temporary construction fences. Recurring supportive activities include Virtual Zoom, the Free Spaces and annual exhibitions.
Virtual Zoom
The Zuidas is so extensive, so stretched out over time, so continually changing and diverse – ranging from long-established businesses and occupants such as the VU, the Gerrit Rietveld Academy, the Sandberg Institute and Sportclub Buitenveldert to Joop van den Ende’s musical theatre slated to open at the top of the Zuidas in 2007, and from the recent decision to put the highways underground to the decision to give the Sportclub Buitenveldert a new site above that area – that the ZVM has decided to ask artists to make visual recordings of its lengthy transformation. The goal is to give two to four art assignments per year to photographers (specialized in landscape, fashion, or architecture) and visual artists.
The invited artists are given six months’ time to carry out their assignment. The subject is unrestricted, can be documentary or depictive in approach, critical, atmospheric or admiring, and directed toward the present, past or future. Ultimately we will have a documentation of an area and a growing collection that simultaneously presents a picture of the current state of affairs in photography. In granting the photographic assignments, the ZVM works together with the Amsterdam Art Fund. An external curator has been engaged for the selection of talented and significant photographers.
Free Spaces
In order not only to have the artists collaborate in thinking about concrete developments for the area but also to leave room for their own initiatives, the ZVM has created the ‘Free Spaces’. This has turned the Zuidas into a place where in addition to urban planners, developers, architects and politicians, artists and scholars think about and develop plans for public space. The invited artists in residence live and work for six months in studios especially created for the purpose in the former St. Nicholaas Cloister. Working on location stimulates social involvement, furthers the human dimension and more frequently leads to fine new critical insights and different, unexpected approaches and perspectives than when considering things from a distance.
Like Virtual Zoom, Free Spaces is a long-term project that will last as long as it takes for the total metamorphosis of the Zuidas to be accomplished. Here too, the project ties in with broader developments in the field. More than anybody else, artists are capable of looking at things in a different light, opening up new approaches and possibilities, free of interests and prejudice. So as to take full advantage of the reservoir of possibilities and to avoid curtailing this with rules and regulations, hardly any themes or requirements have been established for the Free Spaces, nor have any expected final results been formulated. The results – the participants’ ideas, proposals, considerations, drawings and comments – are written up in a publication and presented in Platform 21’s exhibition space, among other places.
Exhibitions
The ZVM shows the results of the above-mentioned projects to the public through exhibitions. Artists otherwise involved with the Zuidas through the ZVM, in particular co-constructing with architecture, will also communicate about their work in exhibitions. These exhibitions preferably take place in temporary exhibition spaces, for instance in buildings that have just been completed, so that attention is also incidentally focused on the building. The Zuidas Virtual Museum additionally organizes three exhibitions a year in Platform 21.
A BROAD OUTLOOK AND OTHER INITIATIVES
In addition to the activities that the ZVM organizes at its own instigation, the initiatives and temporary events for which businesses, the quarter, artists, residents and other private parties in the Zuidas seek assistance from the ZVM are also of great importance for building up a cultural climate. Such initiatives are not limited to visual art, but also extend to other disciplines and cover a broad range of art and culture. The ZVM facilitates, stimulates and supports large and small projects from the private sector and fulfils a guiding, coordinating and communicating role in this regard. The ZVM will do everything possible to combine a broad outlook and a large audience reach with quality that matches the ambitions of the Zuidas.
The forthcoming outdoor performance of the Nederlands Dans Theater, a proposal by Houthoff Buruma, is a good example of a private initiative that is heartily supported by the ZVM. The idea of establishing a multifunctional Art Hall in the 3000 square meter section of the Amsterdam Symphony building earmarked for culture, the so-called art cluster, can also count on a warm reception. Now that the first pile of the Amsterdam Symphony has been driven into the ground, the ZVM will advise the owners on its further allocation. The present idea is a biennial connected with the Art Hall, an art and cultural event which in other cities always attracts a large and varied audience. Both such an Art Hall and biennial are unknown in Amsterdam thus far, and as a result will be a welcome addition to the existing cultural offering. As an added benefit, the Art Hall and biennial will enliven the ZuiderAmstel quarter.
The presence of cultural institutions is obviously as desirable as it is necessary for a lively cultural climate. This means existing institutions such as the Gerrit Rietveld Academy, the Sandberg Institute, the Art and Public Space Lectureship, the VU Exposorium, Sotheby’s, the Premsela Foundation and Platform 21, the centre for fashion, design and creation that opened in 2006 and considered by the ZVM to be of great value for the Zuidas. But it also includes new initiatives like the planned VandenEnde Theater (see map). And of course the top cannot exist without a broad base of different kinds of galleries, bookstores, ateliers, theatres and facilities for artists and companies.
NOT WORDS BUT DEEDS
What has been accomplished in terms of co-constructing in the meantime?
1. A separate section on art has been included in all area plans drawn up so far.
2. In the Vivaldi sector, two art projects are in the works.
- Artist Krijn de Koning has been invited to collaborate on the transformation of the Nuon terrain, previously a fenced-off area with a problematic urban design identity. De Koning considers this area which until recently had escaped the attention of planners and builders to be an important part of the Zuidas. He has taken advantage of its eastern aspect overlooking the RAI train station and given the area the allure of an eastern gateway. To that end he has changed the formerly cluttered zone into an orderly square that not only covers the Nuon area but also extends into the surroundings. By keeping the square clean, simple and neutral in colour, the buildings draw the attention. Both the existing and new buildings (transformer buildings, the GVB folly) rise above the square like colourful sculptures. In the future the area will also accommodate a park for the neighbourhood. Thus is De Koning co-constructing this small piece of the city as an artist. The transformation will take a number of years. The ZVM is working on the project in collaboration with Nuon, the GVB municipal transport company and related services and businesses of the city of Amsterdam, such as the Town Planning Service and the Project Management Bureau.
- The KPN tower, which is to be expanded, is suitable for accentuation with (light) art. The art will be related to the expanded mast, to its technical and functional effect and to the surroundings, where homes are also located. Its realization is taking place in collaboration with the city and KPN.
3. Video Wall on the Zuidplein, a joint initiative of the Zuidas Virtual Museum Foundation, the Art and Public Space Foundation (SKOR) and Faircom Media. On the Zuidplein (South Square), the heart of the Zuidas where all of the infrastructure conjoins, an advanced daylight video screen is being erected as a stage for new media. An especially appointed curator will provide a continuous programme from six o’clock in the morning until midnight, with a ratio of 80% art and 20% informative and commercial programming. Artists will be periodically commissioned to make new work for the screen. It can also be used for special events. Institutions and organizations such as the Gerrit Rietveld Academy, the Sandberg Institute, the Concertgebouw, the Film Museum, the Holland Festival, the Uitmarkt, the Netherlands Institute for Media Art, Platform 21, the Stedelijk Museum, the KunstRAI art fair and the Museumn8 (museum night) have shown interest in contributing to the programming. The screen is expected to be operative by the middle of 2007.
4. The Gershwinplein (Gershwin Square) is one of the most important gathering spots in the Zuidas and lies in the centre of the Gershwin planning area. The square directly adjoins the waters of the De Boelegracht, forms the end of the Minerva axis and is adjacent to the high-rise Amsterdam Symphony complex. It is expressly intended for people – to relax there, to enjoy, to observe, to skate there in the wintertime and to work on a tan in the summertime. The entire water basin of 45 by 45 meters is considered an artwork with which the chosen artist, Jennifer Tee, is contributing to an inspiring environment. The square is being developed in collaboration with the Project Management Bureau, the Town Planning Service of Amsterdam, the Bouwfonds, Trimp & Van Tartwijk and the Amsterdam Art Fund.
5. Mahler4, Sculpture Trail (Beeldenlijn). Every two years a selection of works from the collections of members of the Dutch Association for Corporate Art Collections and of companies located in the Zuidas will be on view along the diagonal of Mahler4 (the Claude Debussylaan), some of them specifically created for the occasion. The ZVM has appointed an external curator to ensure the quality of the selection and its harmony with the surroundings. Seven permanent locations on the Claude Debussylaan have been chosen as sites for art over the next ten years. Besides this, the ZVM plans to collaborate with companies in extending the trail into their buildings so that the public can get a look at the interiors. For the Sculpture Trail, the ZVM is working in collaboration with ING (who launched the proposal), the Bouwfonds, Interpolis, ABN AMRO, Océ, Fortis, Rabobank, KPN and TPG. The first trail of sculptures is expected to appear in 2007.
What has been realized in terms of auxiliary projects in the meantime?
1. A home in the former St. Nicolaas Cloister. As of September 2006, the ZVM is housed in the former St. Nicolaas Cloister, next door to Platform 21’s exhibition chapel. The cloister is the headquarters of the Premsela Foundation and also accommodates Platform 21’s offices. The ZVM has realized six artist-in-residence spaces there.
2. In collaboration with the Gerrit Rietveld Academy, the Sandberg Institute, the University of Amsterdam, and the Art and Public Space Foundation, the Art and Public Space Lectureship was established on January 1, 2003. The Lectureship conducts independent research into the phenomenon of art/design in public space, with a specific focus on Amsterdam’s Zuidas area. The Lectureship is institutionally affiliated with the Gerrit Rietveld Academy. A lector and a coordinator were appointed to head it up.
3. Virtual Zoom. In the 2002-2005 period, the following artists fulfilled their photographic commissions: Jan Kempenaars, Anoushka Blommers/Niels Schumm, Gerco de Ruijter, Marjolijne Boonstra, Maarten van Schaik, Marike Schuurman, Jasper Wiedeman, Gabor Ösz and Risk Hazekamp. Betty Ras and Tudor Bratu were commissioned in 2006 and Katja Mater and Vincent Zedelius are working in the Zuidas in 2007.
4. Free Spaces. In June 2004, the first edition concluded with a two-day presentation and the publication, Vrije Ruimten Zuidas 01 (Zuidas Free Spaces 01). For this first edition, the ZVM worked together with eleven guest institutions, namely the GVB municipal transport company (Jasper Wiedeman), Sportclub Buitenveldert (Renée Kool), Amsterdam Waterworks (Ruben Bellinkx), the Sandberg Institute (Robbert Dijkgraaf), the Dr. L. Alma School Garden (Annet Bult), VU Medical Centre (Katrin Korfman), the RAI Railway Station (Kathrin & Thomas Wildner), Vrije Universiteit (Nomansland), Beatrix Park (Rob Schröder), St. Nicolaas Lyceum (Hanneke de Feijter), Hotelschool The Hague (Jan-Bas Bollen) and the Gerrit Rietveld Academy (Loesje). All of these institutions made workspace available to artists for six months.
For AIR, the second edition of Free Spaces starting in January 2007, six Artist-In-Residencies are available in the former St. Nicolaas Cloister in the Zuidas. For this edition, the ZVM is collaborating with the Art and Public Space Lectureship, the Netherlands Foundation for the Visual Arts, Design and Architecture (Fonds BKVB), Gaudeamus, Platform 21 and the Amsterdam Art Fund. Besides the ZVM’s choice, each of these cultural institutions proposes a candidate of their own. The candidates are, respectively: filmmakers Nina Fischer/Maroan el Sani (Germany, with Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam), Bureau LOLA Landscape Architects (Netherlands), sound artist Geert-Jan Hobijn (Netherlands), draftsman/designer Ingo Giezendanner (Switzerland), performance artist Anat Stainberg (Israel/Netherlands) and installation artist André van Bergen (Netherlands) on behalf of the ZVM.
5. ‘Krijn de Koning in the Zuidas’: solo exhibition by Krijn de Koning in the former St. Nicolaas Chapel, from November 11 through December 3, 2006. De Koning showed models and drawings of the Nuon terrain and a new work especially created for Platform 21’s round exhibition space.
6. Landfall, a temporary project in public space, in collaboration with the Amsterdam Art Fund. At ten different locations, artists Elodie Hiryczuk and Sjoerd van Oevelen placed panoramic photographs of Surtsey, the youngest island in the world. This island is a protected nature area and is comparable in size to the Zuidas. The photographs, a reconstruction of the island, take the public on an imaginary journey to Iceland, where Surtsey is located. The project originally was supposed to remain in place for one year, from the summer of 2005 to the summer of 2006, but at the request of Project Bureau Zuidas has been prolonged for another year until mid 2007, due to its great success.
COMMUNICATION
To increase the involvement of people who live and work in the Zuidas, the ZVM has been publishing the Zuidas Virtual Museum Newspaper on a regular basis since May 2006. This compact newspaper reports on the range of cultural activities in the Zuidas. Its motto: ‘If you write about the Zuidas, people will talk about the Zuidas.’ Despite the possibilities that the new media offers, the ZVM chose the format of an old-fashioned newspaper, which because of its physical nature has more impact than a digital newsletter. The newspaper is also available on the ZVM website in both Dutch and English, in addition to project reports, background information, archival records and other news. The newspaper is informative, accessible, opinion forming, substantive, addresses both the art world and the general public and additionally fulfils an agenda function for both its own activities and the cultural activities of others.
FUTURE
The policy pursued by the ZVM is financially guaranteed until May 2008. It is obviously important for the character and appearance of the Zuidas that the Zuidas Public Limited Company continue to follow the course laid out by the city in the area of art and culture and that ‘co-constructing with the architecture’ also be carried forward. With an eye toward continuity in the art policy, it is moreover desirable to maintain the position of the supervisor and that of the ZVM as the motor of the art policy and extension of the city government in the Zuidas PLC. In order to continue the present programme and realize greater involvement of the companies domiciled in the Zuidas, it is necessary to attract private sponsors and funds in addition to the regular monies.
SUMMARY
Art has been allotted an essential position in the development of Amsterdam’s Zuidas. The Zuidas Virtual Museum, set up in 2003, is the Foundation that deals with art and culture in the Zuidas and advises and assists the Art Supervisor appointed by the city. The Zuidas Virtual Museum’s main activity is ‘co-constructing with the architecture’, with the goal of integrating permanent works of art in urban design, architecture and public space. To achieve that goal it is important to involve artists at an early stage. In order to ensure this, the ZVM starts looking for possibilities and opportunities for art in collaboration with the involved public and private parties while plans are still being formed. These possibilities are recorded in a separate art section in the Town Planning Programme of Requirements.
Right now, projects are being developed for the Vivaldi sector (Krijn de Koning for the Nuon terrain; light art for the KPN tower), the Zuidplein (Video Wall), the Gershwinplein (Jennifer Tee) and Mahler4 (Sculpture Trail).
In order to create a high-quality and inspiring art climate in the Zuidas, the ZVM additionally develops auxiliary activities, such as Virtual Zoom – in which artists visualize the transformation of the Zuidas – and Free Spaces – an Artist-In-Residence project in which selected artists are invited to submerge themselves in the Zuidas and react to it. The ZVM also organizes exhibitions and temporary art projects and supports the artistic initiatives of third parties.
Amsterdam, Spring of 2007
Zuidas Virtual Museum Foundation
*From the brochure, ‘Culture as Catalyzer’, Ministry for Housing, Regional Development and the Environment (VROM), 2003, page 4.
**The term ‘Virtual Museum’ was chosen when the foundation was set up in 2003 to convey the idea that the entire Zuidas area is a living, continually changing museum.
