The diary of a Scot in Amsterdam

Another DAI week, and the first “proper” one of this year, since last month’s trip to Germany was really more of a holiday.

There is not so much to say which would be so very different from my other reports from Enschede, so I will keep it brief. There was of course a very busy programme of lectures and discussions, as well as studio visits, and some very nice food; being cooked for while you are studying is still a very pleasantly strange experience for me.

The only other noteworthy event which occurred, and of which I sadly do not have any pictures, took place on Thursday morning as I was leaving the DAI house. I had chained my bike to a signpost outside, since the hallway was completely filled with bicycles. In the morning, I could not find the tiny wee key for my bike lock, which looked like being a big problem. It struck me however that the steel cable of the lock was actually quite long, and if I could somehow lift the bike high enough, I could maybe get it up and over the top of the signpost. A roundabout way of doing things, but worth a go.

So it was that I found myself clinging on like a monkey to the top of the post while Nikos pushed the bike up from below, and wonder of wonders, it worked!

Who knows? Maybe this is how very stupid or very strong bicycle thieves conduct their business.

A very important event took place this weekend – for the first time since my move here fifteen months ago, my parents came to visit me in Amsterdam. I had placed quite a lot of importance upon this, mainly because like all children I cannot help but feel the need for the approval of my parents for what I have done with my life, of which my move to the Netherlands is obviously an important part. Clearly I wanted them to enjoy themselves, but also to leave with as favourable an impression of the country and its ways as I have.

In a very out-of-character move, I managed to be organised enough to meet them at Schiphol on Thursday morning, and had even bought a strippenkaart so that they could at once make use of public transport. We made it back to my house without a hitch, which I had also made extra efforts to get into a presentable state, free of clutter, and as clean as my mum’s own standards would demand. It seemed to have paid off, as we were soon enjoying a coffee and discussing plans for the coming days.

Sparing the details, we managed to get quite a lot done in less than four days; visits to the Van Gogh, FOAM, and Hermitage Museum, cycling out to the countryside beyond Noord, dinner in various restaurants that I would not be able to afford myself, a boat tour round the grachten (canals), and last but not least visits to various second-hand shops; this last being mainly for my dad’s benefit, but also of course for mine!

The only activity which caused a few problems was the hire of bicycles; here, they are usually the terugtraprem (back-pedal brake) type, which are almost unknown in Britain. My poor mum couldn’t really get the hang of stopping, which is of course a wee bit dangerous and certainly unsettling. Next time, it will need to be the hand-brake type.

All in all, a successful visit, or so I believe. Sunday ended up being a bit chaotic due to the trams being heavily disrupted by the Amsterdam Marathon, leading to a lot of hanging about for non-existent services and a lot of walking. Nevertheless, an enjoyable though slightly stressful weekend, and hopefully a nice introduction to the Netherlands for my dear old folks.

Although I have not mentioned it here up to now, I have for the last four months or so been working as an unpaid intern at Trans Artists, an Amsterdam-based organisation who maintain a database of and give advice about artist-in-residence opportunities in the Netherlands, Europe, and throughout the world. I had heard about the position through an email received via the DAI, and since it seemed interesting I decided to apply.

I had thought that there would be loads of people who were interested, but this turned out not to be the case, and they took me on straight away. They are very nice people, and I have enjoyed my one day a week of helping out; this has turned out to be mainly translating pieces of text from Dutch to English. This has been necessary because a large part of their website has been up to now only available in Dutch, which of course is not a lot of use for an organisation trying to have an international appeal.

The plan was originally to stay for three months, but it has gone on a bit longer than that. Now the DAI has now started again I have increasingly less and less time for other things, and so it was agreed that I should finish this week.

I was very pleasantly surprised today when as a going-away present I was given some flowers, a leather-bound notebook, and a book token. Not only that, but we all stopped working for a while and had cake and herbal tea, the latter of which seems to be an essential working requirement in their office; while working there I was offered a fresh cup almost hourly. Thank you Trans Artists!

Julien had told me earlier today about an interesting event this weekend – the opening of the Kunststad (art city) at the NDSM-werf in Noord. This was to be the first public access to the initial stages of what sounds like a very interesting and impressive project.

The Kunststad will be a collective of artists, designers, theatre-makers, architects, and others who will be able to occupy a space within the huge NDSM warehouse (a former shipbuilders) at a very low rent, thus creating a community of creative people, but with a strong connection to commercial reality and activity. This type of combination is, to my eyes, typically Dutch and one of this most interesting aspects of this country.

Whether it will be a success or not is anybody’s guess, but it would be fantastic if it works out well. Who knows, even I could have a studio there one day!

By the time I made it up to Noord this evening there was not too much happening, and there is still quite a lot of space still to be occupied. That being said, it was still an interesting visit, and the place is bursting with potential. Let’s just hope it doesn’t all get sold off for flats in five years time.

Myself, Julien, and Rachel were wandering around the labyrinthine depths of the warehouse, when we came upon a piano sitting in the unlikely location of a lift. Julien is of course quite a virtuoso on the ivories, and could not resist having a go. No sooner had he done so when a middle-aged woman appeared through the opposite set of doors of the lift, seemingly delighted at his presence. She explained that she was making an art piece involving actors reading a script in the lift, whilst (an unseen) someone played music, and asked if we would like to take part. Though we were needing our dinner, there was of course no saying no to such a proposal.

The deal was that myself and Rachel would read the script, whilst Julien would play something appropriate on the rather honky-tonk-saloon-sounding beast in the corner. Best of all, we had costumes to wear! (this was a serious business, people).

The only problem was of course is that the script, entitled De Laatste Rokers (The Last Smokers), was in Dutch, which Rachel does not speak. She’s just started lessons, though, and was willing to give it a go.

We did our best, which was not easy due to this and further complications, such as me being about 30cm taller than Rachel, and the fact that we were supposed to be going up in the lift but could not work the buttons properly. Honestly said, I would be surprised if the poor woman got anything useable from our performance. It was good fun, though!

I have been in Edinburgh doing some work, and since this was the case, I decided to make a wee trip through to Glasgow and see some folks there. Of course, I was much too disorganised to get around to emailing or phoning anyone, so in the end I didn’t end up seeing very many people at all.

By coincidence there turns out to be no less than four people I know from Amsterdam now living here; Katie of course, as well as Sean and Kerry from the Sláinte and Kerry’s boyfriend Benjy. A very strange experience it was, seeing them all in a completely different country.

Aside from those lot, I caught up with Danny (who has OU exams next week, good luck!), and my pal Martin from back in my GSA days. Martin and his wife Sarah now own no less than two flats in the Southside – this makes my own situation seem a bit pathetic, really; still renting a tiny room and studying.

I ended up drinking far too much during the weekend, of course, and it has made me come to the realisation that I need to get a hold of myself and start growing up a little. Most importantly, I need to get myself out of the mindset of thinking, “yes, I’ll go through to Glasgow and get as pissed as possible for the weekend, it’ll be a great laugh!”. I’m twenty-eight now, and it’s time I started acting like it.

I always lived in dread of having these kind of thoughts when I was younger, but I suppose that this was because I could never forsee a time when I wouldn’t enjoy getting wrecked and making an arse of myself. At the end of the day, though, something is only worth doing as long as you do enjoy it; after that, it’s just going through the motions. When that happens, it is time to make a change.

Just a month after my first visit, I have been back to Baco Army Goods in IJmuiden. This is a fantastic shop filled with electronic components, as well as all sorts of fascinating ex-military and industrial equipment, and the sort of place I could spend all day in. I went with Julien, since he was interested in finding some parts for a musical device he is building, and we did in fact spend almost three hours in the place. So obsessed was I, in fact, that I completely forgot to take any pictures.

After this, we went to do some filming on the pier as a test for a project which I intend carrying out at some point in the future; I want to film myself seemingly running across the country carrying a large roll of carpet under each arm, before finally throwing them into the sea. The long pier at IJmuiden seems like a very good location for this, hence the test. Watch this space for more!