Opening Kunstvlaai
After all our hard work this week, the day had finally come for the opening. We had briefly discussed what to wear yesterday, with the conclusion being that an officey-type look was a good idea. I need no excuse to dress up, and so it was that I spent the whole morning rushing around Amsterdam trying to find a second-hand suit that would fit me. Eventually I succeeded, finding a beautiful old ’70s number, a little too big but close enough.
The opening was at 4pm, before which myself, Emily, and James arrived and made sure everything was ready. The idea was that we would be making leaflets to hand out during the opening, using the photocopier, stapler, and other office equipment available; hence the outfits. In reality, the whole evening became quite chaotic, with the electricity being knocked out (seemingly by our photocopier), and there being in any case huge numbers of people and a lot of noise. It was all very exciting, although not really the time or the place to actually think about art very much. The name “Kunstvlaai” means “art-tart”, more or less, which is not too bad a description; a crazy mess of people trying to make themselves noticed amongst the countless other people doing just the same.
The evening flew by and soon it was chucking out time, meaning a welcome break from the crowds and a chance to relax with some wine and pizza on the grass behind the Westergasfabriek (the venue of the Kunstvlaai). The air was thick with barbecue smoke as people enjoyed the amazingly good weather that we have been having the past few weeks.
Later on, we had a few beers outside on the terrace, at last able to take it easy after a very hectic week. I have certainly enjoyed the build-up to the Kunstvlaai very much, and it was very satisfying to see so many people interested in what we were doing and to be able to explain what the project is about. The idea of course behind all this was to promote the forthcoming book about Here As The Centre Of The World, a book which is unfortunately still non-existent. Time will tell if we have done our job in this respect.
Thanks to James and Emily for some of the photos here.
