SMART Project Space on 6 Feb 2001 16:35:55 -0000 |
[Date Prev] [Date Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]
[Nettime-bold] Call for support |
SMART PROJECT SPACE | Call for support A NEW CULTURAL SPACE IN AMSTERDAM'S OLD WEST DISTRICT SMART Project Space is asking for your support for its plans to save an imposing 1960's office block in the old west of Amsterdam, and turn it into the home for a host of cultural initiatives. In the old west of Amsterdam, close to the Leidseplein, the Vondelpark and the national museums on the Museum square, there is a building that stands out: the former Jan Swammerdam Institute. It is a prime example of a modernist, concrete, 1960's institutional architecture that has few rivals in the historic heart of Amsterdam. It has been described as inhuman in scale, even brutalist, and exemplifies the functionalist aesthetic that was so out of fashion for the last twenty-odd years, but which now is making something of a comeback. In Amsterdam many buildings of this kind have been torn down, and the former Jan Swammerdam Institute is destined for the same fate by the Old West district council, in order to make way for new housing and offices. However, SMART Project Space has recently turned the building into its temporary home, creating an exhibition space for contemporary art, artists' studios and a café-restaurant. SMART Project Space Foundation has now developed an alternative plan to preserve the building, and adapt it to offer space to a diversity of cultural initiatives: expanding the exhibition spaces, adding cinema spaces for a programming of art-house cinema, art-cinema and video art, guest-studios for visiting artists, and office spaces for cultural institutions and creative companies. SMART Project Space has secured considerable financial backing for this purpose (amongst others from the Municipal Government of Amsterdam), and is now campaigning for the local district council to amend its plans and allow the building to be preserved. SMART Project Space Foundation has carried out an active exhibition policy in Amsterdam since 1994, aimed at the newest developments in contemporary art. In this context, a program of video art, art-cinema and net art has been presented, as well as film, performances and music and other media as the opportunity arises. Early in 2000 (part of) the former Jan Swammerdam Institute was given as a temporary home to SMART Project Space by Mentrum (the former Amsterdam Psychiatric Hospital). It is now housing the exhibition spaces of SMART Project Space, almost 50 artists' studios, a thriving café-restaurant, a film production studio and a screening space. Under the proposals, the building will be refurbished to meet the demands of its new functions, the facade (existing of granito and white marble) will be cleaned up and a (transparent) extension will be added on the ground floor, covering the current car park and bringing the front of the building out to the public road. The plans also include a public passageway to the area of the former Wilhelmina Gasthuis behind the building, creating a new, monumental entrance to this unusual part of Amsterdam. Internally, the plans aim to accommodate the following: Exhibition Space: circa 1000 m2 On the ground floor there will be an exhibition space where the newest developments in contemporary art: film, photography, performances, design, architecture and other art forms will be given a podium. The space offers the possibility of being able to organise different smaller exhibitions at the same time but could also be used for larger exhibitions as the opportunity arises. National and international art institutes will work together on the programming (SMART Project Space reserves 400 m2 for contemporary art exhibitions; 600 m2 will be programmed with exhibitions on the subject of contemporary culture). Film house: circa 900 m2 The three lecture theatres in the building (originally built by the University of Amserdam) will be fitted out as cinemas offering a podium for good quality art-house and experimental cinema. For programming we will work together with the former Desmet Art-house (which was forced to close down recently by the owners of the property) crew and the nearby Dutch Film Museum. Café: ca 250 m2 Also on the ground floor is a café-restaurant, annex media-café: a meeting place for artists and art-enthusiasts. "De Ruimte" is already a phenomenon as meeting place for the cultural circuit in Amsterdam. Artist's studios: circa 3.600 m2 On the first three floors, there is space for around 50 artist's studios. The artists are selected on grounds of their professional level and the quality of the content of their work. Four guest studios will be made available to artists from abroad. Office space: circa 3.600 m2 The top three floors will be made available to cultural institutes and related creative businesses. In order to secure the co-operation of the Old West council it is important to show the level of support that exists for the activities and the plans of SMART Project Space; not just on a local level, but also in the international art circuit. Your declaration of support will show the international interest that will be generated by a cultural space like this. Please send your letter to: City Council Amsterdam Oud West C/o Hans Weevers, member of the council responsible for Housing P.O. Box 57129 NL-1040 BA Amsterdam. You can also send a fax to number: +31 20 5893510 or e-mail: h.weevers@oudwest.amsterdam.nl We would very much appreciate to receive a copy of your letter through one of our addresses (see below). For further information on the SMART Project Space, please check out our website at: www.smartprojectspace.net With kind regards, The Board of Trustees of SMART Project Space Thomas Peutz, director Thomas Peutz SMART Project Space | www.smartprojectspace.net 1e Constantijn Huygensstraat 20, NL-1054 BW Amsterdam Home Office: Keizersgracht 720, NL-1017 EW Amsterdam Mail to: P.O.Box 15004, NL-1001 MA Amsterdam Phone: +31 20 427.5951/5952 | Fax: +31 20 427.5953 Phone H.O.: +31 20 4206028 | Mobile: +31 6 54765894 Email: thomas@smartprojectspace.net The following artists participated in recent projects of SMART Project Space: Margherita Abbozzo, Liesbeth Abbenes, Marina Abramoviç, Carlos Aguirre Morales, Babak Afrassiabi, Doug Aitken, Hanspeter Ammann, Justin Anderson, Tiong Ang, Janine Antoni, Ben d'Armanac, Rodolphe Astier, Attwell & Affourtit, Clint Bagwell, Bank of Reality, George Barber, Miguel Barreda, Marcus Bastel, Robert Beck, Hans op de Beeck, Sanne Beeren, Sadie Benning, Malek Bensmaďl, Otto Berchem, Roberto Berliner, Liz Bischof, David Blair, John Blake, Joachim Blank, Blind.Spot, Anneke de Boer, Diane Bonder, Natalie Bookchin, Zouibida el Bouzidi & Zaid el Haqq, Joan Braderman, Nina Brudermann, Bureau of Inverse Technology, Christian Burns, Neus Buira, Victoria Campillo Grau, Captain Video, Simonetta Cargioli, Shane Carn, Monica Castiglioni, Olga Chernysheva, Abigail Child, Jason Coburn, Loďc Connanski, Claudio Corsello, Pia Cseri-Briones, Monica Cuoghi, Donigan Cumming, Alan Currall, Michael Curran, Renata Czajor, JBN Dawra, Koen de Decker, Cor Dera, Gustav Deutsch, Anita DiBianco, Elspeth Diederix, Lisa DiLillo, Fleur van Dissel, Herbert Distel, Paul Donker Duyvis, Delphine Doukhan, Smadar Dreyfus, Yvonne Dröge-Wendel, Justin van Duurling, Tilmann Eberwein, Benni Efrat, Tracey Emin, Zush Evrugo, Eyegasm, Harun Farocki, Alicia Framis, Paco Freire, Stuart Gazzard, Patrick de Geetere, Mariska van Gelder, Bart Gorter, Dan Graham, Valerie Grancher, Johan Grimonprez, Arjan Groot, Group Z, Eva Grubinger, Robin van 't Haar, Hein Hage, David Haines, Ellert Haitjema, Hiroyuki Hakamada, Halflifers (Torsten Z. Burns & Antonio Discenza), Hĺvard Haugseth Jensen, Karl Heinz, Faye Heller, Úna Henry, Liselot van der Heijden, Jozef van der Heyden, Jenny Holtzer, Alexander Honory, Mark Hosking, Judith Huemer & Tom André Skullerud, Harada Ippei, Ingrid Jejina, Aletta de Jong, Gerald van der Kaap, Asao Kako, Takako Kanagawa, Nobuhiro Kawanaka, Emma Kay, Susan Kealy, Arthur Kleinjan, Pim Komen & Karen Murphy, Renée Kool, Jeroen Kooijmans, Jodi, Jolanda Kooijmans, George Kuchar, Quirijn Kuchlein, Andreja Kuluncic, Carter Kustera, Thomas Kutschker, Peter Land, Leptomania*Art*Movement, Olia Lialina & Michael Samyn, Marieke van der Lippe, Ardele Lister, Ida Lohman, Eve Luckring, Veronica Majano, Jun Manjume, Javier Marchan, Pia Marais, Janet Merewether, Anne McGuire, Dylan McNeil, Niels 'Shoe' Meulman, Junko Miura, Frédéric Moffet, Sabine Mooibroek, Fumitake Mori, Mouchette, Matthias Müller, Begońa Muńoz, Kenji Murakami, Lisa Muskat, Carlos Nader, Luan Nel, Diane Nerwen, Mark Neville, Hayley Newman, Kojima Noriaki, Takumi Obitani, Atsushi Ogata, Tsuyoshi Okubo, Dan Oki (Slobodan Jokic), Hiroyuki Oki, Lennaart van Oldenborgh, Kenji Onishi, Owen Oppenheimer, Vivian Ostrovski, Jésus Palomino, Helen Paris, Linda Pollack, Lisl Ponger, Liza May Post, Walid Raad, Ilya Rabinowich, Jennifer Reeder, Oder Reifenberg, Steve Reinke, Hunter Reynolds, Michelle Remy, David Rimmer, Pipilotti Rist, Alex Rivera, Pablo Rodriguez Jáuregui, Adi Rosenblum & Markus Muntean, Nelli Rothvee, Hiromi Saiki, Anke Schäfer, Julia Scher, Andy Seklir, Toni Serra, Stuart Sherman, Mark Schaperkötter, Claudia Schmacke, Cornelia Schmidt-Bleek, Trebor Scholz, Oliver Schwabe, Marcel Schwierin, Ross Sinclair, Joshua Singer, Florian Schneider, Debra Solomon, Simon Starling, Peter Stel, Tim Stoner, Annika Ström, Annegret Suaudeau, Robert Suermondt, Shiroyasu Suzuki, Cordelia Swann, Tomoko Take, Kayo Takefuji, Fiona Tan, Christine Tauber, Philippe Terrier-Herman, Marianne Theunissen, Frank Thiel, Tony Thijssen, Koen Timmermans, Annie Toop, Graziella Tomasi, Muriël Toulemonde, Karin Trenkel, Peter Tscherkassky, Wanda Tuerlinckx, Atsuko Uda, Gitte Villesen, Barbara Visser, Junko Wada, Cathy Wagner, Walter Russ, Erik Wesselo, Peter Westenberg, Olav Westphalen, Hartmuth Wilkening, Luuk Wilmering, Florian Wüst, Sonja Wyss, Mikio Yamazaki, Jaka Zeleznika, Jodi Zellen, Edwin Zwakman. If this e-mail was forwarded to you by way of someone other then SMART Project Space, and you would appreciate to receive further mailings announcing projects of SMART Project Space, you can send mail to info@smartprojectspace.net with the following command in the body of your email message: "subscribe e-mailing SPS" If you would want to remove yourself from this mailing list, you can send mail to info@smartprojectspace.net with the following command in the body of your email message: "unsubscribe e-mailing SPS" _______________________________________________ Nettime-bold mailing list Nettime-bold@nettime.org http://www.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-bold