Friday, 24 September 2010
Thursday, 23 September 2010
flota
I was trying a wind/brass instrument (that i don't know its name) at a music store.
The shopkeeper told me "sorry.. you have to buy it"
Cuz of hygienic reasons they can't sell it if someone put it in his mouth!
It costs me 4 Euro.. and so much fun! :)
The shopkeeper told me "sorry.. you have to buy it"
Cuz of hygienic reasons they can't sell it if someone put it in his mouth!
It costs me 4 Euro.. and so much fun! :)
Sunday, 19 September 2010
Wednesday, 15 September 2010
collaboshitting 1&2
Who?
Me, Karim & mofa!
Where?
the toilet at my place, North Amsterdam!
why?
we had a very small toilet! while sitting shitting, ur face is practically 30 cm from the door. we hanged these green sheets and we started to collabo-shitting.
the pic u see is in Mediamatic Toilet. we thought it's the best place to exhibit our shit!
Monday, 13 September 2010
Monday, 6 September 2010
I'm Bored, I'm Bored, I'm Bored in Amsterdam Noord!
Interview by: Mahmoud Hamdy
When I first arrived to Amsterdam, I was intrigued by the local perception of Amsterdam Noord. It seemed to me that, although Noord was a short ferry ride away from the center, Amserdamers are inclined to perceive it as remote. The mental distance between Amsterdam Central and Amsterdam Noord seemed to be way bigger than the physical one.
One evening an interesting conversation led me to the song “I am bored, I am bored in Amsterdam Noord”, which was made in the late 1970s by singer/songwriter Harry Slinger.
I asked to meet him and Harry met me to share some stories about his musical path and his experience in Noord at a time when “a song of action was needed”!
Below is an excerpt of our conversation.
M: Can you start by introducing yourself. and how you ended up bored in amsterdam noord?
H: I was born in 1949 at the Bloemgracht in the Jordaan. Eventually I started a part-time education in social studies, which led me to take a job as a youth counsellor in Amsterdam Noord. At the time everyone around me thought I was crazy for wanting to work with the ‘scum’ in Noord, but it felt like the right thing to do. After all, I was a street brat myself! And this is how I started in the youth center of de Banne Buiksloot.
Problems soon began with unemployment, the low amount of facilities, bad schools, the shipyards closed down, the Ford factory went broke, all from 1975-1980. The big problem was that there were all these separate little villages – blauwe zand, floradorp, tuindorp oostzaan, tutti-frutti neighborhood – with youth focusing all their aggression on each other rather than the government. Poor people often don't blame the rich, they blame each other.
Then some sociology students came to Noord, they started a project, JAN, Jongeren Amsterdam Noord (Youth Amsterdam Noord) meant to unite youth counsellors. But a song of action was needed. I wrote the lyrics for the song, and they were the first lyrics i ever wrote. The radio stations were crazy about it, and all of a sudden it became a hit. and then we took a flatbed boat, loaded it with local youth and the band, then went to city hall at the Oudezijds Voorburgwal, the old city hall, with it and played the song for the city counsellor, pleading for something to be done about the situation in Noord.
Back then, it was still a very leftwing time, very socialism oriented, and the city counselor at that time, Jan Schaefer, was known for: “In gelul kun je niet wonen” (you can’t live in bullshit) made it possible for change to happen. It all went a lot better, investments were made into Noord, but then Lubbers came into office, and CDA and VVD became the ruling parties, and then a lot of the changes were turned back.
M: Does the song still apply to the situation today?
H: Yes.. Well, for centuries Noord has been the drain of Amsterdam (afvoerputje) You know Floradorp? It’s at the Sneeuwbalweg, near the Floraparkbad. The area there, there used to have a wall around, like the wall israel built at Palestine. They did this because the people in there didn’t fit in socially, they were outcasts of society.
M: if you were to rewrite the song now, Do you think you’d add more complaints?
H: I would first talk to the youth and ask them what their complaints are now, maybe they’d rather use twitter. But I don’t think it will be very different. I think the worst thing possible is when as a kid you feel like you have no opportunities, that you are put at a disadvantage, that life has nothing to offer for you. but this is not only true for Amsterdam Noord, I think this would be the same in Cairo, in South Africa, South America, you name it, if young people have this feeling that they don’t have a future, then we as adults have failed.
M: How do you see the future of Amsterdam Noord?
H: Well, I think if the media are settling there, that the people who work at these media companies, these are people who are more focused outwardly. They pick up things that they see, I think this is a good development. It’s different than a bus driver who lives there.
My son is working there now at a media company, he’s an editor. And now he also wants to live in Noord, and that might be a good thing. A certain crowd is settling there voluntarily, and this is of course a very different development. Just the fact that you are interviewing and making a travel guide that is focused on Amsterdam Noord, this is of course great! I think if the inhabitants of Amsterdam Noord knew this, well they wouldn’t give a statue immediately of course, but well...*chuckles*
M: So if a young band from Amsterdam Noord wanted to make a new version of the song, would you be interested ?
H: yeah, are you going to sing it in English then?
M: No, in dutch, maybe in Arabic, ye!
H: You sing it in Arabic? *smiling*
M: I think there is an arabic scene in Amsterdam Noord. And I think if we managed to do this in a short time-
H: - It’s not a problem that I’m a jewish father?
*laughter*
M: No it’s not a problem! Have you been to the Middle East, Israel?
H: No!
M: are you religious?
H: Me? no no, I don't believe in anything! Life is beautiful, but meaningless.
M: And this is the beauty of it.
H: Yes! *laughing* I’m happy.
When I first arrived to Amsterdam, I was intrigued by the local perception of Amsterdam Noord. It seemed to me that, although Noord was a short ferry ride away from the center, Amserdamers are inclined to perceive it as remote. The mental distance between Amsterdam Central and Amsterdam Noord seemed to be way bigger than the physical one.One evening an interesting conversation led me to the song “I am bored, I am bored in Amsterdam Noord”, which was made in the late 1970s by singer/songwriter Harry Slinger.
I asked to meet him and Harry met me to share some stories about his musical path and his experience in Noord at a time when “a song of action was needed”!
Below is an excerpt of our conversation.
M: Can you start by introducing yourself. and how you ended up bored in amsterdam noord?
H: I was born in 1949 at the Bloemgracht in the Jordaan. Eventually I started a part-time education in social studies, which led me to take a job as a youth counsellor in Amsterdam Noord. At the time everyone around me thought I was crazy for wanting to work with the ‘scum’ in Noord, but it felt like the right thing to do. After all, I was a street brat myself! And this is how I started in the youth center of de Banne Buiksloot.
Problems soon began with unemployment, the low amount of facilities, bad schools, the shipyards closed down, the Ford factory went broke, all from 1975-1980. The big problem was that there were all these separate little villages – blauwe zand, floradorp, tuindorp oostzaan, tutti-frutti neighborhood – with youth focusing all their aggression on each other rather than the government. Poor people often don't blame the rich, they blame each other.
Then some sociology students came to Noord, they started a project, JAN, Jongeren Amsterdam Noord (Youth Amsterdam Noord) meant to unite youth counsellors. But a song of action was needed. I wrote the lyrics for the song, and they were the first lyrics i ever wrote. The radio stations were crazy about it, and all of a sudden it became a hit. and then we took a flatbed boat, loaded it with local youth and the band, then went to city hall at the Oudezijds Voorburgwal, the old city hall, with it and played the song for the city counsellor, pleading for something to be done about the situation in Noord.
Back then, it was still a very leftwing time, very socialism oriented, and the city counselor at that time, Jan Schaefer, was known for: “In gelul kun je niet wonen” (you can’t live in bullshit) made it possible for change to happen. It all went a lot better, investments were made into Noord, but then Lubbers came into office, and CDA and VVD became the ruling parties, and then a lot of the changes were turned back.
M: Does the song still apply to the situation today?
H: Yes.. Well, for centuries Noord has been the drain of Amsterdam (afvoerputje) You know Floradorp? It’s at the Sneeuwbalweg, near the Floraparkbad. The area there, there used to have a wall around, like the wall israel built at Palestine. They did this because the people in there didn’t fit in socially, they were outcasts of society.
M: if you were to rewrite the song now, Do you think you’d add more complaints?
H: I would first talk to the youth and ask them what their complaints are now, maybe they’d rather use twitter. But I don’t think it will be very different. I think the worst thing possible is when as a kid you feel like you have no opportunities, that you are put at a disadvantage, that life has nothing to offer for you. but this is not only true for Amsterdam Noord, I think this would be the same in Cairo, in South Africa, South America, you name it, if young people have this feeling that they don’t have a future, then we as adults have failed.
M: How do you see the future of Amsterdam Noord?
H: Well, I think if the media are settling there, that the people who work at these media companies, these are people who are more focused outwardly. They pick up things that they see, I think this is a good development. It’s different than a bus driver who lives there.
My son is working there now at a media company, he’s an editor. And now he also wants to live in Noord, and that might be a good thing. A certain crowd is settling there voluntarily, and this is of course a very different development. Just the fact that you are interviewing and making a travel guide that is focused on Amsterdam Noord, this is of course great! I think if the inhabitants of Amsterdam Noord knew this, well they wouldn’t give a statue immediately of course, but well...*chuckles*
M: So if a young band from Amsterdam Noord wanted to make a new version of the song, would you be interested ?
H: yeah, are you going to sing it in English then?
M: No, in dutch, maybe in Arabic, ye!
H: You sing it in Arabic? *smiling*
M: I think there is an arabic scene in Amsterdam Noord. And I think if we managed to do this in a short time-
H: - It’s not a problem that I’m a jewish father?
*laughter*
M: No it’s not a problem! Have you been to the Middle East, Israel?
H: No!
M: are you religious?
H: Me? no no, I don't believe in anything! Life is beautiful, but meaningless.
M: And this is the beauty of it.
H: Yes! *laughing* I’m happy.
Sunday, 5 September 2010
Saturday, 4 September 2010
The physical and the mental distance
Interview with: Mahmoud Hamdy
By: Alberto Marchioretto
While healing himself with healthy tomato juice, Egyptian artist Mahmoud Hamdy speaks about integration, swings and the psychotherapy that Noord needs.
How do you relate as an artist to the Noord (North Amsterdam) project?
I find the project very interesting. I have never worked with mapping before and I am discovering that it can really be a stimulating process. As long as you are mapping a specific place you are not only understanding things about the place in itself, you're understanding new things about yourself. Normally, when you visit a place, you just follow random patterns of interaction. It's only when you're mapping that you become aware of being a tourist exploring new spaces and of these patterns. I'm truly enjoying letting the tourist part of myself come out to explore Noord.
What has fascinated you about Noord and its relations with the city?
Coming from Cairo, where every movement within the city takes you at least one hour, I was very surprised by the mental distance which seems to exist amongst Amsterdammers of the centre and the people living in Noord. Even though it takes you only a three minutes long ferry trip, the imaginary gap in people’s mind appears to be way bigger.
Is this psychological distance part of your project?
In structuring my project, I imagine Noord as being a child. If a child has a certain type of complexity, you ought to look at and understand its parents in order to understand him or her. In this case Amsterdam is the parent and Noord is the neglected, abused child that needs a sort of psychoanalysis. I will try to graphically represent a historical timeline that analyzes the relations within this ‘dysfunctional family’. Thus, trying to find out what the key points are of the history of the city, which have shaped the relationship between the two parts. The outcome will be a moving, hopefully interactive, picture. I don’t like static mapping, in reality maps are anything but static, because the geography changes endlessly. Nothing is fixed when it comes to mapping.
As the other participants of Noord, you have been living in the neighbourhood since June. What inspires you in this borough?
At the beginning I was attracted by NDSM, because it is made to be attractive to artists and art lovers. However, after two months living there, I really appreciate the neighbourhood Van Der Pek, where we are staying. What I really like is the peculiar vibe that you can feel. In the monotonous of the housing - all being social houses, they're all alike - people are sitting outside in their swings, children are playing, doors are open. I love it!! Also, I am appreciating it more, because I believe that in no more than 10 years, with all the renovation plans that are going on, not so much of it will remain there probably.
What do you think about the gentrification that is taking place?
More money coming in means less village and more city vibe. Hence more tourists and potential customers will come pouring in. I see why the government and businesses see it as extremely positive, but do the Dutch families need and want it? I am not so sure. Government sees it as a good thing, the local population, however, as something bad. As an artist you stay in the middle, being aware of both the points of view. Nevertheless, for this project, I am taking the side of Noord all the way and will ,therefore, go in a direction that might even offend the people of Amsterdam. Be that as it may, I really sympathize with this ‘little child’ that was raised in a dysfunctional way and I want to point out the deficiencies of its parents.
The metro is an interesting project. It has been planned following only the axes north-south, completely ignoring the east-west of Noord. It is clear that it is not meant to serve Noord people to move faster. It is only trying to trick the psychological distance 't IJ creates between the city. No more ferry, no more changing of scenery.
You hear a lot about Noord being very multicultural. What have you noticed about integration when it comes to the immigrants from the different nationalities and the Dutch natives??
It really seems as such. Lots of races and religions living together without having any mayor problem. But is there real integration? Or is there mere tolerance? Are people only able to live together as long as they are not forced to interact? Politely neglecting each other more than harmoniously sharing their lives? I wonder!!
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