#amstelveld square

[postcard-from-the-past]

Amstelveld Square in Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands

Dutch vintage postcard, mailed in 1910 to The Hague

[merelygifted]

'Handed over in an Ikea bag': art detective recovers Van Gogh painting stolen from Dutch museum - The Art Newspaper

Van Gogh’s painting The Parsonage garden at Nuenen in Spring has been recovered, just over three years after it was stolen in Laren in a smash-and-grab raid. The return was negotiated a few days ago by the Dutch private art detective Arthur Brand, who met a contact on Amstelveld, a small square off Amsterdam’s Prisengracht Canal. The Van Gogh was handed over in an Ikea bag.

It is believed that those holding the Van Gogh were hoping to use it to barter for the release of a prisoner.

The picture had been on loan to an exhibition at the Singer Laren museum from the Groninger Museum, in Groningen. On 30 March 2020, at 3.15am, it was seized by thieves who violently broke through the glass door of the public entrance to the Singer Laren. Painted in March 1884, the work depicts the garden of Vincent’s parents.  ...

[deauditievedienst]

Corona Recordings Week 2: Locations and route

Today I will go back into the city to record the soundscape of locations. Here’s an overview of the locations and considerations of why I’ve chosen them Locations

This was the most important and hardest thing to figure out. I don’t want to try and capture ‘everything’ so I need a plan that gives a broad strokes impression of the sound of the city centre. After some brainstorming I came up with the following 3 types of 'open air' locations:

Public historic/touristic spaces: De Dam square, Anne Frank house all are deserted with no tourists in sight.How do these places sound without them? What is left? 

'Soundmark' locations: Church bells and other distinct sonic identifiers to public space that are now good to hear but will be drowned out when the city get's back into action. This is of course inspired by Murray Schafer and also incorporates the idea of a Circle of Auditory Perception (in Dutch geluidshorizon), how far can one listen?

Traffic junctions: Amsterdam is a tiny city with a lot of traffic normally and hence a lot of that noise has now died down. There will be traffic, but what will it sound like? 

The list (possible due to change):

Nieuwstraat (opposite Nieuwendijk 165)

De Dam square (next to Madame Tussaud entrance)

Nieuwezijdse Voorburgwal (opposite Oxford House)

Rembrandtplein (next to statue)

Amstelveld (north west corner)

Frederiksplein (next to de-activated fountain)

Albert Cuyp market (opposite nr. 235)

Museumplein (next to Van Gogh museum entrance)

Hugo de groot plein (opposite the ABN Amro)

Prinsengracht (from the Bloemgracht Bridge opposite Anne Frank house)

Warmoesstraat (corner of Heintje hoeksteeg).

Oude Kerk (on the corner next to 'De Koffieschenkerij')

Central Station Westtunnel

Central Station platform / Perron 11

Route

The next big question was: How to move through the city and capture the locations easily and also be able to pick up on different sounds and events? Because I want to be able to find quiet and louder spots and 'bump' into things.

Some spaces will change dramatically, some already have.. I want to stay open to that possibility. So I ride on my bicycle and go down the list keeping my ears perked!

Obviously the list might change a bit: it depends on a lot of things.

First: rules for public space might change as the corona virus spreads.

Second: my safety (it actually comes first but is connected to the 1st rule).

Third: some spaces might not sound all that different when the city comes back to life, is it useful to record those? I’d like to hear from you if your interested to discuss this.