“You don’t get that in Australia”

On the way to work this morning I saw a whole lot of police, a crane, and the calamity truck on a bridge over Prinsengracht. As I got closer I saw they were pulling an ecotoilet out of the canal. I started taking pictures and I overheard…

“We don’t get that in Australia, do we Mum?”

“No, we don’t really have canals in Australia”

“No…. we’ve got beaches but”

Anyway, here’s a video of the rescue operation.

Budget Cuts

Mozes & Aäronkerk has a big sign outside it “Stop economising; let the light shine in the Moses House”. The Moses House is a youth club and social services orgainsation that uses the Mozes & Aäronkerk, and the economising it refers to is a 78% cut in its Council funding.

The church started out as a Jewish owned building, that was purchased in 1641 to be used as a secret church in the period when Catholics could not hold services in public. Two hundred years later the building was rebuilt in its current form and consecrated.

The city council’s economising is due to the current financial crisis, so my first reaction to the sign was “I don’t like your chances”. But there was a report issued in May indicating that the city council had been able to make savings by reducing some operating costs and the scale of some plans. The economising originally proposed was not going to be as severe as first thought.

However there has been no change to the budget allocated to the Mozeshuis.

… More >

Israel Querido

Poetry by Israel Querido, on the window of his former house

These lines appear on the window of a house in the Jordaan (translation mine) “a strange light plays, mysteriously of variable hues, dances over the fanciful shopfronts and gable stones“ The lines were written by Israel Querido, I think as a description of the neighbourhood. He lived in this house while writing a book called “De Jordaan” (The Jordaan) which described working-class life in detail, including how people spoke.

I’ve never heard of Israel Querido before and there’s little information about him online in English. The Jewish Historical Museum has a short biography (Dutch only), he was fascinating.

He was born in Amsterdam in 1872, the third son of a diamond polisher, and descended from Portuguese Jews. The family were not well off, but did emphasise education and culture. Through self-education he became a learned man, with deep knowledge of history, philosophy and literature.

He married Jeanette Sjouwerman in 1893 and went into business as a jeweller, but failed as a business man. He went on to become a reporter and later a full-time writer and journalist. He wrote poetry, but was more successful with prose, publishing more than 20 novels; including the novel “De Jordaan”.

He also wrote a play “Aron Laguna”, which premiered in 1917. It was a realistic and critical look at Portuguese Jews in Amsterdam and was controversial. His character was also controversial, people found it hard to accept his extramarital affairs and eccentric character. He had frequent money and family problems, some of which were played out in public.

He did earn a measure of fame in his lifetime, and his death, on 5 August 1932, was reported in all the papers. There is a commemorative plaque on the house “A group of friends placed this stone in memory of Israel Querido who wrote “The Jordaan” here” It was placed there barely 2 months after his death.

Commemorative Plaque

Poets and Playwrights

I was at Dylan Hotel last weekend, and photographed this sculpture in the entrance courtyard. I didn’t have time to delve into what it was really about until today.

The statue commemorates Hooft, Coster and Vondel who were all playwrights and pioneers of Dutch Theatre in the 16th and 17th centuries.

This was the site of the city’s first theatre, the Schouwburg van Campen, where Vondel’s most famous play Gijsbrecht van Aemstel was first performed.

The gate  you pass through  to get to the Hotel is still known as the “Theatre Gate” (schouwburgpoort), but the theatre burnt down in 1772. The new theatre was built on Leidseplein.

Anti-Islam party wins 4 seats in EU election

… and the party’s leader calls for the Dutch government to stand down.

The man needs to go back to school and learn some maths, and then relearn democracy.

Firstly here are the results;

Summary of the results

There’s a summary of the parties available on Wikipedia.

The election results show several changes, big losses for CDA and PvdA, two of the three parties in the current government coalition. In the current climate the government is not that popular – it’s the economy. But the changes shown don’t really represent a big swing to the right, the losing parties are centrist, and the gaining parties are on the extremes. Groenelinks and D66 are further to the left and PVV is further to the right.

It’s certainly a gain for Geert Wilders’ ironically named party (PVV = Partij voor de Vrijheid = Freedom Party), and it should perhaps be a wakeup call for the government and the electorate. But calling for a new election makes no sense at all.

Start with the numbers;

Geert Wilders’ anti-Islam party PVV is the big winner in the European elections in the Netherlands with almost 17% of the vote.

Voter turnout was 36.5%, which means that around 6% of the voters turned up and voted for Wilders, which is comparable to the last national election.

So Wilders statement doesnt’ make sense, he does not have the electorate backing, and the total support has not changed since the 2006 national elections.

Secondly, this election is for the members of the European Parliament, not the national parliament. There is no constitutional reason to have the representation be the same in each parliament, and there is no constitutional issue if they don’t match.

Again Wilders is sensationalist, and using the very freedoms granted in our democracy to repress others who potentially seek those freedoms.

Wiki loves Art loves Amsterdam

The first photograph added to Wiki loves art/NL, a ring from the Jewish Historical Museum.

Various museums around the Netherlands are taking part in a month long Wiki Love Art event this month.

It’s an opportunity to photograph some works of art that are usually off limits. Share the photos on flickr and you’re in to win prizes.

The goal is to increase the number of quality photos available on wikimedia commons, similar initiatives have already been tried around the world.

Participating Museums/Organisations in Amtsterdam

Allard Pierson (tag: allardpierson)
ING Art Management (tag: ing)
Joods Historisch Museum (tag: jhm)
Nederlands Instituut voor Mediakunst (tag: nimk)
NEMO (tag: nemo)
Tropenmuseum (tropenmuseum)
Van Gogh Museum (tag: vangogh)

For other museums around the Netherlands, and the appropriate tags, go to the site.

The Rules To Take Part

(translation mine – original Dutch here)

Step 1: Make a Flickr account.

• If you don’t already have a flickr account you can make one for free here. You can find instructions to sign up on the Flickr website

Step 2: Upload the photos

• Wiki loves art /NL takes place during the whole month of June. So you need to take your photos at participating museums in June, and upload the photos to Flickr. Photos taken outside this period cannot be included in the Wiki loves art/NL project!

Step 3: Add the correct title and tags

• It’s really important that all your photos are correctly tagged. As part of the Wiki Loves Art each photo must have a title and use standardised tags. Without these tags we won’t be able to identify the item in the photo or tell which museum it is from. For each photo we need the following details:
  • The title of the work  (as the title of the photo): Name of the artwork, name of the maker (if known), year (if knonw). For example  Nachtwacht, Rembrandt van Rijn (1642)
  • The tag WLANL
  • A tag with the name of the museum: a tag with the (short) name of the museum where the photo was taken. I’ve added the tags for the participating Amsterdam museums above, for participating museums around the rest of the Netherlands check the official site.
  • A tag with your Flickr name.
  • At some museums there are lists that include a “collection code” for the works available to be photographed. If this code is available then that code should also be added as a tag to the photo.

Step 4: License the photos under the Creative Commons Share Alike Attribution licence.

• This must be done so that the photos can be reaused by Wikipedia. Photos without a Creative Commons Share-Alike Attribution licence cannot be included in the competition.

Step 5: Join the Wiki loves Art group and add your photos to this group.

• To take part in Wiki loves art / NL all the photos need to be included in the  Wiki loves art group on Flickr.

Step 6: After the project all the photos will be checked.

• The Wiki loves art/NL team, with colleagues from the museums taking part will look at each of the photos. Photos that meet all the conditions of the competition will be sent to a jury. There are attractive prizes on offer from camera equipment to museum entrance subscriptions. Prizewinners will be notified before 1 September 2009. Photos that met all the conditions will also be added Wikimedia Commons.

Further Rules:

• Communication should always be via the Flickr group. You can ask questions and they’ll answer them as quickly as possible (note; it doesn’t say so, but I’m sure it would be OK to ask questions in English)
• Photos submitted must be your own work.
• Go for quality photos, rather than quantity. Take into account any limits on upload connected to your flickr account
• Take notes at the same time as you take the photograph, that will help you get the details right.
• In addition to these rules some museums may have additional rules relating to photography of their artifacts. You’ll find these rules on the pages of the individual museums.

Time to Vote

Sign promoting the upcoming EU election

If you’re an EU citizen that is. This billboard was set up on beursplein and relates to the upcoming election. The three images indicate a camera, a fingerprint and an immigration officer. The slogan reads “How much control will we tolerate?”

Within 50 metres I spotted this surveillance camera monitoring Damrak. It may be monitoring traffic or linked to a webcam – the police surveillance cameras usually have police markings on them in this country.

Cameras

Did you see this in Amsterdam?

The book's cover

I picked up a guidebook published in 1978 with sites in Amsterdam – some of the more obscure sites – and the history. It’s called Zag u dit in Amsterdam? “Did you see this in Amsterdam”, by J.H. Kruizinga with photos by Joop Steussy. Apparently there are 2 more volumes to find. I’m fascinated. I’ve been visiting some of the sites to see if they’re still there, I’m going to try and work my way through the book between now and the end of the year. Starting today.

Sculpture of Vondel, where his house once stood

This sculpture is of Joost van den Vondel, for whom Vondelpark is named, it’s set on a building on Warmoesstraat, and indicates where his house once stood. He lived from 1587 – 1679, and was a writer and playwright, his plays are still performed today. The legend beneath the sculpture refers to his most famous play “Gijsbrecht van Aemstel” a historical play based on a siege of Amsterdam in 1304. The play was performed every year on New Year’s Day from 1638 to 1968, but the building on which the sculpture is placed was built in 1911. They must have thought the play would run forever.

Chileans are in town

I noticed a forest of yellow signs around the Anne Frank House, these are put up to warn cyclists to remove their bikes.

Usually they’re put up in relation with some roadworks or beautification project.

This time it’s for something slightly different. Here’s the sign up close.

The sign reads “Due to the state visit of Chile on 26 May all bicycles and motobikes (including those attached to street furniture and biycle racks) will be removed.

Locks will not be compensated”

and a phone number to call if your bike is missing.

The worst hotel in the world

The Hans Brinker Budget Hotel In Amsterdam has taken bad hotel management to an art form – or at least their advertisements have.

Their early ads proclaimed “Now: A door in every room!”, “Now, Even Less Service” and other slogans that play on their budget status. Later ads played on the theme of “accidental ecology”, still later the ads focused on “improving your immunology” with the idea that exposing yourselves to the bugs in the hotel will er, strengthen your immune system. The most recent ads focus on unique design.

The joke has become so iconic that the hotel has now produced a book – available on amazon.co.uk.

It’s a budget hotel for young backpackers, it comes in at 3.5 stars on Virtual Tourist with most people commenting that it’s pretty basic and a bit noisy. Still you get what you pay for – it’s 20-40 euro per night.

You can check it on street view

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