‘We don’t want to become Pipe 2.0’

#dont #Pipe

The letters at Café de Tuin attract a lot of attention. Image Sophie van den Berg

Joanneke Meester’s art project was commissioned by What Art Can Do, in response to the so-called ‘complaining and spui-je-bil hours’ of the Katrijn foundation, a group of residents who say they are committed to ‘balance in the relationship between mass tourism and the residents of the Jordaan’. During the meetings, local residents could express their complaints about the neighborhood.

Bar Pif, Café de Tuin and What Art Can Do – all three businesses are located in Tweede Tuindwarsstraat – then decided to make their windows available to the campaign. “We don’t want the Jordaan to become De Pijp 2.0,” says Simone Swildens, chairman of What Art Can Do. “We want the neighborhood to remain the neighborhood, but how are we going to do that?”

“We receive a lot of complaints that there are too many Airbnbs, that social housing is disappearing and that there is too much tourism. That is something that is very important here. We have to take more care of each other.”

‘Resistance, resistance’

The text ‘Resistance, resistance’ was deliberately chosen, according to Swildens. “As far as we are concerned, it is also a call: do something with it! There are an incredible number of people. Look out for each other, help each other and stop complaining, because the Jordaan is our home.”

The fact that the letters are white is also no coincidence. This way, local residents, pub visitors or casual passers-by can add visible texts to the letters. “And that can be anything anyone wants,” says Swildens. “It contains texts such as ’embrace each other’, ‘talk to each other’, ‘be kind to each other’. But also, for example, ‘no tourists’.”

“All this is positive whining,” laughs Swildens, who offers forty artists from the neighborhood the opportunity to exhibit their work in her presentation room. She especially calls on Amsterdam residents to come by. “Living sculptures can be seen in the street here on Sunday between 4:00 PM and 7:00 PM, but the letters will be removed again on Monday.”

The letters on the windows of Bar Pif. Image Sophie van den Berg

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