Amsterdam Wildside

To generate a visual accompaniment to Merijn Oudenampsen's recent piece 'Extreme Makeover', I decided to upload these images – made in the summer when visiting a friend in IJburg, one of the new 'polder' territories emerging adjacent to Amsterdam. In addition to the various existing neighbourhoods being annexed to the creative city project, these new architectural oases are literally being conjured out of the sea...

The pictures show a selection of the sequentially planned zones as they gradually fill up. Some are projected to accommodate a mix of residential and business, some social housing and 'lower cost' residential, others categorised such that plot owners have complete freedom over what they build. There's undeniably a Wild West/frontier spirit in the air – with the so-called 'hardships' (of having no streets, shops and ATMs, for example) perceived as later being rewarded in the form of stellar house price increases and all the usual speculation based bullshit. Looking at a self-declared community being built at such breakneck speed, myriad subtle and not so subtle processes are immediately visible. Some of these are similar to those associated with existing construction and development models: the gated community, the riverside/marina appartment complex, the public-private partnership with a percentage of social housing, a new financial hub – a la Docklands. Others feel more peculiarly 'Dutch' and are broadly to do with the way in which we unrepentently demand 'normal' behaviour whilst proudly insisting on our openness to difference/originality. More dramatically, some reflect the current national crisis over multiculturalism. As far as I know the primary mode of transport between 'mainland' Amsterdam and this city within a city is a metro – one that travels partly underwater meaning access to and from the land is easily managed/monitored. I don't know whether the inhabitant whose house I found most remarkable uses it, but I imagined her/him on it every night, escaping back home... This is pictured in the first two photos: over the front and garage doors two especially cast cement porticos say, 'Where MANY people are. Must be more AIR. Breathe.'