PLACES / CITROEN AMSTERDAM

Like crossing into a parallel universe, a huge gridded surface of white tiles, no windows, brightly lit by fluorescent lamps, white panels standing tall creating a maze effect.

This place was the manifestation of my thoughts: nothing is everything. The emptiness was so powerful, felt so intense and surreal to me. Because there is nothing -A LOT of nothing- , I saw everything – everything that is there (the beauty of a single broken tile), but specially everything that is not yet there, everything that could be there, or everything that I would do there. It became strangely clear that a space is not much more than nothingness demarked by walls, borders, imaginary lines. Why does nothing become something simply by putting these borders in the form of white walls around it?

Okay, so how did I get here? In the search of a toilet, I found myself on the first floor of the new Kunsthal Citroen after the Rietveld academy graduation show. Until only last month, this building was a Citroen car garage for decades. A modern 1950s building just outside the centre of Amsterdam. Standing on its own on the open Stadionplein (Stadion Square) away from the traditional crammed streets of Amsterdam. Designed by Jan Wils in the late 1950s, you can see the influences from Dutch modern art movement De Stijl to which Wils was briefly part of. Only a week ago, the first edition of the Amsterdam Art Fair was held here, representing all major contemporary art galleries, hence the white empty space.

On the second floor there is a wonderful new restaurant, the interior is the original industrial car garage with not much else than pink chairs and tables – a beautiful radical contrast. Oh, and it also has a roof terrace.

Conclusion, a nice place to put on your Amsterdam to-visit list.