A few years ago I had a conversation with a staff member from Uytenhaak Architects about concealed texts in Amsterdam, relating to my own work ‘stoned forever’, which is integrated in brickwork in the Olympic Quarter. He said that there is a text in Morse code incorporated into the Droogbak (1989), a residential building by Uytenhaak: ‘Deze muur staat er niet’ (‘This wall isn’t here’). It is located close to the railway line. Rudy Uytenhaak later told me that this was his last opportunity to protest against the acoustic fence that had to be constructed for bureaucratic reasons.

OT301 is a cultural centre in the former building of the Film Academy at the Overtoom. It’s a good place to get drunk, watch a movie or to eat. It's not too expensive, like most other places in Amsterdam, and the ambience is good. 


In the ever growing conservative political scene in the Netherlands, the ADM is a reminder of the freedom and chaos that Amsterdam must have once been. It gives me my dose of dirty grittiness, something which is miss in this city in constant renovation and gentrification. Evolving around a main building on an industrial shipyard on the outskirts of town, it's an area where modern gypsies, anarchists, artists and free thinkers build their houses, park their caravans or dock their house boats. It's not entirely my scene, but I am happy to know that it's there. And they throw some amazing festivals!

The Oostvaardersdijk is huge dike that protect the polder of Flevoland from being flooded. It's near the city of Almere that was founded in 1975 on the just recovered land of the Flevopolder. It is a great place to see the skyline of Amsterdam and look out over the Markermeer, the former Zuiderzee. When you turn around you can look down in the polder on an impressive group of modern windmills, in the distance you see the city of Almere. This is Holland at it's core: endless flats with the endless skies you know from Seventeenth century painting. You can drive the Oostvaardersdijk north to Lelystad and cross the lake to Enkhuizen and back to Amsterdam. On the way you drive past Oostvaardersplassen nature reserve, a large area of marshes and wild land in the Flevopolder, where they introduced wild horses and prehistoric cattle.

If you have money to blow, this is a great place to blow it on Italian vintage designer pieces. I say Armani, you say ... Prada!