A theatre hidden in the man made forest on the outskirts of Amsterdam. An impressive setting with impressive shows. Watching an interesting piece under the stars is quite a memorable experience. Further more it's a nice bike ride leading you past rowing waters, fields to play picnic in or a pancake house if you feel like something warm and sweet.

I’m not much of a bar-person, but if and when I do go for a drink, I love to come here. It’s simply the best brown café in Amsterdam. A little off the beaten track, in the middle of a residential neighborhood, you’d really have to go out of your way to come here. Nienke, the proprietress is what we call in Dutch “een topwijf ”. With her warm heart and no nonsense attitude she makes you feel right at home, whether you’re a regular and part of the bar’s furniture, or just pop in occasionally, just like myself.

It is in the city centre. This former navy area is now partly open for the public. In summer you can swim in the canal there and have a great view on old Amsterdam, the Scheepvaartmuseum and the dead heart centre of Amsterdam. I like it most in winter, silent, grey, a place to mesmorize, walk alone around, meet a local who is walking his dog, than and have a coffee in pension Homeland, the restaurant hotel there. In central Amsterdam the space is rare, and what is there is overrun with tourists and full of local traffic, the trams, a million bikes, cars and pedestrians. That is why I like this place so much, super quiet space in the centre of Amsterdam.

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.

Surrounded by the growing business area of Amsterdam Zuid, this modernist historic monument from the 60's oozes freedom. The clash of strict, grey, practical architecture of Gerrit Rietveld with the chaotic, colourful, anarchic bustle of art students working in these spaces is amazing. The 5 years I spend here as a student changed my life and shaped me to a great extend to who I am today. Now, temporarily walking these corridors again as a guest teacher, I realise how much I had missed this place since graduating 8 years ago. This is not a common art school. It's a family, a movement with a very personal and radical approach. Many students coming for a temporary exchange end up staying, because after wandering through this twisted Mondrian painting you will never be the same…