citylikeyou — Art In The Underground Stations — Amsterdam by Martijn Sandberg

Amsterdam / Place

Under the city, the extraordinary Gesamtkunstwerk by Louis van Gasteren, Jan Sierhuis and others is located in Nieuwmarkt underground. This is one of the public artworks of the Seventies and early Eighties endangered due to station renovation on the Underground Eastline. At present there is a notice hanging at different spots on the wall: ‘‘This artwork has been temporally removed due to renovations”.

Address
Art In The Underground Stations, Zuiderkerkhof, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Visual Artist

Current city: Amsterdam

msandberg.nl

The work of Amsterdam based visual artist Martijn Sandberg, constantly explores border areas, such as the tension between text and image, legibility and illegibility, the private and the public domain. “I make Image Messages, image is message is image.” The image hides the message. In the cut paintings „Sorry No Image Yet‟ and „Too Busy To Paint‟ there is a subtle play between the language of the image and the significance of the image, and this gives rise to questions. Here, the lack of image seems to be elevated to an image by the artist. The direct relationship between the image, the material bearing the image and the environment is also expressed in his site-specific works in public space and architecture. As in „If These Walls Could Speak‟ that can be viewed in the lifts at the OBA Public Library Amsterdam, and the artwork „I Will Survive’ located at the border of a burial ground in Hardenberg, The Netherlands. In 2010 „My Last Penny‟ by Martijn Sandberg is released as jaarpenning/ art medal 2010, issued by the Vereniging voor Penningkunst/ Dutch Art Medal Society in a multiple edition of 450 pieces.

More Places in Amsterdam 100

Amsterdam / Cafe

Authentic café.

Amsterdam / Place

At the Damrak on the daily journey between home and studio, my eye is continually drawn to the emblem that has functioned as a façade ornament on the corner of the Beurs van Berlage for more than a hundred years. In combination with the past function of the building - trade centre - and in relation to the present financial crisis, the timeless maxim gains extra significance: ‘Dis-pe-reert niet’ (‘Do not des-pair’).

Amsterdam / Theatre

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.

Amsterdam / Museum

It's a very small museum in the Hermitage about art made by outsiders. It's also known as 'Art Brut', a name given to it in 1972 by French artist Jean Dubuffet. It simply means that it is art made by people that don't fit in the normal life structure that humans suppose to have. Which can mean that the art is made by people who are in jail, who are ill, have a mental dissability or another way of not fitting into the community. The exhibitions are quite small, so it takes you just around an hour. And the hermitage has a nice canal view.

Amsterdam / River

The Amstel river is the main river of Amsterdam. Around 1200 they build a dam in the river and that was the birth of Amsterdam (or Amstelredamme as it was called back then). This dam is now situated under the Dam square, the central square of the city. If you bike from the old city center to the south along the banks of the Amstel, as I do every day on my way to my studio, the city opens up and gives way to a lot of space. If you follow the river it will take you out of town more quickly then you'd expect since it is surrounded by a green corridor that get's larger and greener as you exit the city. In less then half an hour bike trip from the old city you can find yourself in juicy green pastures between grazing cows and sheep. Only the airplanes heading in and out of Schiphol Airport will remind you that the city is near.