citylikeyou — View From My Studio — Amsterdam by Misha de Ridder

Amsterdam / Place

My studio is situated on top of a Fifties concrete modernist apartment building in the Rivierenbuurt in the south of Amsterdam. The best thing is that my building is just one floor higher then the rest of the houses in the neighborhood so I get a good view of the city and the ever changing Dutch skies. What makes my view really special is the view from the balcony on an inaccessible inner garden. The garden is made on the roof of a parking garage of an office building and nobody can go there since there are no stairs or entrance. Once a year the gardeners come with a tall ladder. They are the only ones that enter the garden ever. The nice thing is that still there is a winding path in the middle of the garden for only your eye to trace it.

Address
View From My Studio, Rivierenbuurt, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Photographer Visual Artist

Current city: Amsterdam

mishaderidder.com

Misha de Ridder (1971, Alkmaar, The Netherlands) lives in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. To search, to disclose and to write with light is what Misha de Ridder does in his landscape photos and videos. He does not seek the comfort zone of the beautiful and picturesque, but of the sublime. De Ridder exhibited at Juliètte Jongma Gallery, Layr Wuestenhagen Contemporary, PhotoEspaña, the Triennial of Photography Hamburg, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, FOAM and The Museum of the City of New York. Photobooks by Misha de Ridder are Sightseeing (2000, De Balie), Wilderness (2003, Artimo), Dune (2011, Lay Flat), Abendsonne (2011, Schaden.com), Falaise (2016, Roma Publications).

More Places in Amsterdam 100

Amsterdam / Bar

Probably the cosiest place in town! Warm 'Berlin style' wallpapered living room build around a half circle bar. They host poetry, bingo & acoustic evenings in the front room, and great film, concerts and dress up parties in the hidden mezzanine back room.

Amsterdam / Sanctuary

Known for their ceramics and carefully thought-out details. Get ready to spend a small fortune.

Amsterdam / Studio Spaces

A few years ago, the Volkskrant (one of the countries biggest newspaper) moved office to a new location. Their old headquarter now houses hundreds of artists and musician; along with dance studios, a bar/club with panorama over the city, a dreadlock 'doctor', a Russian cultural centre, a cyberpunk gallery and my photo studio on the 4th floor. It was a conscious choice by the founders to create a total melting pot. In the basement for example, 3 doors away from our music studio, you will find some cheerful weed smoking hiphop producers from the Bijlmer (the 'ghetto' of Amsterdam); an ex-yougoslavian hardcore drummer with a full analogue recording studio and a ballet school run by an obese woman in her 70's. Ok, it might seem artificial, but it really is quite magical!

Amsterdam / Bar

Old parking garage turned canal bar.

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.