Publication: Live, Learn, Create… Repeat BijlAIR: 25 Years Artists in Amsterdan Southeast.

For a quarter of a century, CBK Zuidoost has provided space for artists to draw inspiration from Amsterdam Southeast (Bijlmer). On February 21, the publication Live, Learn, Create…Repeat – BijlmAIR: 25 Years Artists in Amsterdam Southeast, concerning the BijlmAIR residency program, has been presented by CBK Zuidoost and publisher Jap Sam Books, accompanied by a special program, set against the backdrop of the exhibition AIR In Zuidoost

What does it mean to have a residency in Amsterdam Southeast for a quarter of a century? For the neighborhood as well as for the artists – and for the Amsterdam art world? That is the subject of the bilingual publication Live, Learn, Create…Repeat. It contains a number of reflections as well as 99 profiles of artists, artist duos, and collectives who resided, under the banner of BijlmAIR, over the past twenty-five years, CBK Zuidoost’s residency program.

The book examines the history of the residency, the various locations, the way artists related and continue to relate to the neighborhood, and the impact of BijlmAIR.

I had the honour to take part in two artist residencies, the first time for four weeks, in May/June 2017. During these weeks I made drawings of people in the neighborhood. Quick drawings with black ink oe with pen/pencil and watercolor, in order to shift the focus from the origin to a broader notion of humanity. The residency resulted in an exhibition, invited by Readytex Art Gallery in Paramaribo, Suriname. Another impact of the residency was the project that started in Amsterdam Southeast where I portrayed people – in pen and watercolor – on the first of July, Keti Koti, when people were commemorating and celebrating the abolishment of slavery by the Dutch in Suriname and the Carribean islands in 1873, in their traditional and festive clothing. The project took three years and resulted in the book Ala Sma Tori – Keti Koti Verbeeld, a collection of portraits and interviews, published by LM Publishers, and also for sale at CBK Zuidoost, on location and in their webshop.

The second artist residency took place in 2022, a group residency: Rinaldo Klas (SUR, 1954) invited Moritz Ebinger (CH, 1961) and me to collaborate. We were inspired by the different bird species in the neighborhood, tropical birds too, like the ring-necked parakeets. We chose depict free birds in our joint work, symbolising the migrants who have managed to build a new life in Bijlmer, a place where one can move freely. In creating our works, we took the same freedom. The title of our project was ‘Ala Kondre Fowru’, Sranan Tongo (Surinamese) for ‘birds of all peoples’. Their was laghter and deep discussion during this intense residency month at BijlmAIR.