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NDSM Docks
A Cultural Incubator
The coming of MTV Networks to the NDSM docklands of North Amsterdam is the ultimate affirmation of its success as a cultural incubator. It often goes like this: first artists move into a rough, undeveloped, neglected area, then other cultural entrepreneurs follow, and cafés and restaurants set up shop. The biggest concern now is the maintenance of the authentic character of the former shipyard, which occupies an area bigger than 10 football fields combined. The huge neighbourhood contains facilities like the Scheepsbouwloods, a hangar-like structure of 20,000 square metres, containing around 80 artists' studios, and two historic ship slipways also housing workshops and artists' studios. It should not become too slick, or it would lose its identity.
The general public knows the location thanks to its festivals. In the summertime, they take the ferry for a ten-minute trip over the water to enjoy the Over het IJ Festival, or the technoculture festival, Robodock. The location is eminently suited to such large-scale, outdoor events. There are plans to use the slipway for summer concerts by the legendary rock venue, the Paradiso.
Eight years ago, the local council of North Amsterdam still had no idea regarding the future destiny of the industrial heritage site. A group of artists, theatre people, skaters and architects came up with a plan to make the former dock and shipyard the largest cultural incubator in the Netherlands. A foundation was set up, Kinetisch Noord (‘Kinetic North’), to realise affordable working spaces and workshops in close cooperation with tenants, in the form of basic, unfinished spaces that the tenants can finish themselves. The subsidised spaces are intended for artists and starting entrepreneurs in the creative sector. After a certain amount of time, they must progress to other locations in Amsterdam or to the more expensive and luxurious spaces of developers in the NDSM area itself.
Spread over the different halls and warehouses, the 250 local artists form a nucleus for underground culture. They are active in the fields of visual arts, design, theatre, film, media and architecture. There is an inventor, Eibert Draisma, and craftsmen including coppersmiths and metal workers, but there are also, for example, people like industrial designer Wouter Konings, whose projects have included created retail shelving for Nike.
The NDSM docks will be further developed in the future as an international centre for the creative industries. With the local council, NDSM residents and developers are making plans for the further growth of the area, to promote it more extensively and place it even more firmly on the map as a podium for art, culture and media.
www.ndsm.nl
robodock.org
www.koningsdesign.nl