Exhibition Poste Restante
In the former Postoffice you can visit the exhibition Poste Restante.
The Amsterdam School tends to be referred to exclusively as an architecture movement. This exhibition also addresses the social conditions that made such an architecture style possible. Jacques Kriek designed the exhibition especially for this small but beautifully restored former post office. The style is that of a post-modern post office: instead of exhibition walls displaying photographs and texts, visitors sit at a small desk on top of which the exhibition is featured on an I-mac computer.
Stichting De Golf, which designed the exhibition content, produced 10 short films in which 'eyewitnesses' elucidate the Amsterdam School as a movement during a tumultuous period in our history. Following the adoption of the Housing Act as a result of the deplorabe living conditions, the designs selected were of optimal quality. Palaces for the proletariat. The rebellious disposition embodied in this style of architecture made Amsterdam world-famous! The exhibition deals with the curious set of coincidences that turned this city into a Mecca of Public Housing.
1. The Housing Act of 1901 ended slum construction. Egbert Ottens, employed at the municipal housing service and author of the book 'Ik moet naar een kleinere woning omzien want mijn gezin wordt te groot...' [I have to move to smaller digs because my family keeps growing], describes living conditions before the Housing Act.
2. The Amsterdam School was a movement: wild and unruly but with regard for comforts. Vladimir Stissi covers the resistence of Michel de Klerk and his fellow architects to the prevailing austerity of the architecture.
03. Michel de Klerk (1884-1923) was the soul of the Amsterdam School. His son Joost de Klerk about his father who died young: architecture was a game for him.
4. Artist Michel de Klerk brings dead material back to life. The expressionist painter/poet Anton Martineau about Het Schip: a work of art in all respects!
5. The Amsterdam School was a reaction to the speculative construction of the neighbourhoods built in the 19th century. Ton Heijdra, a social geographer and author on the history of neighbourhoods in Amsterdam: this movement arose from an artistic ideology that identified with the rising socialism.
6. The homes on the Spaarndammerplantsoen were palaces compared with those in the Jordaan. Childhood memories of former inhabitant Mrs. Van Os-Krijnen: excursions organized by the housing association Eigen Haard, SDAP parades and purchasing stamps at the post office.
7. The Amsterdam School features a distinctive style of architecture. Architect Hein de Haan on the characteristics that typified this movement and the disenchantment with various widespread myths.
8. Who builds? Wibaut! Alderman Wibaut (1859-1936) instigated a massive construction project for quality housing for workers. Constance Wibaut about her zealous grandfather.
9. Workers received help in establishing their housing associations. Jan Keppler describes the role of his father Arie Keppler (1877-1941), the first director of the municipal housing service.
10. Wibaut at work with his brother-in-law Keppler; patricians who helped the workers. City of Amsterdam historian Richter Roegholt is related to Keppler and Wibaut: they made history! The exhibition also includes the 20 minute video Bakens in Baksteen [Brick beacons]. This film primarily covers the architecture of the Amsterdam School and the urban planning principles for Plan Zuid. The film features English subtitles.
