Amsterdam: Underneath the windmills, and amongst the stoners and the construction sites.

Once sifting through the massive amounts of tourists and clouds of smoke, Amsterdam is unique from most other cities in Holland in it’s rich history and architecture (both old and new). The canals and the bicycles play dominant roles in how the urban planning works, although like many popular cities, the gentrification is evident by the fields of cranes that seem to occupy the background of almost every direction that you look. I must admit that I felt rather claustrophobic about being there as I do in most larger cities, however Amsterdam seemed much more condensed and bigger than it actually is in population.

It was especially fantastic to see Adair again. 2005 had been a year of intense changes for us, both personally and professionally, which made it great to spend some time sorting everything out and moving on while continuing to be supportive of each other. We also tossed around the idea of extending the tour, leaving the suitcase with her if we could get a couple of more shows or events scheduled in even after I leave Europe.

I had managed to book an appointment with Yvette’s friend Alexandra at a local bookstore that specialized in artists’ books, which bared the incredibly adorable title ‘Boekie Woekie’. Boekie Woekie is a gold mine for any lover of artists’ books, or independent publications. After talking to one of the owners while showing him the books in the suitcase I noticed that I knew very little of the names on the shelves and was impressed to learn that they held very little discrepancy about how ‘well known’ each of the artists were. Many of the books were by emerging artists, yet were not segregated as ‘emerging artists’ works in any way. This made the whole experience of being in the space an adventure, taking the time to notice the little details along the way, which was extremely refreshing in a place that seemed to be surrounded by a very goal driven society and culture. I ended up recognizing a few books by Jo Cook and a few other Canadian artists, and couldn’t resist purchasing a few items that were there, leaving the store running on adrenalin and satisfaction, knowing that this viewing alone was plenty of reason to include Amsterdam in the tour. Otherwise Amsterdam was a little milder than Rotterdam, although one surprise viewing was particularly fantastic when a group of four construction workers took a smoke break to spend a few moments with the suitcase.

So the McCleave and I were off again to London and to Dublin in one day. I received and email from Meredith Carruthers letting me know that ‘repro #2 of 3’ was doing fine but is a little nervous for the big show coming up in Lennoxville at the Foreman Art Gallery of Bishops University along side with the ‘mobilelivre’ project as well as many others.