community engaged art project 2009 - 2013
KijkRuimte
In early 2009, Paes Leão was invited by the emerging cultural hub De Tolhuistuin and housing corporation Ymere to propose an art project for the Van der Pek neighborhood in Amsterdam North. Historically isolated on the other side of the IJ river, Amsterdam North carried the stigma of a poor, criminal, and antisocial area, despite its rich industrial heritage. However, as the city sought housing for the upper-middle class, the neighborhood faced rapid gentrification.
Critical of this process based on past experiences, Paes Leão proposed transforming one of the houses in the heart of the residential area into a public space. Her proposal was selected, and KijkRuimte opened its doors in May 2009. This marked the first project in which Paes Leão approached space itself as a medium and an art form. She treated space as flexible, open, and porous, manipulating the experience and perception of it to create conditions for others to do the same.
Theoretical Foundations The project built upon Paes Leão’s initial research into Amsterdam North and insights gained from previous works. Themes explored in The Identity Builder (2006), The Freedom to Question (2008), and Blue Meetings (2009) both informed and crystallized within KijkRuimte:
- From The Identity Builder: An investigation into the contradictions between instant and organic urbanism, the old and the new, and the dynamics of host versus guest, specifically within the hastily constructed community of IJburg.
- From The Freedom to Question: A shift in the artist’s position from a neutral outsider to a critical "witness"—someone who sees a system from within, acknowledges their influence, and takes responsibility without being asked.
- From Blue Meetings: The concept of space itself as a flexible, porous medium with inherent potential.
Additionally, the project drew heavily on the work of French sociologist Henri Lefebvre, particularly his theory that space gains significance and meaning through its use.
The Project in Practice Operating for four years, KijkRuimte served as a cultural research platform dedicated to designing and developing public space through artistic research and interventions. Located in a house in the middle of the neighborhood, it functioned as a meeting place for diverse art and cultural communities in Amsterdam North.
As a participant and critical "witness" to urban renewal, KijkRuimte stretched the boundaries between private and public, the social and the cultural, and ancient roots versus future qualities. The project investigated the significance of temporal relationships in public space for social cohesion. While acknowledging that anonymity is inherent to urbanization, KijkRuimte demonstrated that this is not inconsistent with familiarity, recognition, and the ability to identify oneself and others in the public domain.
Over four years, the platform invited over 40 artists and researchers from various backgrounds to collaborate on projects across diverse media. United by the themes of gentrification in Amsterdam North and the urgent need for public space, these collaborations fostered alternative social thinking and strengthened the local social tissue.
Examples of KijkRuimte Projects
Free Food For All
In collaboration with URBANIAHOEVE / Debra Solomon a series of posters depicting a future vision of an edible ecological infrastructure for the Van der Pekbuurt were created.
A Detective Story About Amsterdam-North
Natalia Pershina, a member of the ‘Factory of Found Clothes’ and ‘Chto delat / What is to be done?’, collaborated with KijkRuimte to create a film that is a surrealist combination of layers of personal stories, historical stories and fantasies about identity and feeling at home.
More Than This
Together with Yane Calovski, KijkRuimte worked on a documentary research project about the gentrification process of Amsterdam North that uses the personal story of Anne, a Van Der Pek inhabitant transitioning from male to female, as a metaphor.
HearUsHere
After four years in the Van der Pekbuurt, KijkRuimte invited Klasien van de Zandschulp and Jamer Bryan Graves to collaborate on a mobile application to make the collected audio of approximately 40 art projects available on diverse relevant locations in the neighbourhood using GPS.
