The earth here is fertile once more. Grass and weeds grow in a field that grows secretly in the presence of the roaring sound of trains overhead. This field is closed to the public. This was where the A9 highway once passed underneath the 2 national rail and 2 metro tracks, each of the 4 train tracks passing overhead on its own concrete bridge. This created the effect that the bridges were the ceiling of a secret outdoor room.
This strange secret garden was an unintentional byproduct of this huge development of Holendrecht. In 2022 a group of us set up an exhibition there to open its doors to the public. We can jump fences, open a door, but by no means did our site specific exhibition stand in the way of this colossal capitalistic forces that we see changing this city: De Bijlmer is changing. We all know that Amsterdam’s priorities of profit displace local communities and ecosystems. But we jump fences because we can, and we unlatch the lock on the other side. My only hope is that the 40 or so people who walked anyone who walked through that door, remember that this is possible.
