Understudied stories of fringes and margins
What stories are valuable when a place changes? How can stories that are important to the city be preserved? With Kinship Library Afaina de Jong, architect, researcher and founder of architecture studio AFARAI, brings understudied voices to life at NDSM. From May 16 — November 2, the public can listen to oral histories about the city and specifically about NDSM, in an architectural installation.
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Kinship Library is more than just a listening experience; it's a living archive. The architectural installation invites visitors to listen to voices and sounds from different perspectives, nooks and crannies in an intuitive way. The collection of audio sounds brings together (narrative) music with roots in the diaspora, understudied voices in architecture from Afaina de Jong's archive and the rich history of NDSM. The personal stories of people with a connection to the NDSM shipyard were recorded via audio stories by Jesper Buursink and Fouad Lakbir from Stratenmakers Audio Collective. These are memories of (female) former employees, migrant workers, pioneering artists and creatives who have played a role at the shipyard over the years.

About Afaina de Jong
This year, Afaina de Jong has been working with her studio AFARAI to stretch boundaries in architecture for exactly 20 years. Important in her work is to represent people and cultural movements that are not traditionally represented in architecture and connects subcultures with architecture. Kinship Library is an archive of feminist and understudied perspectives on urban development and music with roots in the diaspora and understudied histories around the NDSM shipyard.

Visit Kinship Library or the Online Listening Platform
The installation can be seen and listened to every day from May 16 to November 2 between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m., at NDSM (Forge Square opposite NDSM Bikes).
All audio stories and music can also be listened to online on the NDSM Online Archive, so that the stories are also preserved for the future.

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PUBLIC PROGRAM: CHANGING PLACES, LASTING STORIES

Date: Tuesday, June 10
Location: NDSM Theater
Time: walk-in 16.30, start 17.00 to 19.00

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How do places change — and which stories persist? In this program by the NDSM-werf Foundation and the Amsterdam Museum, you will hear voices that talk about the history, change and future of cities like Amsterdam. We look at what disappears, what stays, and how we can keep stories in a place that is constantly changing.

We are investigating how an open, decentralized archive can help make forgotten or underexposed stories visible — such as those from the NDSM shipyard or from our city of Amsterdam. What is the role of a museum, artist or initiative in this? And how do you ensure that voices keep sounding, even in the future?

Together with artists and curators, we dive into themes such as industrial heritage, migration, belonging (kinship) and preserving intangible heritage. How do you carry on memories from a place? What does it mean to really capture stories? Come and listen, watch and talk — and help us think about what we'll save for later.

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Speakers
With Afaina de Jong (architect, founder AFARAI), Petra Heck (curator Stichting NDSM-werf), Imara Limon (Head of Amsterdam Museum Curators), Emin Batman (architect and artist), Jesper Buursink (audio maker, artist), Femke Awater (Amsterdam Museum, Collecting The City), Roxette/ANArtist (artist, House of Vineyard) and Mariana Lanari & Remco van Del (Archival Consciousness). Performance by Phantom Wizard.

Tickets via: public program June 10, 2025

Kinship Library has been made possible in part by the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts, Mondriaan Fund, Creative Industries Fund and the NH Cultural Fund.