NDSM Open Call | #LOOKUP! | SHELLS

From September 12, the NDSM Loods in Amsterdam-Noord will present the two winning projects of the NDSM Open Call 2024/2025: Look Up by Renée Marcus Janssen and Shells by Lyangelo Vasquez. Through its annual Open Call, Stichting NDSM-werf and Kinetisch Noord support ambitious art projects by artists and creatives based at the former shipyard in Amsterdam-Noord. Both #LOOKUP! and Shells will be on view for the coming year, with Shells running until the end of 2025.

Both works will be officially unveiled on Thursday, September 11, from 17:00 to 19:00, everybody is invited!

‍NDSM Open Call
‍Each year, the NDSM Open Call supports projects emerging from the creativity of the NDSM community. The 2024/2025 jury included former winners Catarina Garcia & Jim Du Pan (2023/2024). The NDSM-werf Foundation was represented by curator Petra Heck and former programme maker Ewa Scheifes, while Mariska Middendorf took part on behalf of Stichting Kinetisch Noord.

Shells
In Shells, artist Lyangelo Vasquez presents an interactive installation exploring the impact of more than 110 years of the petroleum industry on the Caribbean island of Curaçao. At its centre is a modified claw machine filled with seventy numbered terracotta scallop shells, crafted from clay that incorporates sand and soil from multiple locations on the island. The installation is accompanied by a historiographic soundscape composed of field recordings, archival material, samples, and original music.

About Lyangelo Vasquez 
Lyangelo Vasquez (b. 1980) is a Curaçaoan documentary maker, researcher, and artist. He produces independent work under his own name as well as through his platform Hyper Epic. In 2020, he was awarded the Zilveren Camera for storytelling. His documentary storytelling spans a wide range of forms, from documentary photography to feature film, and from interactive productions and installations to paper collages. His work is characterised by an experimental approach to narrative, often exploring themes such as colonial legacies, community, and connection. In recent years, he has drawn inspiration from Caribbean culture and the natural environment of his native island, Curaçao.

#LOOKUP! — Guardian demons of the NDSM
With #LOOKUP!, the monumental NDSM-warehouse gains its own guardian demons, inspired by the chimaeras of Notre-Dame. These symbolic sentinels stand watch against decay, vandalism, and neglect, while paying tribute to the makers and workers who keep this unique space alive. Visitors are invited to look up and enter a world that sparks the imagination and captures the distinctive spirit of the NDSM.

About Renée Marcus Janssen
Renée Marcus Janssen (b. 1976) is a Dutch sculptor specialising in three-dimensional animal portraits. She studied sculpture in Italy and the Netherlands, and trained in bronze casting at the Fonderia Artistica Da Prato in Pietrasanta. Since 2012 she has collaborated with the ArtCasting foundry in Oudenaarde, Belgium.
Her works are characterful animal portraits with a monumental, contemplative presence. Combining classical Italian techniques with her own stylistic approach, she explores the relationship between humans and animals. In an age of digital acceleration, her bronze sculptures return to the essentials: stillness, form, and connection.

‍About the Kinetic North Foundation
Founded in 2000, Stichting Kinetisch Noord (SKN) redeveloped the former NDSM shipbuilding hall into a centre for art, culture, and crafts, including the creation of a cultural incubator. SKN also facilitates the use of the hall as an events venue for public activities such as presentations, workshops, (dance) events, exhibitions, and fairs. More information: ndsmloods.nl.