They paved paradise and put up a parking lot

SOON AT THE NDSM  

THEY PAVED PARADISE AND PUT UP A PARKING LOT- BART EYSINK SMEETS

The opening will take place on Wednesday 14 January, from 5:30–7:30 pm. The starting location is Smederijplein.

From 15 January, you can discover three car installations by artist Bart Eysink Smeets at the NDSM. In these playful works, parked around the area, the car is used as a symbol of how we deal with space, movement and everyday use.

Picasso (2019) shows a Citroën Xsara Picasso balancing on a huge ancient boulder at the waterside. The artwork creates a strange and surprising image that plays with weight, time and context.

Forever Gift (2025) is a present that can never be opened. Because of this, the promise of a gift never becomes a disappointment. It can be both nothing and everything as long as it stays closed – a small joke about Schrödinger’s cat, according to Eysink Smeets.

In his newest work, Het verloop van auto's (2025), Eysink Smeets stacks five saloon cars on top of each other, as if a giant child has sorted toy cars by colour. These grey saloons, once the most ordinary cars, have now become almost like old fossil objects. With humour and wonder, the artist reflects on the role of cars in our public space.
“The car takes up so much of our living space that we hardly notice it anymore,” he says. “Often there is only one person inside, even though five people could fit in.”

The car installations invite us to think again about mobility, play, the use of space, and who is allowed to use it — and therefore also about the future of the city. The NDSM is part of a fast-growing urban area. Our large open grounds, often used as a car park, make these themes even stronger here.

About Bart Eysink Smeets

Bart Eysink Smeets shows what is already around us in a sharp and humorous way. He enlarges, observes, questions and reflects. With a playful and curious view, almost like a child, he looks at the world to find new insights.

They paved paradise and put up a parking lot is made possible in part by the Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst and Mondriaan Fonds.