In May 2025, the NDSM Foundation will open 'Kinship Library', an art installation designed by architect Afaina de Jong. In this extraordinary installation, stories can be heard, including about the rich history of NDSM, the past of this unique place and the people who lived and worked here.

Along with Stratenmakers Audio Collective we are looking for people who have worked at NDSM or who have a strong relationship with the shipyard in another way, for example because family members have worked or lived here. And who would like to talk about this. We want to collect stories that haven't been heard yet. This way, history stays alive and visitors can discover what used to happen at NDSM and who worked there. Want to share your story with us? We'll come to you and create the story together in a place you choose.

The art installation where the stories are heard will be outside on NDSM, near the ferry landing, and can be visited free of charge from May to October 2025.

What does participating mean? Stratenmakers Audio Collective consists of experienced audio makers who are looking for different stories about the shipyard. They work with you to record your story as an audio story. These stories will be heard from May to October 2025 in the installation at NDSM and online via our website, www.ndsm.nl. They can be heard longer on the website, even after the installation at NDSM has been completed, so that we can continue to share the stories.

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Haven't you been in touch with us yet and are you interested in sharing your NDSM story? Do you have a relationship with the shipyard and do you want to help us preserve and share this history? Or would you like more information? Please send an email to ewa.scheifes@ndsm.nl and we will contact you.

Under Pressure

Under Pressure is the winning project of Catarina Garcia and Jim Du Pan's NDSM Open Call 2023. The winning entry consists of a colossal steel ball that appears to rise above the shipyard. The base of the work is Kraan 7, a dilapidated crane that, in its heyday, carried pieces of steel from the warehouse to the slopes, where ships were assembled and restored. The sphere is illuminated from the inside and acts as a beacon for the environment, also visible from the water. The frame of the ball is encased in plants that move with the seasons. With Under Pressure, Catarina Garcia and Jim Du Pan, both artists with a studio in the NDSM warehouse, bring NDSM's history and heritage together with new life in the form of plants and light. The work symbolises the cycles of transformation of the NDSM shipyard, an area that has moments of crisis and destruction but also stages of revival and redevelopment. With the title, the creators refer to the growing housing and area development in expanding areas such as NDSM, which puts valuable places like this under pressure. Organic greening has a connotation with environmental urgency, unsustainable urban expansion and the field of urban development, in which free and green space often loses out. The work shows the duality of NDSM; a place under pressure, but also a place full of possibilities.

NDSM Open Call

With the annual NDSM Open Call, Stichting NDSM-werf and Stichting Kinetisch Noord support projects that have arisen from the creativity of the NDSM community. Last edition, the jury consisted of external reviewers Louis Pirenne (former project manager of Art and Culture Amsterdam North) and Tanja Karreman (former director of New Dakota, Senior Advisor to the Percentage Art Collection). On behalf of Stichting NDSM-werf, curator Petra Heck and program maker Ewa Scheifes sat on the jury, and Mariska Middendorf represented Stichting Kinetisch Noord. The jury was unanimously positive about the winning entry: “The entry by Catarina Garcia and Jim Du Pan is a site-specific installation that uses NDSM's industrial heritage to create an eye-catching installation. Their proposal to place a ball on the tap that is slowly greened and illuminated from within provides an exciting image, open to interpretation.”

About Catarina Garcia (PT) and Jim Du Pan (BE)

Catarina Garcia moved to Amsterdam right after her BA Fine Arts studies in Portugal, where she has been working as a visual artist from her studio at NDSM for nine years now. Her work is characterised by a sensitive and intuitive approach to material. Through various media, she focuses on themes such as cultural heritage, identity and care. Jim Du Pan graduated from the Saint-Luke Faculty of Architecture in Belgium and then spent several years in northern France as an architect and builder. From his studio at NDSM, he now works as a maker and visual artist on various projects, from sculptures to custom-made interiors.

About Stichting NDSM-werf

Stichting NDSM-werf programs and manages NDSM's monumental outdoor space as a cultural shipyard that focuses on the public character, creative experiment and polyphony. The foundation develops and presents location-specific installations and artworks by and with artists, designers and architects.

About Stichting Kinetisch Noord

Stichting Kinetisch Noord (SKN) was founded in 2000 to redevelop the former NDSM Shipbuilding Shed into a center for arts, culture and crafts; among other things by creating a cultural incubator. In addition, SKN aims to make the warehouse function as an event location for public-oriented activities such as presentations, workshops, (dance) events, exhibitions and fairs. More information can be found on the website of the NDSM Warehouse.

From January 16th, Holly Hendry's Slackwater will be on display at the Y-berth of NDSM. This impressive artwork explores the relationship between water, time, and heritage, creating a site-specific dialogue with its surroundings. Slackwater will be on view until March 31st.

(Un)monumenting
The work is part of the Un)monumenting program, where artists question the monumental nature of NDSM as a location. At NDSM, monumental heritage, creativity, events, and makers come together. In response to this, artists continue to explore what the unique character of the site means and how it can remain significant for the future of the city and its inhabitants.

Slackwater x Holly Hendry
For the adaptation of Slackwater at NDSM, Holly Hendry has "woven" a pipeline system (which is found all over NDSM) into the site and its history. Hendry uses steel pipes as the internal organs of a space, offering a way to look at larger systems and the social fabric of a place or city. With Slackwater, Hendry connects these industrial materials of steel pipes and cable reels with NDSM's maritime history. Placed on one of the ship slips, the artist aims to create a physical translation of the 'entanglement' of bodies (which are mostly made of water), the water (the IJ River), the city of Amsterdam, and the urban landscape, both conceptually and visually.

Slackwater is presented in an adapted form by Stichting NDSM-werf, 2024. It was originally commissioned by TheColab, The Artist's Garden, London, 2023.

About Holly Hendry
The work of British artist Holly Hendry is sculptural, monumental, and playful, exploring what lies beneath the surface, from hidden underground spaces to the inner workings of the body. Want to know more about her work and inspiration? Listen to the NDSMX podcast with Holly Hendry, where we dive deeper into her creative process and the making of Slackwater.

Practical Information
Slackwater by Holly Hendry is located at the Y-berth of NDSM between the Pllek restaurant and the Faralda crane, and will be on display from January 16th to March 31st, 2025.

The NDSM-werf Foundation, in collaboration with DGTL, has an artist SEEYOUSIOE enabled to create a stunning piece of art on the iconic container arch for the annual DGTL festival at NDSM. Sioe Jeng Tsao, also known as SEEYOUSIOE, is a multi-faceted queer artist of Chinese descent. Born in Amsterdam and based in Rotterdam, this artist is known for vibrant paintings and digital illustrations filled with joy and energy.

Their artworks explore various social themes, including LGBTQIA+ rights, mental health, feminism, sustainability, racial justice and gender equality. On the container arch, Sioe Jeng Tsao created the work: EMPOWER. This artwork calls for reflection, encouragement, and celebration of love, and reminds us that we are stronger when we work together. The arch serves as a symbolic gateway to a space of strength, acceptance, and solidarity within the LGBTQIA+ community, where individuals from diverse backgrounds support and uplift each other. The artwork promotes unity and collaboration as essential tools for advancing our shared journey to social change and inclusion.

Van 16 januari tot en met 16 februari was Sunset in Amsterdam van Mike Rijnierse & Ludmila Rodrigues te zien vanaf de NDSM-werf. Dit lichtkunstwerk bevroor het moment waarop de zon ondergaat en bracht een artificiële zon tot leven op het water van het IJ. Sunset in Amsterdam nodigde bezoekers uit om stil te staan bij perspectief, ruimte en zintuiglijke waarneming in een stedelijke omgeving.

(Un)monumenting

Sunset in Amsterdam werd gepresenteerd binnen de programmalijn (Un)monumenting, waarin kunstenaars het monumentale karakter van NDSM als plek bevragen. Op NDSM komen monumentaal erfgoed, creativiteit, events en makers samen. In reactie hierop verkennen kunstenaars steeds opnieuw wat het specifieke karakter van de werf betekent en welke rol het kan spelen in de toekomst van de stad en haar inwoners.

Sunset in Amsterdam

Met Sunset in Amsterdam ondermijnden Rijnierse & Rodrigues het klassieke beeld van een ondergaande zon aan de horizon. Het werk bevroor deze beweging en maakte haar in een stedelijke context — waar de horizon vaak ontbreekt — 360 graden zichtbaar.

De kunstmatige zon doemde dagelijks op uit het water van het IJ en reflecteerde op de wisselwerking tussen natuurlijke fenomenen en stedelijke beleving. Sunset in Amsterdam stelde vragen over de rol van open ruimte, de waarde van verstilling en de noodzaak van perspectief in een snel veranderende stad.

Sunset in Amsterdam werd in aangepaste vorm gepresenteerd door Stichting NDSM-werf in 2024 en werd oorspronkelijk gepresenteerd in Delft, geproduceerd door het Highlight Delft Festival.

Over Mike Rijnierse & Ludmila Rodrigues

Mike Rijnierse is een interdisciplinaire kunstenaar wiens werk zich bevindt op het snijvlak van geluid, licht en ruimte. Samen met ontwerper en kunstenaar Ludmila Rodrigues creëert hij installaties die zintuigen op scherp zetten en de relatie tussen lichaam en omgeving verkennen.

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Met dank aan: Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst (AFK) en Mondriaan Fonds.

From September 20, an artwork by the Boris Tellegen on view at NDSM. Tellegen's work, known in the graffiti world as DELTA, consists of three large letter blocks. The artwork can be seen as a crossover between architecture and street art where typography and fonts are played in a spatial way. The work has the enigmatic title: Mlem-Uhha.

Through his studies in industrial design, Tellegen was previously inspired to turn his graffiti work into sculptures in three dimensions. With Mlem-Uhha, he goes one step further and turns the sculptures into an immense spatial installation. By stacking and cutting smartly and tightly, he transforms three oblong blocks into cartoonish cries. The words or cries come from a sample library of so-called onomatopoeia: words that phonetically mimic the sound they describe.

The use of public space

With its art programming, the NDSM-werf Foundation focuses on the use of public space. In more and more places, there are great similarities in how the public space is arranged, which is why they are becoming more similar and losing their individuality, but especially their connections with the visitors and users of that space. At NDSM, we show that things can also be done differently. In fact, this work by Tellegen contributes to a playful public space where different voices can be featured. Like all of Tellegen's works, it relates to themes such as urbanization, ownership and public space. Boris Tellegen's work Mlem-Uhha was commissioned by Lowlands and in collaboration with Roskilde.

About Boris Tellegen aka DELTA

Internationally recognized graffiti artist Boris Tellegen is based in Amsterdam and works around the world. For more than forty years, he has been conquering streets, trains and galleries with his works that blend geometric precision and street art into a unique urban aesthetic.

Made possible by:

From April, with the support of the Municipality of Amsterdam, two new street basketball courts will shine at NDSM, depicting a colorful graphic design by the artist Poly Lester. With the fields, Stichting NDSM-werf wants to stimulate sports in the public space for everyone in an accessible way. The project was created in close cooperation with 3X3 Units, a foundation that uses 3x3 street basketball for empowerment among young people.

Over the past two years, there has been plenty of basketball at NDSM, by young and old, pro and amateur. The temporary 3X3 Unites field that was there, activated for and by young people from Amsterdam-North, deserved an upgrade. With the ambition to give 3x3 basketball and other urban sports a more permanent place on the shipyard, Stichting NDSM-werf, together with 3X3 Unites, is realizing two new 3x3 Legacy Courts with a graphic pattern by the Amsterdam artist PolyLester. The 3x3 courts have a pattern of orange and blue lanes that act as rays, inspired by the shadow lines of surrounding buildings and objects. The contrast between the complementary colors blue and orange ensures that the courts are clearly visible. In addition to the realization of the courts, PolyLester is working on a subsequent monumental art installation about basketball culture.

In the coming period, the field will be continuously activated by 3X3 Unites trained role models, 3x3 Leaders and the community from North. After training from 3X3 Unites, they organize activities and events on the field, enthuse the local community to participate, share lessons learned life skills and they monitor the quality of 'their' playing field.

About Stichting NDSM-werf

Stichting NDSM-werf programs and manages NDSM's monumental outdoor space as a cultural shipyard that focuses on the public character, creative experiment and polyphony. The foundation develops and presents location-specific installations and artworks by and with artists, designers and architects.‍

About 3X3 Unites

Since its inception in 2016, 3X3 Unites has inspired and supported young people who want to pursue their dreams. In order to have a positive impact on their lives and thus the world around them. By using 3x3 basketball as a tool to provide young people with tools and life skills giving, they encourage them to take ownership of their own success. Together with partners, they also develop employability for and by young people.

About PolyLester

PolyLester - founded by visual artist Gabriel Lester in 2013 - is a multidisciplinary studio that focuses on art, public sculptures, architectural interventions, landscape, interior design and stage design.

A new, colorful artwork by the British artist was released in the summer of 2024 Morag Myerscough at NDSM, near the waterfront at the shipyard. You may know Morag Myerscough from her installation at Coachella in 2024.

What makes you feel at home somewhere? That question is at the heart of the work (Leave) Space for Space - a temporary meeting place at NDSM, enriched with colorful text boards inspired by and by Amsterdam-Noord. The work is a symbol of exchange and connection, amidst the dynamic developments in both the rapidly changing Amsterdam-Noord and the growing NDSM area. The result was a playful and striking construction with seats, swing benches and mobile phones that dance with the wind. A meeting place for everyone, young, old, local, and international.

Inspiration from Amsterdam-Noord

Myerscough is known for her location-specific approach, using typical phrases, words, and visual poems to create a sense of local community, shared identity, and ownership over public space. During workshops, local residents shared their views on Amsterdam-Noord with her. Myerscough translated this input into words and patterns that occupy a prominent place in the installation.

For even more local embedding, the artist is collaborated with spoken-word artist and performer Mahat Arab for “(Leave) Space for Space”. Based on the stories that participants shared during the workshops, he wrote a poem about “belonging”. Read the poem here, or listen to it in a spoken-word lecture by Mahat Arab below.‍


About the artist

Morag Myerscough's mantra is “Make happy those who are near and those who are far away will come”. Born and raised in Holloway, London, Morag has always lived in the city and is fascinated by how color, pattern, and words can change urban environments and change the perception of spaces into places. From schools and hospitals to cultural centers and city centers, Morag is transforming public spaces by creating engaging experiences for everyone. Her strong visual approach is instantly recognizable and elevates any context in which it is placed. Her work is rooted in creating a sense of joy and belonging for all who encounter it. She often works with community groups to develop ideas that reflect users' identities, drawing on a shared cultural history and heritage of the local area.

(Leave) Space for Space was visible at NDSM until september 2024.

This artwork is made possible with the contributions by Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunsten (AFK), BPD Cultuurfonds, Vriendenloterij Fonds (Stichting Doen), Stadsdeel Noord, and sponsoring by Plug Verfgroothandel.

The forecast is that the sea level will rise sharply in the coming centuries. With the title Pavlopetri, the creators refer to the Greek underwater city of the same name, which rests on the seabed at a depth of four meters. Sahabi and Zuydervelt explore what it feels like when Amsterdam — which is an average of two meters below sea level — becomes the new Pavlopetri in the long run.  

This takes shape in an installation that reflects different visual and acoustic properties of water. Sahabi's spatial design is inspired by typical monumental columns in Greek architecture and refers to this history. The golden, mirrored exterior and open shape of the installation ensure that the pavilion can enter into a dialogue with the NDSM environment, where water also plays a major role. Inside the pavilion, Zuydervelt's soundscape suggests an underwater world that interacts with the natural sounds of the shipyard. Sahabi's light animation, shown on the ceiling, plays with the typical “dancing light lines” created by the reflections of wavy water surfaces.  

With the work, the creators hope to make the (future) consequences of the climate crisis tangible to the public. Specifically at a location whose (ship) history is characterized by the presence of water and where elements such as wind and water are always explicitly present.

Opening

The installation will be festively opened at 3 pm on NDSM on Sunday, May 26, in the presence of the artists.

About Stichting NDSM-werf

Stichting NDSM-werf programs and manages NDSM's monumental outdoor space as a cultural shipyard that focuses on the public character, creative experiment and polyphony. The foundation develops and presents location-specific installations and artworks by and with artists, designers and architects. More information about the foundation and all art projects, visit ndsm.nl.

About Siba Sahabi and Rutger Zudervelt

Siba Sahabi is a German-Iranian interdisciplinary artist. In addition to objects and sculptures, she creates theater sets and installations for buildings and public spaces.
Rutger Zyudervelt is a musician, composer and performer. Under the name Machinefabriek, he composes music that combines elements of ambient, noise, minimalism, field recordings and electroacoustic experiments.

This artwork was made possible in part by Het Cultuurfonds and Het Stimuleringsfonds.

Coloured for the fifth time Tropicali in 2024, the NDSM shipyard. This LGBTIQ+ friendly festival is about being able to express yourself, be it in a beautiful festival outfit, in great dance moves, or in any other way! In their own words, Tropikali is: “A place where LGTBQIA+ people - and those who don't know where they stand - can express themselves freely and without judgment.” On the Tropikali dance floor, you'll find tropical vibes and the best Balkan Beats, for the first time as a weekender in 2024! For this special edition, they designed two icons: Tropi for Saturday and Kali for Sunday.

The sun was shining during the event and the very best outfits were shining on the various dance floors: Rosario, Latinichta, and Kalinichta stage. The names of the stages refer back to the parties that gave birth to the festival.

Eva Vilachá from Tropikali festival joined our podcast NDSM X and told us all about how Tropikali is committed to “safer spaces” at festivals and events. Listen to the entire episode in the NDSM online magazine. Also check out the video for an impression of the atmosphere.

About this artwork

It looks like this car landed with a big crash. The installation Landed Rock (landed rock) by designer and visual artist Clinton Kabena is about migration. In 2022, more than 100 million people worldwide were fleeing war and violence. They usually settle in an environment far away from home that is unknown and new to them. Kabena is fascinated by this crash in a different culture. In addition to the crashed car, the three NDSM Billboards feature visuals that respond to the topic of “borders”.

About his work, Clinton says that with these artworks, he challenges the viewer to think about the fantastic nature of borders, constructed as they are from the collective imagination of societies. The confrontation of the grandeur of these monumental structures with the fragile threads of unity that they try to maintain invites introspection. These works transcend the political and dive into the psychological realm where nations are woven from dreams and aspirations.

About the artist

In his work, Clinton Kabena uses vehicles as a central theme, as literal and figurative vehicles that transport these stories. They are the link between driver, passenger and route, and show how mobility and the human desire for change are always linked.

My work focuses on the transformative nature of travel, in particular African migration, and the resilience of the individuals who undertake them. Through my art, I look at the social networks created by these trips and the profound impact they have on individuals, families, and communities. In my work, I use vehicles as a central theme because they are the literal and figurative vehicles that transport these stories. They are the link between the driver, the passenger and the route and symbolize the connections between mobility and the human desire for change.

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The installation is part of Refresh Amsterdam #2: War & Conflict. The second part of this installation (another car) is on display at the Amsterdam Museum. This work is also the first part of the exhibition (Un) monumenting, which will be shown at the NDSM shipyard and in the NDSM Loods from December 17, 2023 to February 18, 2024.

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Not-in-my-backyard of Rob Voerman is an installation that combines various functions and references: those of a shelter, nightclub, church and bar. The work is a response to the (over) regulation of public space in the Netherlands. According to Rob, every square meter has been designed, and functions in public spaces are carefully chosen. There is almost no place where functions are mixed in a more loose way.

Originally created for the Biennial Open Source in the Bijlmer in 2009, Not-in-My-Backyard moved to the AMC (Amsterdam Medical Center). Now, Not-in-my-backyard finds a home in a different context for 9 months: that of the NDSM: a cultural site where there is room for experimentation, for questioning public values and focusing on a non-exclusive, polyphonic, public space where a lot is possible. Art, festivals, events, art and craft production space and industrial heritage come together here.

Where Sexyland used to sit and only raised grass over the past two years, there is now a sculpture that you can also sit next to or in (during the day). The NDSM-werf Foundation presents site-sensitive art in response to the context of NDSM. This changing context is determined by the space that currently exists for art, creativity and experimentation, a cultural site, and around which a lot of new buildings have been built.

The architectural constructions, sculptures, drawings and staged photos by Rob Voerman (1966) are disturbing and seductive at the same time. They sketch a perfectly constructed, utopian world with apocalyptic features, a world that is constantly growing but also protected, a world that is broken but also rising from its ashes.