Can you introduce yourself to the DGTL audience and provide insight into your artistic journey and the themes you explore in your work?

My name is Sioe Jeng Tsao, also known as SEEYOUSIOE, and I'm a queer artist and activist of Chinese origin, born in Amsterdam.

Your work explores various social themes such as LGBTQIA+ rights, mental health, feminism, sustainability, racial justice, and gender equality. Can you explain why these topics are important to you and how you believe art can contribute to these discussions?

These social themes are deeply important to me because they reflect my own experiences and the challenges I've encountered. By creating art around these topics, I can share my perspectives and contribute to greater awareness.

How does art serve as a catalyst for encouraging contemplation and discussion about important social issues?

Art has a unique power to spark conversations, challenge perceptions, and inspire action. By addressing these issues through my artwork, I strive for empathy, understanding and positive change in society. I believe that art serves as a catalyst for important discussions and can ultimately lead to a more inclusive and just world.

Your creation for the container arch, entitled EMPOWER, encourages reflection, encouragement, and the celebration of love. What inspired you to address these specific themes in your artwork?

The inspiration behind my artwork 'EMPOWER' comes from seeing Amsterdam's changing landscape, especially for the LGBTQIA+ community. From once being a haven, I've seen a shift where many within our community are marginalized and unheard. “EMPOWER” serves as a response to this transformation and strives for reflection, encouragement and the celebration of love. It symbolises a call to action for unity and solidarity within the LGBTQIA+ community, emphasizing that we are stronger together. The container arch acts as a gateway to a space of strength, acceptance, and support, where individuals from diverse backgrounds can find comfort and empowerment.

How do you believe that festivals play a role in promoting dialogue and awareness about these critical social issues?

Festivals serve as powerful platforms for promoting dialogue and raising awareness about critical social issues. They can bring diverse audiences together and provide immersive experiences through art, music, and performance, encouraging the reflection and dialogue we need. By collaborating with local activists, artists, and organizations, festivals can increase their impact by connecting participants with more resources for further engagement. I believe that festivals, like art, can serve as catalysts for starting conversations and promoting positive social change.

And what does it mean for you to show this piece in the context of NDSM's public space, outside the specific festival audience?

Exhibiting this artwork in a public space increases its impact beyond the festival audience, making it a symbol of empowerment and visibility for the LGBTQIA+ community and beyond. It will be a statement of inclusion and acceptance, inviting individuals from diverse backgrounds to connect with the message of solidarity and love. “EMPOWER” increases its ability to initiate conversations, challenge perceptions, and inspire positive social change on a wider scale.

Can you provide insights into your creative process? How do you generate ideas and how does the environment or placement of your art influence your work?

My creative process is deeply rooted in my own reality as a queer woman of color. I draw inspiration from my personal experiences, navigating through different social contexts and identities. In addition, I actively seek diverse perspectives by reading books, attending events, workshops and panels from different backgrounds. This exposure allows me to broaden my understanding and empathize with a range of experiences that people navigate.

What emotions or reactions do you hope to evoke from viewers when they experience EMPOWER?

When experiencing “EMPOWER,” I strive for viewers to not only experience a sense of solidarity and strength within the LGBTQIA+ community, but also pause and recognize that queer love doesn't always come naturally. By framing “EMPOWER” as a verb, I want to emphasize the active process of empowering and celebrating love. I hope the artwork evokes feelings of encouragement, hope, and reflection, inspiring viewers to consider the significance of inclusivity and empathy in advocating for social change.

Can you tell us how the “sense of belonging” theme became a common thread in your projects?

It took me many years to figure out where I belonged, after leaving my very intense, close-knit family home. My grandmother was French, my grandfather and great-grandfather and mother were nomadic and had grown up in a European circus, my father and uncle were classical musicians, and my Scottish mother was a textile artist. We lived in Holloway, London, and I went to the local school. Very early on, I realized that the children at school had a completely different family life than me. I tried so hard to fit in, but I always felt like an outsider. At home, however, I felt loved, belonged and felt very safe. Once I left the house, I had to search for my own sense of “belonging” for a long time. I tried to replicate the sense of family that I had loved so much, but eventually I realized that wasn't what I was looking for. I believed that belonging was one definite thing, probably due to underlying conditioning by education and society, but in reality, belonging is individual and doesn't have to be what you think it should be.

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NDSM is an ever-evolving place with an existing community and new communities that are constantly growing.

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Finally, 20 years after leaving home, I discovered what it meant to me. For me, that was having space and freedom to express myself and be in a relationship where I'm embraced and encouraged to be myself. I need to be loved and have someone to love, but I realized I don't need that by being a mom, which is a big step for a woman to admit that to herself.

Once I understood what feeling at home meant to me, I set out on a mission to discover what it means to others and how understanding the complexities of feeling at home can bring communities together.

What do you think this theme means in a dynamic place like NDSM or Amsterdam-Noord?

NDSM is an ever-evolving place with an existing community and new communities that are constantly growing. By doing the workshops, I gained insight into different perspectives. It was clear that some people saw change as a threat and others saw it as an exciting future. From an outsider perspective, it felt very important that all groups spoke to each other and began to see what the possibilities could be as soon as they began to understand each other.

You did workshops with individuals from Amsterdam (North) as part of the project. How did these workshops influence the development of the artwork?

By listening and understanding different points of view. All the phrases and words used in the installation come from the words people wrote down in the workshops to express how they feel about what's happening, how they'd like to see the future, and what feeling at home means to them. Seeing the energy and creativity in the workshops was incredible. All participants were fully engaged and wanted to share their thoughts and opinions. There was a passion for living in a developing place and they were part of that evolution. Living in a place where they experienced huge changes and learned how to deal with them. Some people weren't too happy and wanted to be heard, while others wanted new things to flourish.

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Belonging can be very fluid and different for everyone, but at the same time a collective experience.

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The workshops brought out a lot of feelings, passion, joy, anger, questions, discussion and emotion. Some stories were about the past and some were enthusiastic about the possibilities. Great personal events were shared and together, an image was formed of a new strong community. The poet Mahat Arab summarized this perfectly in his poem that resulted from these conversations.

“(Leave) Space for Space” aims to create a sense of belonging within the community. How do you see the artwork promoting connections and resonating with the people, both residents and visitors to NDSM?

I hope that the words and phrases that came out of the workshops and now adorn the installation resonate with the community and passers-by. The words are exactly as they were written in the workshop. It's important to me that when I create a collaborative installation, participants can recognize themselves in it and that they feel a sense of ownership and belonging.

Having worked with many communities around the world, I always feel very privileged to have had the opportunity to sit with people and listen to their stories. I'm always impressed and grateful how generous people are with their thoughts and ideas and how much they enjoy sharing and wanting to be heard. I often feel humbled to be just part of the process. Looking for belonging is so important in people's lives. It is not fixed, it is individual. You can find and lose belonging, or choose to look for a different sense of belonging at different points in your life. Feeling at home can be very fluid and different for everyone, but at the same time a collective experience.

In January, a glowing red sunset will appear over the IJ. Sunset in Amsterdam, an installation by Mike Rijnierse and Ludmila Rodrigues, plays with the idea of the sun slowly disappearing over the horizon, reminiscent of a day at the beach. However, in this case, the sun remains stationary and is visible 360 degrees. This striking light installation has previously been displayed in cities such as Paris, The Hague, and Delft, and will now come to the NDSM wharf for one month. We asked the duo about their motivations and inspiration for the installation.

What inspired you to create the first version of Sunset, and how do you approach something so universal and timeless?

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We were literally at the beach, observing how many people reached out for their devices to photograph the sunset. We questioned how many people are taking these pictures every single day. Right now there are thousands of photos being taken of the same scene. Moreover, the photographed image can never do justice to the actual phenomenon, which is spatial, it’s deep, really glorious. So it's a bit pathetic that we try to capture it and even share it with the world. Then we joked, what if we would make an inflatable sunset that could simply stay there and people wouldn't have to rush to capture it? After all, by waiting for this sublime moment, we miss the whole spectacle because we replace our biological, stereoscopic apparatus (our eyes) with the technological apparatus of the camera, or in other words, we turn into cyclops. Then we started researching the psychological effects of the sunset and its colors; how it appears in art and in films.  

Sunset was first exhibited in Delft in 2021 and has since traveled to other cities. How do you think the environment where the work is displayed influences the audience’s experience?

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The installation always establishes a strong relation with the location where it is shown. There are always different elements in each city that make the work unique. Every time it’s a new work, so to speak. It’s fascinating to discover it from different angles, like from another street, under the bridge, from a window view. Friends and even strangers started sending us photos they took from the most incredible points of views. This was a pleasant surprise. So, after the whole challenge of installing it (it’s always a saga to finance it, to get all the permits and to actually put it on the water) we also learned a lot more about the work. As you walk through the city, you slow down, you talk to people, it becomes an invitation to wander and explore it as if it was the first time. [By the way, if the listeners / readers of this interview want to contribute, we would be delighted to receive their photos by email. We’ll share the pictures with due credits. Check our site for more info.

The NDSM Wharf is a place with a rich history and significant transformations. How does Sunset fit into this specific context?

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The work always creates a context, where different perspectives and stories arise. These can be interpreted differently by each person. We heard incredible stories from the first visitors in Delft. We believe the Sunset will connect NDSM with the IJ, which is not always the case, as we tend to see them as separate entities. Because the work invites you to be in the present, it makes you look at your surroundings differently. It’s like a reset of your relationship with the city.

You seem fascinated by the relationship between people and natural phenomena, such as a sunset, in an urban environment. What draws you to this contrast?

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We are both intrigued by the various ways we sense the world. Our senses are culturally conditioned, some are more heighted than others, but they all can be trained, or re-trained, tuned and truly educated. So, our works explore the different ways we see, hear, touch, smell, move and make sense of our natural and built environments. If we are aware of this interface that is built in our body, then we may as well play with it, tweak it, and in doing so we are expanding our skills, perhaps our knowledge too.

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I read that you are intrigued by how we often replace our personal gaze with the technological perspective of our cameras when looking at something as beautiful as a sunset. How does this affect how we experience our surroundings?

By rushing to register the moment we don’t fully experience it. It’s becoming harder and harder to really be there and open up to things, as we get distracted by all the means of communication available. By shifting from a stereoscopic view to a cyclopic view, our horizon becomes flat, a two-dimensional screen, like our devices.

an you give us some insight into the technical aspects of Sunset? How do you manage to recreate a sunset so authentically?

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Well, we don’t know if it’s that realistic (how dare we recreate the sun!) but it is as close as we could get from the “iconic image” of it. It’s an 8-meter diameter half-sphere inflatable with a lot of light inside, as much lumen as we can get. The lights are controlled by a microprocessor to transition slowly through the warm hues of red, magenta, orange. At this speed that is undetectable for the eyes, many people don’t notice these changes, like the hands in a clock. You only notice the changes when you turn your eyes away for a bit. Further there’s a ventilator inside the inflatable, always on, keeping the shape of a dome.

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Finally, sunsets differ all over the world yet are universally recognizable. What do you hope visitors will take away from their experience with Sunset?

We believe that once you’ve seen it, you won’t forget the experience, you’ll always look at the place and remember how the artwork brought a new perspective. The colours also provide a sense of warmth during these winter days. But above all it reminds us of our place in the planet, as well as in the universe, in relation to our Sun. This relationship is unique and fragile. We cannot live closer or further from it. Life as we know it, is only possible right here.

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Sunset in Amsterdam is presented as part of the program line (Un)monumenting, where artists explore and question the monumental character of NDSM as a site. At NDSM, monumental heritage, creativity, events, and makers come together. In response, artists continuously examine what the unique character of the wharf signifies and how it can shape the future of a city and its inhabitants.

Mike Rijnierse and Ludmila Rodrigues have been collaborating since 2011. They share a fascination with the ways human perception is formed. Their works encourage the audience to navigate with all their senses and to rediscover how to see, hear, and feel.

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With the installation, Studio Ossidiana questions about private and public, and who has the right and access to green and exclusive nature in today's city. NDSM Lusthof, like the former Lusthoven, which were intended for the richer people of Amsterdam, is surrounded. Now not through hedges, but through a playfully designed and colored fence with peepholes that make you curious. The fences have a rounded shape that looks like an observatory, a place where the world is seen from the inside out.

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In addition to the design of the fence and infrastructure, the plants that grow in NDSM Lusthof also have a link with the subject of lustthoven. In the Lusthoven of yesteryear, all kinds of botanical finds were collected. The plants at NDSM Lusthof are inspired by the Turkish Ottoman gardens where medicinal herbs as well as trees or flowers flourish. It is an agricultural garden in the broadest sense of the word where plants have a 'function', from pollinators for bees and butterflies to tea herbs. A true “Living Library”, in the words of Studio Ossidiana.

Planting NDSM Lusthof

Landscape Architect Arja Helmig of Yes studio brought this theme to life in her design for the plants at NDSM Lusthof. The richness of gardens such as “Living Library” on the one hand, and the tension between accessibility to green in an urban environment on the other. This accessibility is important because plants and green areas have proven to have a positive effect on human physical and mental health. For some populations around the world, plants are still the only available and reliable medicine for certain conditions or types of pain. That is why, when designing the green, urban oasis NDSM Lusthof, Arja chose plants that have medicinal properties: a pharmacy garden. Just like a physical pharmacy, the garden is not always open and you need to provide the necessary information before you can pick from it.

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The functionality of the plants in NDSM Lusthof is not limited to those for humans. The design is specifically tailored to a balance between people, plants and animals. Plants are absolutely essential for birds, bees and butterflies. That is why, in NDSM Lusthof, Arja chose a combination of native trees, shrubs and herbs, species that are best for our native small animals.

The design

The final design of the growing parts of NDSM Lusthof makes it a green urban oasis. Following Studio Ossidiana's design inspired by the shape of an observatory, the plants in NDSM Lusthof are also planned in circular shapes. The garden is a place for recovery, which implies change, improvement, care and maintenance. The changing nature of the garden over the seasons and the growth over the years reflect this, but the changing perspective on the accessibility of green spaces for people also contributes to this.

NDSM Lusthof is also a community place. This means a personal space, with tea ceremonies led by gardener Maryam Kalami, guided tours and a dedicated volunteer team maintaining the garden. It is a place where people are not just allowed to enter all the time and nature can take its course undisturbed.

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The garden is about care and warmth, both between people and between people and nature. This is emphasized by the choices of the mainly native plants in the garden, with their functions for humans, animals and nature. The selections are warm plant colors (different shades of blue and pink) and with plants from sunnier climates (greyish leaves).

For plants, animals and humans, example: the White Willow

If you look through the peepholes of the NDSM Lusthof fence, you will see the White Willow (Salix Alba) The bark of the Salix Alba has been used by various cultures for thousands of years as a remedy for colds, fevers and joint pain. The active substance, salicylic acid, was first isolated and then produced in a synthetic form as a medicine called acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin). In the past, people simply chewed on a willow twig for gout and pain. Also a handy tip if you're walking in the polder and your ankle sprains!

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In addition to its medicinal functions, we can scale white willow trees among the absolute best in terms of biodiversity. Countless plants, birds and insects live on and in the crown and trunk. Research shows that more than 450 different species of insects can occur on a willow tree. This is important, because insect life is not doing well.

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The Schietwilg in NDSM Lusthof also contributes to helping to restore the contaminated soil at the shipyard as a result of the intensive shipbuilding industry of the last century. This is because white willows can absorb high levels of lead and cadmium from the soil and store them in various parts of plants. This knowledge comes from the second half of the 20th century when several researchers came up with the idea of using plants in remediation (phytoremediation) to extract heavy metals to purify soil and water. Fortunately, an investigation by the municipality showed that this piece of land is not contaminated and can be picked out.