KRIMPEN AAN DEN IJSSEL – In this essay, I want to talk about the architect and urban planner Charlotte (Lotte) Ida Anna Stam-Beese (1903–1988). For twenty-five years, she lived in the village of Krimpen aan den IJssel. Despite her significant contribution to the reconstruction of the Netherlands, her work has long been overlooked. Fortunately, that's changing. Lotte is a key figure in 20th-century architecture.
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KRIMPEN AAN DEN IJSSEL – At the end of last year, this municipality, together with me, presented the 'Lotte Stam-Beeseplein', a village square that (still) exists only in the realm of our imagination. It's named after the extraordinary Krimpen resident and urban planner Lotte Stam-Beese (1903–1988). She played a key role in Rotterdam and beyond during the post-war reconstruction period. The sign, which overlooks a large parking lot, bears one of her memorable sayings: "Because the ground belongs to all of us."
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![Elongated Brocklede Station [brok = swamp, marsh; lede = watercourse]](bestanden/texts/breukelen.png)
STATION BREUKELEN - "Balancing on marshy land, where alder and birch forests once thrived, you bravely hold your blades high in both directions. At the ends of Cees Douma's design lie the cities of Utrecht and Amsterdam. You warmly welcome even the most brazen intercity trains that refuse to stop. On the platform, discomfort rushes past. Everything in the service of movement! Your wooden ceiling looks a bit sparse above this electric power."
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The cultural infrastructure in the Netherlands is mainly used in a disciplinary manner for the preservation (of what is) and the management of life (of what cannot be). This creates a tension between discipline and quality. The Council for Culture recently issued advice, but seems to ignore the disciplinary effect of the existing power structures where artistic freedom is at stake.
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ART WORLD - "Populism, migration, climate change, the precariousness of life, the urgent issues we are facing today require the inquisitive mind of an artist. During my art studies, the more radically I immersed myself in what is called the 'art world', the less interested I became in this parallel 'reality'. I believe that art must be able to relate temporarily to the forces at play in social 'reality'."
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BRUGSE POORT GENT - "Artist Edwin Stolk often works on location, reacting to existing situations out of a fascination for the social implications of his artistry. Sometimes he creates a new environment, like in 2017 with Base Camp Entre Nous at KiK (Art in Kolderveen). At the moment Stolk is developing a new project in the Brugse Poort in Ghent. From that situation he reports on his research and the ideas that arise from it."
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