We were a little early for our timed tickets to Moco Museum so strolled Museumplein and the surrounding streets for a while. The house in the gallery below is dated above the door “Anno 1907” and the statue is of Descartes who lived in the Netherlands for 20 years. However, it was the Women of Ravensbrück 1939-1945 memorial that I spent most time looking at. The full set of inscriptions (not all shown) translate as:

Women of Ravensbrück 1940-1945

To those who persevered to the utmost in saying NO to fascism

In memory of the women, men, and children who lost their lives in the Ravensbrück concentration camp, 1939-1945

House near museums

Descartes

Women of Ravensbrück 1939-1945

Women of Ravensbrück 1939-1945

Women of Ravensbrück 1939-1945

Moco displays a wide range of modern, contemporary, and street art. The ground floor is taken up with a Banksy exhibition, Laugh now, though the museum is at pains to point out that it is not authorised by Banksy nor it is curated by the artist. However, all exhibited works have been provided with a certificate of authenticity from Pest Control – the only official entity that verifies the artist’s work. Unlike the exhibition we went to in Glasgow last year, which was curated by Banksy, photography was allowed – a few impressions below (titles are in the captions).

Barcode leopard (2002)

Picasso (2009)

Love is in the air (2003)

Di-faced tenners (2004)

Smiling coppers (2002)

Battle of the Beanfield (2009)

Exhibits of modern and contemporary artists filled the upper floors. Again, a few impressions. I particularly liked the two oil paintings by The Kid, The future is old, which were inspired by the words of Coretta Scott King, “Freedom is never really won … you win it in every generation”. Still so true.

The Future is Old series

The Future is Old series

Balloon Venus (2013)

Mickey (2016)

Let her be free (2018)

Just before the exit was the Digital Immersive Art exhibition by Studio Irma. It reminded me very much of Nxt Museum which we’d visited the day before. You can spot the photographer(s), sometimes multiple times!

Digital immersive art

Digital immersive art

Digital immersive art

Digital immersive art

Digital immersive art

Digital immersive art

In the same section was Arcadia by Andrés Reisinger, a narrated, graphic film in collaboration with musician RAC and poet Arch Hades. It pays tribute to philosophers, poets, artists and authors who have shaped human psychology and culture. I just liked the flying books!

Arcadia

Arcadia

Arcadia

From here we exited to the sculpture garden, which I wrote about in an earlier post, and continued our wandering. We stopped for lunch at De Spiegel – another café we know well from previous visits. They do wonderful pancakes!

Spiegelgracht bicycle

De Spiegel

De Spiegel

Jazz Cafe Alto

Herengracht figures

Our destination was Haus Vasari, another opportunity to see inside a grand canal house. Built in the 17th century, it was renovated in 2021 and is now home to the Vrije Academie; the largest arts and cultural education organisation in the Netherlands.

Street view

Ceiling by Jacob de Wit

Staircase

Roofline

Rear view from garden

Garden sculpture

Garden sculpture

Garden sculpture

Garden sculpture

Kitchen area

Kitchen area

Kitchen area

Kitchen area

Kitchen area

It was worth a look just to see the interior and the garden. However, as luck would have it, a new exhibition had just been installed and one of the artists was there doing a meet and greet. We were introduced to Daan Zuijderwijk and he urged us to come to his talk in a few minutes.

One of his works had already intrigued us because of the title: Scotland. However, we didn’t think we’d understand any of his talk because it would be in Dutch. Oh, I’ll do it in English he said! And so he did – it was announced at the beginning and no-one demurred. We felt quite guilty, but very glad because it was fascinating.

Daan and Maaike Vergouwe, who is both his life and business partner, travel Europe with their three daughters in a self-built house on wheels, returning to Amsterdam from time to time to sell his work which is all about the relationship between humankind and nature. He uses artificial light on the spot in the natural landscape and his images are not manipulated in post-production. For example, the Scottish mountain scene shown was created by tracing outlines with  a laser pen. I know there is more to it than that – I was just in awe at how he got the idea and could then keep his hand steady enough to execute it. And give a talk in English at the drop of a hat which all his audience could follow. We felt guilty and inadequate.

From Haus Vasari there was more wandering towards home. We also visited the photography museum, Foam, but I don’t have many photos or notes from that. You can read more about each of the images below in the captions.

Houses on Herengracht

A feminist relabelling!

The 2 sisters

Those Dam Boat Guys

Leaning houses on Herengracht

Leaning houses on Herengracht

Patchworks made from photographs by Lebohang Kganye

John Adams lived here 1781-2 as first US ambassador to the Netherlands

John Adams’ house on Kaizersgracht

Church on Kaizersgracht

Kat Kamer on Kaizersgracht

Kat Kamer on Kaizersgracht

Interesting door knocker Kat Kamer on Kaizersgracht

We visited a Greek restaurant that night to add to our global cuisine experiences. The following day we decided to take a trip outside the city and were torn between tulips and windmills. The windmills won out – coming soon!