Tuesday 8 March 2011

Sukey De Verdieping Talk, Amsterdam 2011: Post 1

This week Sukey has been visiting Amsterdam; a group of us have been invited over in order to give a talk at a regular conference hosted by Trouw Amsterdam called De Verdieping. Trouw (from their website) looks like one of several interesting spaces located around Amsterdam. Located in an old newspaper printing mill, they have a restaurant, club, Venue for cultural discussion and debate, exhibition space, and magazine. Sounds pretty bloody cool!



Amsterdam is a beautiful city on several levels. It's beautifully designed, the bicycle system is integrated into the cities' structure in a way I don't think is even possible in London - rather that being pushed to the kerb and generally ignored (mostly) like they are in London, they have dedicated lanes on almost every road and seem to be seen in a similar light to those driving cars.
By far the most impressive at this point has been the Central Library, and the attitude towards libraries in Amsterdam. If you live in the UK I'm sure you're aware of the terrible things being done to the funding of libraries. I am currently blogging from this most amazing of spaces: 
The Openbare Centrale Bibliotheek Amsterdam is the largest public library in Europe, and possibly also the best. It has 10 floors - we have been working on stuff for Sukey for most of the day from floor 5 - it is fully networked, they have public iMacs for visitors, ergonomically designed workspaces from people on their own or in groups, and a full blown, affordable restaurant on the top floor where you can choose from a variety of incredibly tasty and healthy foodstuffs.

Essentially it's about the most productive environment in which I have ever been.
Student fees for university courses used to be non-existent, but now cost €1,713 from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. The people are welcoming, friendly and love Londoners. We're having a fantastic time here!

-Gaffen (from the Sukey Suit)

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