lilystravelblogs

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places we go at night

Paradiso

Paradiso is one of the most popular live music venues in Amsterdam. It used to be a church. Now it attracts bands, musicians, and artists from all around the world to share their talents.

The band we saw was called Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever. Click on the video above to see them! I would say they were an indie rock band. What I liked about them were their energetic guitar riffs and solos and their super long and powerful instrumental bridges. Another musician who performed that night during the pre-program was Stella Donnelly. See my later blog about riding bicycles in Amsterdam that features Stella's song Ba Ba Da Bicycle Ride~ It's a very summer-vibe song, and you will like it!

Paradiso is also a clubbing venue after the performances later at night.

It's a cool place you wouldn't want to miss out on.

Melkweg

Melkweg (Milky Way) is located in the central area of Amsterdam, within walking distance of Paradiso. It has 2 halls, a cinema, a theatre, and a cafe - a very versatile venue. Melkweg used to be an old dairy factory, and it played a big role in the 1960s counterculture in Amsterdam.

A group of us went clubbing there after we got out of Paradiso. It was our second night in a roll going out to clubs, so I decided not to go with them to Melkweg but went back to the hotel to catch up on some sleep. But I heard Melkweg was GREAT! Going to these places was a good way to make friends with the locals.

NYX

NYX was a lot of fun. Could not remember much about it. But one of my best nights in Amsterdam.

Cafe Alto

This is Cafe Alto! A jazz club. You don't have to pay for tickets to go in, and they have quite good cocktail drinks. Amsterdam really has a diverse live music scene. There is a ton of choices and you do the pick depending on what's your mood for the day, what music you enjoy, etc. Cafe Alto was quite packed the day we went, so go a bit earlier if you want a good sitting spot (especially if you are in a group).

Duke of Tokyo

Duke of Tokyo is a bar with very cool traditional Japanese decors. Inside the bar, there are private Karaoke rooms that you can book on their website. We had a lot of fun there. It was the last day of my paradise weekend though - caught the new COVID variant on Monday and had to quarantine myself in the hotel room for 5 days.

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can an institute formed by (neo) colonial structures truly decolonize?

Can an institute formed by (neo) colonial structures truly decolonize? - a question raised in our conversation with Vrije Universiteit library and exhibit curators. In this post, I want to share some of my thoughts after visiting VU and Mauritshuis. Both institutions make a good effort to address decolonization in their practices, but is it enough?

At VU, they had a temporary exhibit open called De(Constructing) Spaces. The exhibit itself mainly consists of old maps, such as the ones shown in Picture 1 and 2 above. The project was also an initiative on campus to encourage dialogues and bring awareness of the colonial past.

Besides the map in Picture 1, there was a QR code that visitors could scan to learn more about the history and stories of map-making as a practice done by colonialists in the past to aid their navigation and travels, as well as for political and ideological purposes.

Map drawing reflects our understanding of the world around us - the natural landscapes, cityscapes, national borders, etc. However, maps can also be used by higher powers to shape people's beliefs and create certain narratives of the past, present, and future. For example, maps were used largely in warfares to help leaders to make decisions on enlargement and colonization of other areas; maps were also used to divide up people and neighborhoods, marginalize, and discriminate against certain cultures and communities, such as the redlining practice in the U.S., which still has its long-lasting negative effect on our society today, disadvantaging people of color from getting equal opportunities and resources.

I think map-making was a relevant topic to start the conversation and raise students' awareness of the colonial past and its lasting impact. However, I thought the exhibit could be structured and designed better to reflect the stories behind the maps on display, for example, by putting up more elaborate descriptions and annotations of the historical context. Some of the maps were not explained, and having them behind the glass created a distant feeling for me as a visitor to "appreciate them as an artwork from ancient times." Many of us were saying they looked "very cool," but we were unable to understand the context behind it and its relation to decolonization.

Pictures 3 and 4 were also at VU. Picture 3 was their pride library corner - there were carpets, a sofa, a lamp, and a collection of pride-themed books on a wheeled shelf. There was also a small room decorated with rainbow colors, had books and a discussion table. The environment was really welcoming and cozy. It was a very different library setting from the libraries I've been to, and I wish we could have more inclusive spaces in libraries at home, too! Picture 4 was their Green Office - another community space on campus at VU.

The last few pictures were Mauritshuis museum in Den Haag. The Mauritshuis, between 1633 and 1644, was a private residence for Johan Maurits, who was the governor of the colony Dutch Brazil. The money Maurits used to construct this building was from sugar plantations and slavery. The Dutch Classicism design and architecture of this building reflect its owner's power and status at the time. In 1822, the building was turned into a museum that displays arts from the 17th century, including Johannes Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring and works from Rembrandt. The About Us page of Mauritshuis' website calls the 17th century "the golden age" of Dutch and Flemish paintings when the Netherlands was a pioneer in arts and science. 

However, do the paintings being displayed in the museum today tell a full story? I believe not. Behind the colorful portraits of the rich, the 17th century was also a time of slavery, colonization, poverty, exclusion...

What's missing, who's missing, what's hidden from these artworks are more important than what's already presented to us. And what role the museum should play in highlighting the hidden stories and histories behind these artworks is the question.

At the time of our visit to Mauritshuis, there was a temporary exhibit on display, called FLASH | BACK. New photographic pieces by modern artists, inspired by seventeenth-century paintings, are put side-by-side in juxtaposition to the old artwork in the museum. These photographs provide a different perspective to the old artworks.

A FLASH | BACK photography piece, called Lamentation, created by Carla van de Puttelaar, 2022, was the one that touched me the most. (I can't post the picture here, but feel free to search it up). The work was inspired by Lamentation of Christ by Rogier van der Weyden, 1460-1464. Lamentation of Christ depicts a very emotional scene of the body of Christ taken down from the cross, surrounded by a circle of mourners. The juxtaposition between the works is powerful - for example, the cloth and fabric, which characters the artists choose to depict clothless in both of the artworks, their body gestures, and positions in the photograph and in the painting. The photograph challenges the original work through the lens of gender, religion, and race from a modern society's point of view.

“If you talk about the Golden Age, people think they know what that story is about,” Jörgen Tjon A. Fong, the curator of the “Dutch Masters Revisited” at the Hermitage, said in the article down below, one of the readings from class. “What we forget to tell is that it was only about 1 percent of society. People in Holland were stricken by poverty, there were internal wars going on, and on top of that there was slavery as well. The people in the Netherlands today are not just descendants of that 1 percent; they’re descendants of the 99 percent as well.”

I doubt that the number 1% is true, but I think public institutions like museums and universities have the responsibility to offer as many perspectives as possible and don't be afraid to have a team of people with diverse opinions and backgrounds, to work together toward a more inclusive narrative of arts, culture, and history.

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touch Van Gogh's paintings?

How might we help visually impaired visitors enjoy their museum visit experience? How might we make museums and galleries more welcoming spaces? These are the questions Van Gogh Museum's curation team tackled for their Inclusion Program.

Picture 1-5 is a little section in the museum called "feeling Van Gogh." The museum took one of the most liked Van Gogh's works Sunflowers and turned it into a multisensory experience for the visitor. Picture 1 is a 3D printed reproduction of the original painting. The thick and thin brush strokes and the texture of the painting are now not only visual but touchable for the visitors. Picture 2 is a tactile image of Sunflowers to provide a structural image of different objects in the painting, for people with low or no vision, and the labels are in braille. Picture 3 is the vase, a 19th century Provencal pot, depicted in Van Gogh's Sunflowers. The bottom part of the vase has a rough texture, while the upper part, covered with yellow paint, feels very smooth. The yellow box in picture 5 contains the smell of the painting, which is warm and flowery. This is such a good example of how museums use innovative designs to uplift the experience of every visitor to interact with art. It improves the accessibility of the museum experience not only for vision impaired visitors but also for kids, and everyone else. They made artworks more approachable, playful, and enjoyable for everyone.

Picture 4 is a touchable 3D model of the museum's floor plan. It is worth mentioning that the labels are represented not only in little icons and symbols but also in descriptive words in both Dutch and English, as well as in braille. This is something I have not seen in other museums, and I think this innovative model helps visitors to navigate through a big and crowded museum space. Having both a visual 3D model, paper brochure, audio tour device, information desk, and staff, the museum fulfills visitors' different needs.

A current exhibit on display, called "Why so serious," was my favorite part of the museum. Here is a quote from the curator introducing this exhibit:

"The museum often deals with difficult subjects, with art that has a profound message or with problems that artists struggle with, as in the case of Vincent van Gogh. It explores his difficult periods, his quest, his doubts... but here we want to talk about the lighter aspects of art. About the pleasure of painting and the holiday feeling that artworks give us. About the unexpected things that make us happy or even make us laugh."

This exhibit is curated by a group of young adults with bicultural backgrounds, who call themselves "Reframers," with the goal of lowering the threshold for visiting museums and enjoying art. They picked their personal favorite piece from the museum's large collection that is not on display, and they share their personal connection with the piece they chose and their own interpretations. They even curated a song playlist on Spotify, with a QR code for visitors to scan at the beginning and to listen to while walking around the exhibit.

For example, Picture 7 is Sara's selection of Van Gogh's painting Exterior of a Restaurant in Asnieres. Right beside the artwork itself, a yellow paper is casually stuck to the wall with blue tapes. Sara noted the spontaneity in painting the restaurant and the nice, warm, and welcoming feeling of the painting. Some other "Reframers" talked about how the paintings reminded them of personal memories of family, community, and landscape of their hometown.

The exhibit room is fully carpeted, painted yellow, and furnitured with lamps and sofas for visitors to rest. It was not something easy to do, according to the person who led our tour, because they had to be careful in choosing carpets and sofas with material that won't easily be caught on fire.

Budget, accessibility, aesthetics, and safety... There are a lot of factors that a curator has to consider when curating an exhibit. I think that's the fun part of the job - the feeling of accomplishment when the visitors are enjoying their experience.

Picture of a band playing in the museum square when we came out of Van Gogh.

Picture of a mini museum outside of one's house that Tina saw on our way back.

Picture of a bike decorated with sunflowers by the canal.

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arrival, gelato, and De Pijp neighborhood

After a 10-hour flight from Seattle, I arrived at Schipol airport and met Maina and Zoe after getting off the plane. Together with another 22 students, we are now in Amsterdam to attend this 4 weeks-long study abroad program to learn about innovations and designs in libraries, museums, cultural-heritage institutions, and information services in the Netherlands.

Picture 2 is the neighborhood De Pijp outside of my hotel room window, and picture 3 is me with two new friends in my hotel room. I was lucky to get this Vermeer themed room, and other rooms in Bicycle Hotels are designed and decorated with cute themes, too, like little miniatures of different aspects of the Dutch culture.

De Pijp is a lovely neighborhood. In the morning, I wake up from birds chirping and bicycle bells on the street, and at night, my jetlagged eyelids battle against an even more vibrant soundscape of people drinking, making friends, and enjoying their meals at restaurants.

Picture 4 and 5 is a gelato place around the corner that always has a waiting line extended to the bicycle lane of the street. They also have coffee, to freshen up your day. What I did was to get this drink with espresso shots on the bottom, chocolate gelato milkshake as the body, whipped cream, and cocoa power on the top. 100%!

The last few pictures feature the park, Sarphatipark, that I passed by on a morning run/exploration of the neighborhood. Later I learned that Rijksmuseum put up these signs to inform people about the historical figure to whom the street/location is named afterward. For example, the one in picture 6 is Samuel Sarphati, who was a doctor and a city planner in Amsterdam. His ancestors were Spanish and Portuguese Jews arrived in the Netherlands in the 17th century, and Sarphati studied medicine to help improve the living qualities and health of the poor in Amsterdam at the time. Sarphatipark is named after him and has a monument commemorating his contribution to the city. The monument was not open to the public at the time of our stay, sadly. Another thing worth noting is that in 1942, the name of the park was changed to "Bollandpark" after G.J.P.J. Bolland because Sarphati was a Jew, not until after the war in 1945, did the name got changed back to its original "Sarphatipark."

How cultural-heritage related and historical information is presented to the public through the naming of streets and public spaces like parks in the Netherlands? Who gets the right to name a public space? I'm curious to find out more about it.

Read more about the history of Sarphatipark here:

Stay tuned for my next blog!