Collecting the City #4 - Ongekend Zeedijk

Residents about 'their' Zeedijk

During the coronavirus pandemic, three trainees from the municipality of Amsterdam started the Ongekend Zeedijk project in 2021 and 2022 in collaboration with the Amsterdam Museum. Ravenna Westerhout, Jelmer Peter and Niel Oedit Doebé spoke to 100 residents, entrepreneurs and Amsterdammers from and around the Zeedijk. They asked them: What does the Zeedijk mean to you, and why do you feel connected to the Zeedijk?

Photo album

Together with artists Susan Kooi, Neil Fortune, and Tja Ling Hu, they created an exhibition with these stories on the Zeedijk and a book was published with photos by photographer Eveline Renaud, who has been photographing on the Zeedijk for more than 30 years. Due to the lockdowns, tourists stayed away for the first time in years, and it was quiet.

Who owns the Zeedijk?

Now that the hustle and bustle on the Zeedijk, just like in the rest of the city centre, is increasing again, the stories take on a new meaning. The makers spoke again for this exhibition with residents, entrepreneurs and visitors. Supplemented with previously created works of art and photographs by Eveline Renaud, they are bringing the Zeedijk to the Amsterdam Museum this year. Here they ask the question: who owns the Zeedijk?

Collecting the City

Collecting the City is an exhibition series in which the Amsterdam Museum, together with various communities and organizations, collects and presents the vibrant city of Amsterdam. In this fourth edition, we present the small exhibition Ongekend Zeedijk, which focuses on this old street.