The Cook, the Farmer, his Wife and their Neighbour (De kok, de kweker, zijn vrouw en hun Buurman)
Community gardens & kitchen in Amsterdam West

'The Cook, the Farmer, his Wife and their Neighbour' re-thinks urban regeneration and creates an alternative sustainable model to apply, together with the inhabitants of the “Nieuw-west” - to stir up imagination amongst them about a future environment, to stimulate re-appropriation of the space in the neighbourhood and to empower people. The project takes as its focus a non-accessible public green space, transforming it into a community cultivated garden, as well as a derelict corner shop, transforming it into a community kitchen.

This project was carried out as part of the collective Wilde Westen with the artist Marjetica Potrč for the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam

www.kkvb-cfwn.blogspot.com
www.stedelijk.nl

Location

Amsterdam, NL

Area

500 + 25 m2

Year

2009

Project by

Marjetica Potrč & Wilde Westen Team (Eva Pfannes - Ooze; Sylvain Hartenberg - Ooze; Lucia Babina - iStrike; Reinder Bakker - Overtreders; Hester van Dijk - Overtreders; Merijn Oudenampsen; Henriette Waal)

Commissioner

Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam

Support

Creative Industries Fund NL, Rotterdam; Far West, Amsterdam; Amsterdams - Fonds voor de Kunst; Gemeente Amsterdam;

Status

Realised

Notes

Thanks to Florian de Visser; Inhabitants of Lodewijk van Deysselstraat

Recent news

Apr '13 OOZE Shortlisted for the IAP Award - Shanghai

Nov '10 The Cook, the Farmer... featured in Year Book 2010

Publications

Dec '10 Jaarboek/ Yearbook LS 2010

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The Cook, the Farmer, his Wife and their Neighbour - their tools (© Ooze)

Scenarios for the space (© Ooze)

The project is a community garden and community kitchen in the Nieuw-West district of Amsterdam. A previously unused site at Lodewijk van Deysselstraat 61 becomes a community kitchen. The vegetable garden is located behind the kitchen in a former fenced-off ‘look only garden’ (kijkgroen). The garden and the kitchen create bonds within the neighbourhood and become a catalyst for transforming not only the public space but also the community itself.

The cooks and the farmers

The project is an example of ‘redirective practice’, with people from various disciplines and backgrounds working together to find new ways to build a shared community. The Nieuw-West district was designed in 1930s as a Dutch garden city. Today, however, it faces the problem of widespread unemployment and difficulties in integrating new arrivals.

At the same time, Nieuw-West is one of the largest residential redevelopment areas in the European Union. The project ‘The Cook, the Farmer, his Wife and their Neighbour’ is a case study for redesigning the modernist neighbourhood from below and redefining rural and urban coexistence.

The space after (left) and before (right - a 'kijkgroen', or 'look only green')

The Cook, the Farmer, his Wife and their Neighbour (De kok, de kweker, zijn vrouw en hun Buurman) Community gardens & kitchen in Amsterdam West

The Cook, the Farmer, his Wife and their Neighbour (De kok, de kweker, zijn vrouw en hun Buurman)
Community gardens & kitchen in Amsterdam West