The Netherlands shows its artsy side with a flair

You don’t have to know much about art to enjoy what Amsterdam has to offer during its annual event, as Craig Smith discovers

W hether you are an art lover or you don’t know your Van Gogh from your Vermeer, Amsterdam truly is a blank canvas. And visitors looking for something different from what one might consider a typical trip to “The Dam” will certainly be spoiled for choice when it comes to contemporary art offerings.

The city is famous for its canals, beautiful houses, so-called coffee shops and Red Light District, but there’s plenty more to this liberal city than most visitors realise. The Netherlands’ nominal capital and the country’s largest city, with a population of more than 851,000, Amsterdam is also the most visited, with over 3.5 million foreign visitors a year.

And as those visitors will testify, it’s one of the greenest cities in Europe, with latest estimates suggesting that there are more bikes in Amsterdam these days than permanent residents.

Of course, no trip to the city should be complete without enjoying the tourist hotspots like the Anne Frank Museum, savouring the Heineken Experience or stopping by the likes of the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum or the Stedelijk Museum.

The fact independent galleries and canalside studios have sprung up all over the place to perfectly complement the established heavy-hitters showcasing centuries of art history should not be overlooked.

The city is bustling all year round, but I visited the Dutch capital during the sixth annual Amsterdam Art Weekend – and it’s fair to say there’s no better time than that to sample the city’s growing contemporary art scene.

Four whole days in November are dedicated to celebrating contemporary art and bringing the cultural sector together in a unique way, with the lure of more than 100 exhibitions and events in the 2017 programme a fine way to explore the city’s historical and up-andcoming districts.

Organised by Amsterdam Art, the only contemporary art weekend of its kind in the city hosts more than 46,000 visitors a year and, if the plans for 2018 are anything to go by, that figure will only rise year-on-year.

What struck me about the city, apart from the apparent explosion in bicycle use in recent years, was that there was none of the snobbery some might associate with the art world, with the strong focus on emerging artists, new technologies and media meaning there really is something for everyone.

Our tour started with a visit to the headquarters of Manifesta, the European Biennial of Contemporary Art, which showcased a unique exhibition in collaboration with Ellen de Bruijne Projects in a stunning 17th Century canal house.

But the beauty of Amsterdam lies in its diversity, and visitors can while away the hours at galleries like Galerie Fons Welters, the Annet Gelink Gallery, Grimm, and Huis Marseille. All with their own identity, all with something different to offer, and all contributing to the cultural revolution currently unfolding in Amsterdam.

For example, one minute I was perusing Chinese artist Evelyn Taocheng Wang’s second solo show, the Four Season of Women Tragedy at Galerie Fons Welters, and the next I was engrossed in G.O.A.T, a video by the controversial and seemingly darkly comic Dutch artist

Erik van Lieshout in the Annet Gelink Gallery.

You can be trying to figure out artist Daniel Richter’s Music for Orgies oil