Photo Lida Goede

Under the Bridge

What is the ideal place for a CityPoem? Where do fast moving urbanites take their natural pause? In Amsterdam, city of water, it is by the many bridges. Waiting for a bridge opening up for boats passing by is an almost meditative moment during an otherwise hasty bike ride. Since there is nothing else to do than wait, everyone is relaxed – all of a sudden, you find yourself even at peace with the idea of waiting.

What better moment than to present a poem right there and then? After all, CityPoems on walls that everybody passes by are perhaps merely a treasure for the few. CityPoems on bridges opening up are, perhaps, only natural.

For half of the people waiting, that is – the half on what should now be called the right side of the bridge. Here is a great example in Amsterdam: the bottom of the bridge, normally only visible to fish and people in small boats, lifts up and temporarily becomes part of the public realm.

Ugliest Street of Amsterdam 

The Vaz Diasbrug is an important bridge near Waterlooplein, at the beginning of the Weesperstraat that carries on in the Wibautstraat. This street was formed by typical 60’s planning: city building by slashing new car traffic arteries through the urban tissue by demolishing whatever is considered old and in the way. The Amsterdam metro line was put underneath. The project was stopped at the Nieuwmarkt by the historic first large protests against the city planners in Amsterdam, similar to Jane Jacob’s actions stopping Robert Moses in New York around the same time.

The Weesperstraat – Wibautstraat is considered to be the ugliest, most car-dominated street of Amsterdam (which makes the poet’s invention of the word ‘Wibautotisme’ brilliant), a wound of a past war that never entirely heals. At the same time, it is Amsterdam’s only boulevard with a somewhat more metropolitan character - or it was, until the Zuidas came into being (South Axis, the new international metropolitan hub on the South side of Amsterdam, could also be considered an extension of the very international Schiphol Airport). 

Wibautotisme (Kristian Kanstadt)

Poet Kristian Kanstadt wrote an experimental poem, titled "Wibautotisme', Below is a literal, not poetic, translation, to give the international reader an idea of the content of the poem:

Poem

On 17th June 1981, as advised by the Advisory Committee for Visual Arts, the alderman for Arts commissioned a study assignment to Kristian Kanstadt (pseudonym for Christian Maat). The question: research if and how his poem ‘Wibautotisme’ could be applied to the bottom of the Sieg Vaz Diasbrug over the Nieuwe Herengracht.

Kristian Kanstadt invited typeface designer Karim Hashem. When the study was well-received, it was turned into an assignment. The text was sprayed on twelve water and weather resistant plates of montaplex, 120 square meters all together. In collaboration with the department of bridges of the public works service, the plates with the poem were applied in 1982.

The poem itself comes from the collection ‘Twee stembaanshoog boven een bruggehoofd’ and later in a collection called 'Straten en gedichten’.

Photo: Erik B 

Credits

This article was based on the web article of Lida Goede and published with her kind permission, and the permission of the artist.

The poet Kristian Kanstadt mainly writes for theatre in the last few years. He is currently working on another poem, to be placed on one of Amsterdam’s squares. You can visit his theatre website here.

1. Amsterdam (1) - just on a door
2. Amsterdam (3) - Simon Vinkenoog
3. Amsterdam (4) - subtly woven into a wall