After traveling in the states I came back to Amsterdam and went to Den Dolder right away. First thing I saw at the 5de seizoen was BOOKS! They came out nicely!

Erika and I stayed two nights in the atelier to prepare for our final presentation. Erika worked a lot when I couldn’t wake up till noon because of a jet-lag and M cooked yammy Moroccan food. Thanks to their cooperation everything was done in the morning of the presentation day. While we were having tea in a prepared atelier Mario Rizzi showed up from the woods. I didn’t realize that he was Mario Rizzi until he pointed out his name plate. (all artist’s names are engraved on metal plates and placed at the hallway.) He came to film himself in the woods for his project “becoming Dutch”. He got curious of our nationality and interviewed us over our “identity”. That was the start of the presentation—after that people came one after another until the space got pretty full.
Many of the participants came to the presentation…even a patient on a wheel chair or one accompanied by worker.

Boudewijn started an official opening at 15:30 followed by a speech from Peter Hijzen, who wrote a foreword for our publication. After that each of us made a little speech in Dutch (I had a cheat sheet… ) and gave every participant Erika’s photo and the book. Young rappers started their performance and people enjoyed the atmosphere till 17:30

We moved out of the 5de seizoen that evening.

Changing an environment of a working space gives me lots of awareness in a daily life. Even working at home feels different after regular staying in Den Dolder. I hope I could see the god of creativity at home now.

*the book includes photos of balloon works and portraits from Erika