Midden

Midden is an artist book made in response to the exhibition Verzameld voor Amstelveen– De Gemeentelijke Kunstcollectie at Museum JAN (Amstelveen, 2022), an exhibition addressing the changing landscape of Amstelveen. The area of Kronenburg, on the border of Amsterdam-Zuid, with student-campus Uilenstede within it and the Middelpolder just outside of its periphery, is the focus of the book. This is through reproductions of archival material from the Beeldbank Amstelveen, primarily from the past 60 years. The architecture of Kronenburg— specifically the modernist building Laan van Kronenburg 2 in its states of flux—is documented through the archival material with recently re-shot photos. Photo-collages made from both sets of photos form the bulk of the book: a visual reading of landscape-in-transition.

Key to the publication is a set of medium format slides from circa 1972 by press photographer, artist and Amstelveen resident Erwin Verheijen (1941-2019). The slides document Uilenstede campus and the construction of the three GAK office buildings in Kronenburg which are no longer present; two prints from his book Onderweg (1979) are republished here. Midden uses the same proportions and typeface Onderweg has, an appropriation as homage.
source: www.printedmatter.org