Since the late nineties, artists and cultural makers have dreamed about setting up an art city in the NDSM Loods — a place where artists, makers and other creative pioneers can design their own workspace, collaborate and work on their latest creations in all spaces. The self-organization that gave birth to the city of art continues to inspire artists and creators from around the world to design their studios and studio spaces themselves, together. And with that pioneering, the city of art has unmistakably laid the foundation for the current NDSM: here we build a cultural future together.

The City of Arts has now well past the pioneering phase and is one of NDSM's fixed values. Together with the studio spaces under the former shipbuilding ramps, NDSM Treehouse and MACA, they ensure that there is an enormous density of production sites, studio and studio spaces at NDSM, where artists and makers work daily on their practice in many disciplines — from music to theater, from visual art to photography, from design to architecture. And that inspires diversity and richness. It makes NDSM a popular place to have your studio, or just to visit and be inspired.

‍Of course, there is nothing more exciting and fun than seeing artists and creators at work. And at certain times and in some places, that is certainly possible. However, as a visitor, we ask you not to just step in everywhere and read carefully or ask if it is possible. And if you want to see everything, especially stop by at NDSM-OPEN, the Open Studio Days in Amsterdam North or at any other time.

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Hard to tell on NDSM. But soon after the last ship rolled down the hill, NDSM became a dream place to make art. Of course, Dogtroep's performance Northwesterwals in 1994 - on one of the former shipbuilding ramps and starring 1.2 million liters of water - is legendary. Or the equally legendary art installations and performances that spewed fire and smoke over the visiting audience during the Robodock festival. And even today, location theater and festival art are still an important part of what to see and experience at NDSM.

At the same time, the site is famous for the many extraordinary works of art that can be seen there from time to time. NDSM is the textbook example of free space for art and culture. Thanks to the special policy and associated management, many artists can show their works in the outdoor and indoor spaces that border their studio space at NDSM.

Since 2014, the NDSM-werf Foundation has been programming the outdoor area with extraordinary art installations. In recent years, well-known installations such as Ferrotopia by Joep van Lieshout, Monument - three upright city buses - by Manaf Halbouni, or Willem de Haan's high-rise campsite at NDSM, have been built to stay there for a few months.

A number of other installations will stay for several years, such as Annaïk Lou Pitteloud's Neo logos light artwork and Henk Schut's In Tune artwork.

By showing alternating short and long-term art installations, there is always something new to see at NDSM.

The works

As a result, NDSM has grown into the place for monumental works of art and installations in the public space.

And perhaps one of the few places in Amsterdam where temporary commissioning of large-scale art installations has a place.

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For a number of years, the NDSM-werf Foundation has been a leader in finding the right balance between, on the one hand, programming events that add something to the cultural (night) life in the city and, on the other hand, events that also appeal to local residents. Here, too, we make connections with the upcoming new urban event policy, the municipality's vision for night culture and the transition from day to night. NDSM also offers space for experimentation. New cultural events or festivals can take their first steps here and test new program combinations that combine art with music, for example, such as No-Art in 2022. In the coming years, we will further future-proof NDSM as a location for events. Of course, we also do this by keeping nuisance to the environment to a minimum. For example, we are working on a site layout that reduces inconvenience caused by construction and dismantling work. We are also making the offer even more diverse, with more emphasis on a smaller-scale cultural program. Concretely, this ambition takes shape in the Amsterdam Y-stage project; a seasonal stage for multidisciplinary programming on the Y slope, which is also a spatial installation at the same time.

For a number of years, the NDSM-werf Foundation has been a leader in finding the right balance between, on the one hand, programming events that add something to the cultural (night) life in the city and, on the other hand, events that also appeal to local residents. Here, too, we make connections with the upcoming new urban event policy, the municipality's vision for night culture and the transition from day to night. NDSM also offers space for experimentation. New cultural events or festivals can take their first steps here and test new program combinations that combine art with music, for example, such as No-Art in 2022. In the coming years, we will further future-proof NDSM as a location for events. Of course, we also do this by keeping nuisance to the environment to a minimum. For example, we are working on a site layout that reduces inconvenience caused by construction and dismantling work. We are also making the offer even more diverse, with more emphasis on a smaller-scale cultural program. Concretely, this ambition takes shape in the Amsterdam Y-stage project; a seasonal stage for multidisciplinary programming on the Y slope, which is also a spatial installation at the same time.

For a number of years, the NDSM-werf Foundation has been a leader in finding the right balance between, on the one hand, programming events that add something to the cultural (night) life in the city and, on the other hand, events that also appeal to local residents. Here, too, we make connections with the upcoming new urban event policy, the municipality's vision for night culture and the transition from day to night. NDSM also offers space for experimentation. New cultural events or festivals can take their first steps here and test new program combinations that combine art with music, for example, such as No-Art in 2022. In the coming years, we will further future-proof NDSM as a location for events. Of course, we also do this by keeping nuisance to the environment to a minimum. For example, we are working on a site layout that reduces inconvenience caused by construction and dismantling work. We are also making the offer even more diverse, with more emphasis on a smaller-scale cultural program. Concretely, this ambition takes shape in the Amsterdam Y-stage project; a seasonal stage for multidisciplinary programming on the Y slope, which is also a spatial installation at the same time.