Under Pressure

Under Pressure

Under Pressure is the winning project of Catarina Garcia and Jim Du Pan's NDSM Open Call 2023. The winning entry consists of a colossal steel ball that appears to rise above the shipyard. The base of the work is Kraan 7, a dilapidated crane that, in its heyday, carried pieces of steel from the warehouse to the slopes, where ships were assembled and restored. The sphere is illuminated from the inside and acts as a beacon for the environment, also visible from the water. The frame of the ball is encased in plants that move with the seasons. With Under Pressure, Catarina Garcia and Jim Du Pan, both artists with a studio in the NDSM warehouse, bring NDSM's history and heritage together with new life in the form of plants and light. The work symbolises the cycles of transformation of the NDSM shipyard, an area that has moments of crisis and destruction but also stages of revival and redevelopment. With the title, the creators refer to the growing housing and area development in expanding areas such as NDSM, which puts valuable places like this under pressure. Organic greening has a connotation with environmental urgency, unsustainable urban expansion and the field of urban development, in which free and green space often loses out. The work shows the duality of NDSM; a place under pressure, but also a place full of possibilities.

NDSM Open Call

With the annual NDSM Open Call, Stichting NDSM-werf and Stichting Kinetisch Noord support projects that have arisen from the creativity of the NDSM community. Last edition, the jury consisted of external reviewers Louis Pirenne (former project manager of Art and Culture Amsterdam North) and Tanja Karreman (former director of New Dakota, Senior Advisor to the Percentage Art Collection). On behalf of Stichting NDSM-werf, curator Petra Heck and program maker Ewa Scheifes sat on the jury, and Mariska Middendorf represented Stichting Kinetisch Noord. The jury was unanimously positive about the winning entry: “The entry by Catarina Garcia and Jim Du Pan is a site-specific installation that uses NDSM's industrial heritage to create an eye-catching installation. Their proposal to place a ball on the tap that is slowly greened and illuminated from within provides an exciting image, open to interpretation.”

About Catarina Garcia (PT) and Jim Du Pan (BE)

Catarina Garcia moved to Amsterdam right after her BA Fine Arts studies in Portugal, where she has been working as a visual artist from her studio at NDSM for nine years now. Her work is characterised by a sensitive and intuitive approach to material. Through various media, she focuses on themes such as cultural heritage, identity and care. Jim Du Pan graduated from the Saint-Luke Faculty of Architecture in Belgium and then spent several years in northern France as an architect and builder. From his studio at NDSM, he now works as a maker and visual artist on various projects, from sculptures to custom-made interiors.

About Stichting NDSM-werf

Stichting NDSM-werf programs and manages NDSM's monumental outdoor space as a cultural shipyard that focuses on the public character, creative experiment and polyphony. The foundation develops and presents location-specific installations and artworks by and with artists, designers and architects.

About Stichting Kinetisch Noord

Stichting Kinetisch Noord (SKN) was founded in 2000 to redevelop the former NDSM Shipbuilding Shed into a center for arts, culture and crafts; among other things by creating a cultural incubator. In addition, SKN aims to make the warehouse function as an event location for public-oriented activities such as presentations, workshops, (dance) events, exhibitions and fairs. More information can be found on the website of the NDSM Warehouse.