As a revolutionary urban development experiment, the Bijlmer has been the subject of discussion from the start. Those who came to live in this Amsterdam district almost took part in an idealistic urban design, social and societal experiment. People lived in a neighborhood that was completely independent in terms of location and architecture. The E, G and K Neighborhoods were built in the 1960s and 1970s according to the principles of the functional city. The area had a strict separation between the various functions: living, working, recreation and traffic. The Bijlmer has no direct connection with the rest of Amsterdam; it is the only part of the city that does not adhere to the city limits, but is separated from them by the villages of Duivendrecht and Diemen. It was a neighborhood you wouldn’t come to if you didn’t live there.

The EGK neighborhood was characterized by ten-storey high-rise buildings in a hexagonal honeycomb structure and lots of greenery. The ground levels were car-free, spacious in size and almost enclosed all around by the buildings they enclosed like high concrete walls. There was little or no recreation or use of the park in any other way. You were led from one ground level to another via low tunnels under the apartment buildings. At night there was a desolate atmosphere in the neighborhood. Only if you really had no other choice and the shortest route led directly from A to B did you have a reason to be there.

This Is The High-Rise Apartment I Have Lived In shows the demolition of the Bijlmermeer. In 1992, a few months before the plane crash with the El Al aircraft in October of that year, the municipal decision was taken to demolish part of the classic honeycomb flats. The G-buurt with the Geinwijk and Gerenstein flats, the Ganzenhoef shopping center and the Gliphoeve and Gerenstein garages will be the first to be demolished from 1995. In 1996 the decision was taken to demolish the Koningshoef flat. The lease was terminated by the Nieuw-Amsterdam housing association on 31 July 1998. Kleiburg was the very last original Bijlmer honeycomb flat that was still awaiting demolition or renovation. The renovation was completed in 2016.

This Is The High-Rise Apartment I Have Lived In shows the raw reality of demolition. This time, the dynamics are not in the movement of the camera, because it is stationary at a fixed place for almost the entire recording, at most it is zoomed in and out every now and then on an attention-demanding detail. The real activity this time comes from the monstrous demolition machines, which slowly gnaw the flat, bit by bit. That the flat was demolished brick by brick is done out of respect for the former residents. The demolition took much more time in this way than if it had been done with, for example, explosives or the wrecking ball. Sound plays an important role in this video. It’s the mechanical, monotonous gasping and puffing of the machine that still seems to have trouble crushing the tough flat.

The Driving Rain (1997) is a 6:45 minutes long take of the wide view from the living-room of Koningshoef 6, 1104 EB Amsterdam Southeast on a very rainy day.

Ground level was recorded from the living room of Koningshoef 6. The window offered a view of ground level. The lawn was always in good shape thanks to regular mechanical maintenance. Mowing was a familiar scene for residents.

Ground Level (Maaiveld), is a choreography of a mechanical ballet. Systematically as if in a ritual, a dyad of red costumed reapers performs a implementation composed of repetitive mechanical motions. Mow song music with industrial and noise rock elements are the consonant accompaniments to an act that is performed on a grass-green stage in a futuristic Bijlmer scenery.