Alongside the old facades of the former Oostergasfabriek on the Oranje Vrijstaatkade stand these concrete blocks. They read as a timeline, unrolling in eastward direction. The passerby can read the texts, its relation to the urban context and to each other. The artwork is the final addition to a series of artworks that have been placed in Oost since 2002, in the context of the project ‘Erfenis van de Twintigste Eeuw’ (‘Heritage of the 20th Century’). The goal was to make Amsterdam residents aware of the history of Oostpoort. These concrete blocks serve as memorials for places and people who were important to Amsterdam Oost in the 20th century.
The artwork of Martijn Sandberg (1967) continuously scans and relates to its own borders, like the tension between text and image, legible and illegible, the private and the public domain.
This artwork is part of the Sunday Sculptures series that Stadscuratorium Amsterdam posts every Sunday on Instagram.
