¿Station at odds? Research and proposals for the South-Axis, Amsterdam

The development of the great public transit stations of the present century can be compared to development processes of large urban complexes. The station area of the future will inevitably reflect the society which creates it; a station in technologically advanced and democratically orientated country offers openness – not just physically, through the generous use of glass curtain walls, visibility lines and transparency, but psychologically and in terms of content, as well. The development of a vital city requires room for the unexpected, for personal views. In a conversation with Jaap Huisman, Rob Steenhuis, railway architect for the Dutch Railroad Company (NS), concluded: ‘It wasn’t such a strange idea in the 19th century to give a station the look of a palace or a department store, since these are just the kinds of buildings one tends to be proud of’. (in: Smaak, July 2003)

In a conversation between Jeroen Boomgaard and Harald Schole, the two came to discuss the opportunities for art as regards the station areas to come. Boomgaard proposed a study under the theme station at odds. Her, the theme ‘ad odds’ conjures up the ambitions and ideals. It appeals to two representative local approaches: a designative one – summed up in the phrase ‘What do you want?’ (‘Woat mot je?’) – and a certain rebelliousness and tendency toward criticism and action taking. From strong-willed Amsterdam business-mindedness to the playful demonstrations of Provo.

‘Ad odds’ would seem an impossible task to fulfil. And where to start? By answering the question with impossible proposals? By submitting concepts ignoring the list of requirements drawn up for the station?

a few paradoxical remarks: - the future managers of Station Zuid shall be apprehensive about possible uncontrollable art; - art and artists do not feel a great need to execute an amusing little work of art appropriately ‘at odds’ at an appointed location and time; - The state of being ‘at odds’, or contrary, threatens inherently to isolate art from its assigned location, the specific site. - Paradoxical proposals put art at odds with the urban entity, the station and, above all, put art within its own domain. In such a field of tension, ‘at odds’ is a priori accepted and art is protected form external influences. In this way, contrary art has found a safe heaven. The effects of art on public are not priority.

In 1915, in his second design for Plan Zuid, Berlage drew a bird’s eye of his plan for an urban area with a railway station. The station, which is clearly at the and of the Minervalaan, bears the name: Zuiderstation. With the name Berlage conceived for the station, he not only named the place, but the direction, as well. It sets one’s thoughts in motion about travel. Schole compares the project ‘station at odds’ with the many-sidedness of travel. The timetable does not give just one destination, but is based on a number of possible routes. All roads lead to Rome, and some destinations will probably have similar routes. The same destination can appear differently to each of us, and as we know from Calvino’s invisible cities, one city (or station) can have many faces. His study follows the history and developments of station design and art, with special concentration on Amsterdam. It describes the future subterranean railway station and infrastructure. It contains a timetable – as mind-map - and in turn, it outlines ten themes and visualised scenarios for possible artistic projects.

TIMETABLE

Departure > < Transfer > < Arrival Search Anticlockwise Insight Interests Relative Humour
Commission Vision Plan Normal Authenticities Surprise Hurried Desire Slowed down Speed Involved Delay Efficient Contrast Waste Business-like Culture Meeting Pragmatic Contacts Enrichment Transparent Big Brother Surrounded Safety Restlessness Adventure Well-organised Human Complex Clear Stories Diffuse Clean Idea Fertilised Contemporary Many-layered Renewal Position At odds Opposition Topia Utopia Atopia Uninspired Ambition Fantasy Longing Inspiration Travel Normal Motion Different Concepts Topsy-turvy city U-town Scraps of paper PC PowerPoint Body Art Mind Museum Space Public City centre South Schiphol Ground level Specific Spot

Arrival > < Transfer > < Departure

The reader may not derive any rights from the timetable, subject to alteration, before departure, consult the signs.

Harald Schole used the paradoxical theme and called his study with ten routes to a Zuiderstation ‘at odds’ ‘seductive against the grain’.