Garages were once an essential part of the original plan for the Bijlmermeer (Amsterdam South East) that arose in the Bijlmer from the mid-1960s. From elevated lanes you drove your car into the garage, to walk through a green oasis of lawns and trees to your flat via a footbridge. How modern! But the Bijlmer changed, the garages were demolished, repurposed or left empty.
When the Municipality of Amsterdam takes the final decision in the summer of 2019 to demolish the Kempering, the very last parking garage in the original Bijlmer style, in the spring of 2020, emotions run high.
“Graffiti in the Kempering” is part of the Kempering: Monument of the Mind project that Imagine IC carried out from November 2019 to April 2020 on behalf of the Municipality of Amsterdam. “Graffiti in the Kempering” has been compiled, designed and published by Dutch Graffiti Library in collaboration with Mick La Rock. In addition to the stories from the Kempering, an extra chapter explains the little-discussed historical significance and role of graffiti in and for the Bijlmer.
The book includes work by (Amsterdam) graffiti writers such as Shet, Even, AZHQ, THE Rapser, Mickey, Ezel, Jake, Brush, Sush, Nuke, Fidel, Niels Shoe Meulman and Anopsy.