By Julie Birkholz

Photos: Eugenie Jansen of Langgewagt

Amsterdam rarely has a shortage of creative artsy events. One could fill an entire weekend hopping from one private gallery to another, trolling shops for small trinkets, followed by nights of unique performances and parties at the many formalized squats and dive bars; but it has yet to have a regular market aimed specifically at a creative, artsy, pop scene. 

ParkArt Market www.parkart.nl aimed to fulfill this role with its first successful stab on Sunday, September 20th. 

The market organized by Stichting Langgewagt with help from the De Key and the Amsterdam Municipality presented a funky mix of art, music, food, performance, winkelen (shopping) and that retro laid-back Amsterdam style.  Spilling out on to the Spuistraat from an old parking garage one could enjoy a fresh espresso from a gas powered all-in-one coffee roaster, espresso press on wheels from Daan's bedrijf www.daansbedrijf.nl. 

You also could pick up hand-made reworked clothes from a naaiatelier, recycled jewelry from various artists, paintings and printed 80's-esque t-shirts. Of course the market offered lots of yummy treats, including sushi and fresh spun crepes, accompanied with live local tunes. The little ones were not forgotten in the planning of ParkArt with a special recycled car building and craft area with pop-up large mushrooms from Janisland to keep their hands busy.

Organizer Hilde van Wijk said, at the close of the event, "We were happily surprised that both visitors and participants underlined our ideas for the necessity of such developments for the city- a new and very 'accessible' platform for creatives and the city... the city demands this kind of place, a regular base where creatives can organically grow as entrepreneurs and find their way in the market."

Perhaps more important to the scene it attracts, a Sunday space was created not only as a space for creatives to exhibit and sell their work but, like any good market, to mingle and linger in to the evening with the market being open until ten; with approximately over 2000 visitors stopping throughout the day.  So although, you might find lots of what you expect from a market, there was also lots of the unexpected- such as seed bombs produced by Guerilla Gardening, that challenged you to scatter some seeds in any green space of the city in spite of regulations, live graffiti art and video installations.

Check out the accompanying photos with this article and be sure to stop by the next ParkArt, expected soon, again at the corner of the Spuistraat 219 and the Wijdesteeg.

Julie Birkholz is also a blogger writing the lovely blog http://www.busyinamsterdam.nl/ featuring events in Amsterdam.

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