de kok, de kweker zijn vrouw en hun buurman

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Vegetable garden and neighbourhood kitchen in Amsterdam Nieuw West

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“The cook, the grower, his wife and their neighbour” builds on the history of Amsterdam Nieuw West as, literally, a garden city. “Kijkgroen”, flowerbeds that you can look at but are not allowed to enter, will once again become a public garden, which is jointly planted and maintained by local residents (a fixed group of 22 families). 

 

Gardening and cooking together will become a means for the people in Geuzenveld Slotermeer to share knowledge and expertise, and to reassess the neighbourhood. The vegetable garden started as an art project of the Stedelijk Museum. Temporarily without a building, the museum devoted itself to art in public space. One of the artists commissioned to make a work of art was Marjetica Potrc. She involved Het Wilde Westen, an interdisciplinary occasional collective of architects, sociologists and planners, of which Overtreders W was a part. 

 

The enthusiasm of residents was crucial to make the project a success. Potrc and Het Wilde Westen knocked on doors, refurbished 'the house', pulled tiles from the sidewalk to plant flowers and gave out land at the beginning of the season for one euro per square meter - the minimum size for a private -kitchen garden. Half of the yield from the garden was for the grower and the other half for joint consumption with neighbours.

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