Saturday, December 6, 2008

Red Light District Project/Amsterdam



Last post for the night. I didn't realize or think about that many cities around the world have Red Light Districts. I have watched Sex Workers documentaries but besides that I haven't given it much thought. I was in Amsterdam as an undergraduate and visited the RLD then out of curiosity. When I was locating a place to stay in Edinburgh, Scotland, I learned they have a RLD. Interesting. I didn't know. One of my favorite projects from Amsterdam is the Red Light District Project. Art jewelers were selected to set-up studios in the red light district in an attempt to shrink and take back portions of Amsterdam's notorious Red Light District. Uli took us to see the street where these artists were located at about 1am on a Saturday night which was perfect....an authentic exprience. We didn't actually get to see Ted Noten's door in operation but what I understand is that he adopted/adapted the automateik [sp?] format and installed such an object in the door way of his RLD studio. In each of three slots is a ring that people pay $2.5 euros for. Above the slots is written, "Make her happy, buy her ring". Love it. On opening night there were so many people in the RLD for the "wrong reason" that the regulars got pretty angry. Things were tense. There were police. Of course Droog is part of the organizing team.
Learn. Live. Learn.
Find things that make your heart beat faster.

1 comment:

annie said...

i didn't know you were in amsterdam!
i visited last october, and it is, by far, my favorite city. i'd love to hear about your adventures!