On the banks of the river Amstel, just where the city ends, you will find a yellow and blue entrance to another world, Amstelpark. The park has been established in 1972, as one of the sites of the second world garden fair Floriade. There the time stops. Comparing this park with others in town, for example Vondelpark, where the tourist and all the bicycles don’t give space to contemplation, Amstelpark is a slow motion park, faraway from the masses. Probably one of the reasons of such quietness is that bicycle traffic is not allowed. Amstelpark is not a pitch area, it’s a place to intentionally go, to walk and to stay.
In the heart of the park appears Het Glazen Huis, an astonishing transparent pavilion. A glass bubble inside another bubble of calmness: the park. Because of its transparency, the pavilion is the perfect spot to present artistic manifestations that are half way between visual and performing art. The building can work as a podium as well as an exhibition platform.
The entire idea of this performative festival has this specific location as starting point. Slow Down’s conceptual approach is foremost a site-specific project, both thematically and formally. The quiet nature of Amstelpark has been the drive that moved us to develop the concept for the festival, matching the artistic forms and the physical space under the constant questioning of our high-speed society. Het Glazen Huis works as a knowledge container for this proposal, and due to its spatial specificity it will complement the content of the project.
You can reach us by car
Take the motorway direction Amsterdam, take the Ringroad A10 direction de Rai, exit RAI (S109). At the traffic lights go left into the Europaboulevard direction Amstelveen. After 500m on the left hand side you will see the main entrance of the Amstel park.
Plenty of parkingspace to park.
From Monday to Friday 09:00 to 19:00 parking costs € 1.40 per hour.
You can pay by cash or card.
Parking is free on Saturday and Sunday.
You can reach us by public transport
The Amstelpark is a 7 minute walk away from the RAI-station. Tram lines 4, 50 and 51 go to Rai –station. Bus nr 62 stops right outside at Weerdestein.
For more information on public transport: www.ns.nl