TEXT
Written by SACHI MIYACHI
This text and drawing are written as clues to consider the urban development of the Amsterdam south area during my Artist-in-residence at Virtual Museum Zuidas. These are in a book 'Intimate Stories on Absence' published by Onomatopee. ISBN: 978-90-78454-40-3
Office Chair Championship
A community can be ‘warmed up’ by the event of a festival, an opportunity
to share in a mutual and abundant excitement. The Zuidas area is characterized
by its high-tech offices. Visually, its highly modern and bombastic nature seems
to dwarf and obscure the subtle qualities of the surrounding community. In some
way, the area needs to be humourized and animated by its own people, finding
the confidence to take advantage of the unique characteristics of its planning
and architecture. There needs to be a new opening to this part of the city.
Office workers are well practiced at driving their office chairs across the
building everyday. Now is the time to have an ‘Office Chair Championship’
- this was my first thought. It could be open to everybody; moreover, it could
become an international championship, collecting participants from all over
the world. Zuidas has absolutely great streets for driving office chairs. Streets
and bicycle lanes are completely empty on the weekends, making wonderful circuits.
It would not only be a race, but also a fusion of dance, gymnastics and acrobatics.