Thomas Hirschhorn on the Bijlmer Spinoza Festival

Oct 2009

Speakers: Thomas Hirschhorn

Thomas Hirschhorn discusses the Bijlmer Spinoza Festival, which took place between May 2nd and June 28th 2009 in the neighbourhood of Bijlmer, south-east of Amsterdam. Bijlmer, constructed in the 1960s, provides housing for around 90,000 residents. Hirschhorn explains how he wanted to honour the work of the philosophy of Spinoza, who was from nearby Amsterdam. The festival therefore included a Spinoza library, with access to the philosopher's works, the Bijlmer Documentation Centre, which houses documents about the neighbourhood's history, and a bar and restaurant where festival goers could interact with residents.