Invitation to the Flax Harvest Feast

During Open Monument Day on Saturday the 12th of September, we will gather in the public space of the Sluisbuurt for the harvest of a large circle of flax, part of the temporary public artwork VlasPlein (FlaxSquare).

Together with local residents, experts, and curious visitors, you are warmly invited to take part in the harvest and celebrate our local yield. We will do so while sharing food and drinks brought by participants according to the “sprokkelpot” principle—a communal potluck where everyone contributes something.

Together with artist Annee Grøtte Viken and curator Jules van den Langenberg, we will mark the moment when the flax circle is harvested. The flaxseed will then be processed by a local miller into linseed oil, which will serve as the basis for paint.

Using a traditional decorative painting technique that imitates wood and other materials, benches, street lamps, and waste bins in the public space will subsequently be painted, giving these everyday objects a striking new appearance. A vintage Friso Kramer street lamp treated with this technique will already be on display during the Harvest Festival.

Following the successful Sowing Symposium held last May, the Harvest Feast this September marks the festive conclusion of the temporary public artwork VlasPlein.

The gathering is part of the Construction Site Conversations series organized by the Nelly & Theo van Doesburg Foundation and is supported by the Municipality of Amsterdam and the Gerrit Rietveld Academy.

Practical Information

Location
Outdoor site in the Sluisbuurt neighborhood on Zeeburgereiland, Amsterdam, on the terrain between the Zuiderzeeweg tram stop and Anna Pavlovastraat.
Coordinates: 52°22'24.3"N, 4°57'40.6"E.

Date and time
Saturday, 12 September 2026 (Open Monument Day 2026).
Open continuously from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM.

What to Bring
You are warmly invited to bring something to eat or drink to share with others.

Admission
No registration is required. Admission is free; donations are welcome.

Please Note
The event takes place outdoors in a public space. Please be prepared for changing weather conditions.

The artist Bin Koh created a public artwork in Amsterdam’s newest neighbourhood, Zeeburgereiland. It is located on Eef Kamerbeekstraat, between three high-rise buildings by the architects Arons & Gelauff. The work is revealed in the summer of 2022 and intended to last at least ten years. 

Entitled Table of Contents, the artwork is a tiled, concrete barbecue table that combines grotesque elements with a cosy, familial spirit. The inhabitants of the three surrounding WOON& buildings, are invited to write their favourite recipes which are integrated on a web platform by the artist. Following its completion, Koh will organise multiple events around the work with her gastronomy collective Comfort Ball, notably on the fetishisation and alienation of Asian women in Western culture. 

Bin Koh: “When I was a child, my mother would put whiteboard markers next to the glass dining table so that we could draw whatever came into our minds, directly on to the table. I’m not a product designer or an architect, but this childhood memory of eating, drinking, digesting and sharing experiences with specific objects kept flooding back to me when I was considering a public art project for WOON&.”

The work invites inhabitants to contemplate savoured memories of cooking and to share a table. People can sit together, put charcoal in the middle of the table, grill food and enjoy their meal. Inspired by the difficulty of breaking set hierarchies in Korean culture, Bin Koh considers the potential of a common table to influence social codes. In essence, the artwork is asking: what makes for an intimate setting with neighbours? What creates intimacy between people? What enables people to speak out?

The integration of a public artwork into a given place ultimately depends on the response of its users. Unlike artistic interventions that are not context-specific or have only a single function, Bin Koh has opted for a remarkably open approach. While she is inviting the inhabitants of Eef Kamerbeekstraat to participate — inviting them to write down recipes, organising future events — she is also keeping things open: the artwork is an open-ended proposal addressed to all.

The public art work is developed in the context of a collaboration between Sandberg Instituut, (Nelly&)Theo van Doesburg Foundation and BPD property development that aim to position artists and their works in the public space of Amsterdam. 

Table of Contents is a public art work in Amsterdam’s Zeeburgereiland, resulting from a public programme in which seven invited artists, the municipality, property developer, researchers and other guests took part. Other artists involved are Fabian Reichle, Niels Albers, Franziska Goralski, Kitty Maria van Ekeren, Elise Ehry, Cindy Wegner, Willem Schenk.

Interested in developing or supporting a public art work in the City of Amsterdam with the (Nelly&)Theo van Doesburg Foundation? Email info@theovandoesburgstichting.nl.

A workshop space on the Placemaking terrain of Sluisbuurt, located directly next to the construction site of Amsterdam’s new neighbourhood, is developed and realised by artist and food performer Elia Castino upon invitation of the (Nelly&)Theo van Doesburg Foundation. The workshop space is activated throughout the year by Castino and the Foundation during their Public Art Work Development public programme. 

Interested in booking a workshop session or have a team meeting at The Kitchen Workshop? Contact info@theovandoesburgstichting.nl