Old Sailor
Elspeth Diederix
Opening hours:
11:00 - 01:00
Address:
Oudezijds Achterburgwal 39-A
This work is a model for a sculptural garden that provides habitat for nature in Amsterdam's canals. Inspired by an earlier design for an underwater garden, Elspeth has developed a new version tailored to the ecosystem around Warmoesstraat. The forms refer to trees, mooring posts, and brick canal walls and function as an imaginary habitat. Under water, cavities provide shelter for fish; shellfish such as the quagga mussel attach themselves to the structures. Above water, lichens and ferns find a place to grow, while birds can rest there.
The world according to Elspeth Diederix is one of boundless richness. At the heart of her practice lies a desire to reveal that richness, the beauty found in nature and in everyday things alike. In her eyes, a plastic bag can be as wondrous as a vase of flowers or the ridge of a mountain. Through her photography Diederix seeks the moment when the ordinary sheds its familiar form and becomes truly visible. She invites us to step outside our conditioned ways of seeing and reveals the world as it truly is, sublime, surprising, poetic and filled with beauty.
About Location
Café Old Sailor is one of those rare places in the Red Light District where time hasn't stood still, but visibly continues to move forward. Founded in 1930, the café has been in the same family's hands ever since. Owner Richard Mell and his son Daavey, who runs the business today, see Old Sailor as a nostalgic anchor in the neighborhood: a place that has endured for decades and has experienced both the beautiful and the rougher aspects of the area firsthand. The café is popular with international visitors, as well as with long-standing Amsterdam regulars.
In its early years, Old Sailor was more than just a café. Above the establishment were hotel rooms with a night café, where sailors could stay overnight and life in the Red Light District continued after closing time. These rooms have since been converted into apartments, but the café still carries that history with it. Old Sailor does not represent a romanticized past, but rather a lived-in continuity: a place that has changed along with the neighborhood and has therefore retained its own character.