Day1 - Illustrating with MOSTE
My first day at SAMA was nice - I didn't have to do too much. My work was illustrating and studying more on Keith Haring. It was kind of like an introduction by Moste (Ricardo Moste), a very cool artist from Mexico. We were preparing some illustrations for the upcoming event (Keith Haring Family Day at Stedelijk Museum) and spent a few hours drawing symbols based on Keith Haring's art, along with some keywords to 'get people started'. We ended up making 20 logos for the keywords, that we would later translate to Dutch together with project team of Stedelijk.
Day2 - preparing for Keith Haring Family Day
Before the day of the workshop we went to the Stedelijk museum to prepare. We were given 10 meter roll which we cut into individual sheets. Anna called them "islands on which people can land". Honestly it was a work out, squatting and then moving on to cut the next sheet then squatting again, re-positioning. And it would've been easier if the paper hadn't kept rolling back up it's self. We had to hold it down with objects and such. Insan joined us as well. This is the first time I met Insan since we did Summer School at Blikopeners Stedelijk together.
After we had finished we stacked all the sheets onto each other and then put something heavy on top to prevent them from rolling up it's self. We also made a huge envelope. The idea was that people will finish the Love Letter to Keith Haring, which will be sent to New York, USA.
After a break, with the tree of us, we painted the icons and logos, as well as the keywords onto the flattened sheets. We didn't do all of course because it would take too much time and it was already getting late at the time. Moste asked me and Insan to play some of our music, and I was shy at first because I listen to some crazy stuff from Japan.
Day3 - Keith Haring Family Day workshop
So the day of the event was wild and in a good way. We came early somewhere around 10:30am and began to finish what we've started which was putting 2 logo's on the sheets we've prepared with the help of my lovely colleague and now friend Insan. Moste wrote the keywords on each sheet that was translated into Dutch for us with the help of Marie Mart. When we finished me, Moste, Insan and Anna began to prepare and lay out all the markers, papers and such.
We had 2 sections in the Happening. One was writing a "love letter" to Keith Haring and the other one was drawing anything you would like that expressed yourself and that showed who you were, those you wanted to take home. Afterwards we would put them in a huge envelope and Stedelijk Museum team would send them to the Keith Haring foundation located in NY City.
The first hour of the event wasn't so exciting in my honest opinion, there weren't many people but after me and Insan came back from the lunch break there were tons of kids. And that was that, for the next 4 hours we were besieged by some 400 kids and their over excited parents. And the funny thing was I didn't even notice until I looked up from my plate of sushi, it was awesome and surprising. It was so fun I actually ended up Joining the workshop instead of helping others for a good amount of time. All the kids there were so creative and adorable with their art.
After the workshop we spent an hour cleaning up after the kids, they made a mess oH my GoD. But it was alright because that part was fun too, once we were done cleaning we put everything in a cart and put it down stairs in the museum's basement. The journey through the labyrinth of Stedelijk basement was spooky and Tim Burton like.
And if that was not enough, I also got paid - my first volunteer money! Woooo-hoooo!
Day4 - 750 Amsterdam Party
The Amsterdam Party wasn't all that hype. It turned out that not many people knew about it. I was curious myself to understand what is this new 'holiday' in my city.
All together with SAMA crew we came up with this brilliant idea to continue the Love Card Tradition of the season, Anna calls it 'Kindness Syndrome', and create one huge sheet that says "Happy Birthday Amsterdam". We drew all over it. As we were busy, these two people came to film us drawing on the huge sheet, as Anna was explaining to them what SAMA is and so on and that was it.
We also cooked the soup made out of the ingredients from the people in the neighbourhood. We borrowed everything, for example one lady gave us garlic, another a mixer, and Rotonda Kebab gave us half a glass of olive oil, etc. We ate all together and celebrated Imaginary Birthday, as we named.
Day 5 - Finance and Administration
Last week my main task was to file SAMA's receipts for the last two quarters. Piles and Piles of receipts - from all of the productions, from all of the hosting of events, from all of the culture trips. MASSES AND MASSES OF RECEIPTS. I did not realise until now how big is SAMA's volume of work based on the expenses and expenditures. I had to sort the receipts by month, then in chronological order within a month, then staple them to the sheets of paper. I am on Stapling Stage for the next 2 of my work days for sure.
Oh, and I also was present during the interview with Tristan for his an internship in 2018. It was interesting to hear why others want to join SAMA. And I met the first group of French people who came to visit SAMA after our debut in Paris, 13ArtFair.
Day 6 - Writing
When I came to talk to Anna at first, she asked me what I enjoy most. I was honest - drawing, surfing net, listening to music, watching computer games and writing. So Anna asked me to write for SAMA blog. I hope you enjoy my stories.
