A Special Project at the Amsterdam Museum: Women of Amsterdam: an ode

The Amsterdam Museum is running an incredible project that I’m absolutely in love with! For their special project, Women of Amsterdam: an ode (Vrouwen van Amsterdam – een ode) , they’ve just launched a new digital platform where anyone can pay tribute to a woman who has made an impact on Amsterdam. For centuries, women have been overlooked in the city’s history, and the museum is trying to give us the chance to help fill in those gaps. Whether it’s through a letter, video, poem, or even a simple photo, you can share the story of a woman who shaped Amsterdam in her own way. Also, a cool thing is that you can write the odes in languages other than Dutch or English, if you’d wish.

The best part? All these odes will be part of the museum’s collection, and they’ll be featured in a big exhibition launching on December 14, 2024. The exhibition was thought to be part of the 750th anniversary of Amsterdam, and it’s not just a one-off thing either—there will also be a book and a podcast series, all centered around these amazing women. This is such a meaningful way to mark Amsterdam’s 750th anniversary, don’t you think?

I personally love the idea because it’s not just about the famous figures we all know. The odes can be about the everyday women who’ve made their mark—whether they’re your grandmother, a teacher, or a local business owner. Imagine the diversity of stories and experiences that will come out of this! It’s a much-needed project that really brings to life the hidden half of Amsterdam’s history. If you have someone in mind, I highly recommend taking part. Your story could become part of the city’s legacy.

Interview with Catherine Wolfs

I talked to Catherine Wolfs, the content leader of the project “Women of Amsterdam – an ode”, and asked her to tell us more about this special endeavour of Amsterdam Museum.

1. What inspired the Amsterdam Museum to focus on highlighting the stories of women in its upcoming exhibition, “Women of Amsterdam: an ode”?

When flipping through books about the history of Amsterdam, one notices how these stories are dominated by men. If women are mentioned at all, it is just as “wife of”, or they are being executed on the pyre for example. But if you think about it, the city would not have been what it is now without the contribution of women. So we decided that, for the 750th birthday of the city, it is high time we brought all these stories about and from women to the light, by asking anyone who wants to participate to make an ode to a women that has been of importance, big or small, to the city. These letters, poems, videos, audios or other files are being collected on an online platform that is the base for an exhibition, podcast and book, where we will dive deeper into the stories of some of the woman.
Also, the Amsterdam Museum has a long history of working with projects that highlight women and their stories, such as Vrouwen van Zuidoost, Vrouwen van Nieuw-West en Vrouwen van Noord.

2. Can you discuss some of the notable women who have significantly contributed to Amsterdam’s history and will be featured in this exhibition

As we strive for multivocality, we want to feature any woman who has contributed to the city in the project and thus the exhibition. From the mayor of Amsterdam to your neighbour who cooks a meal for you every week. Or even your grandmother in Turkey who raised you by certain values by which you now live in Amsterdam deserves an ode.

The exhibition consists of several rooms divided into themes that discuss the impact of women on Amsterdam, such as art (as collector, model, maker), power (in money, politics etc.) and battle (feminism, racism). The other rooms are filled by newly made works of contemporary makers that bring an ode to a woman of their choice through their art.

3. How does the museum plan to gather and filter through the public’s odes to ensure a diverse and representative collection?

This is mainly embedded in gathering: next to regular promotion via the museum’s outlets, we actively go to neighbourhoods where we ask people there to join. We help them tell their story by offering made-to-measure workshops.

In the filtering we work with a diverse team of colleagues that make sure we highlight the untold stories the most, as that is what the museum stands for. Furthermore, we also ask several sounding boards for advice, that consists of persons from the broad network the museum has.

4. How will the museum ensure that these women’s stories are not just told, but understood and appreciated by the visitors?

We offer all kinds of support: tours, audioguides, wall texts and QR-codes for more information on the platform for instance.

5. Can you share about how the most extraordinary contributions will be selected and what forms they may take within the exhibition?

It is not just the extraordinary contributions that will be selected, we strive to have a good representation of all kinds of stories that are brought to the platform. Unfortunately, indeed not every story can make it, but we made a selection of the stories that we think deserve to be told (and should have been told earlier). And also, practically, we looked if we have objects to the tell the story with that make an exhibition pleasant to the eye. That varies from painted portraits from a powerful woman to an extravagant outfit that represents the city for the wearer.

6. What other mediums (like books and podcasts) will be used to promote the exhibition and why were these specifically chosen?

As Women of Amsterdam – an ode is much more than an exhibition, we also made a podcast and there will be a publication later on to be able to tell as much of the women’s stories as possible and dive deep into these histories. Also, a story that is in the podcast does not necessarily be reflected in the exhibition. Together they form the project. All the stories are first collected on the online platform, which is the base for all the other elements such as the podcast and exhibition.

To promote the exhibition a campaign poster has been made that will be seen throughout the city and online.

7. What impact does the museum hope that this exhibition will have on the public’s perception of women’s historical contributions to Amsterdam?

We hope that in the year that the city of Amsterdam celebrates its 750th birthday, the story about the city as it is told will permanently change, that women get their place in history as they deserve. This is important for how we see and treat women in the future.

8. After the exhibition, what will happen to the collected odes?

As soon as an ode is submitted, it will become part of the collection of the museum and thus the collection of the city. The project runs until October 2025 and even after that one can still submit an ode to the platform to enrich our collection and the story of the city.

9. Could the concept of “ode-writing” extend beyond this exhibition and become a regular practice in the museum or in public spaces across Amsterdam?

Yes, as the concept of critical fabulation is strongly connected to this concept, we need this to make the untold stories from any group that has been underrepresented until now visible. Otherwise, nothing will change.

10. Lastly, could you tell us about Amsterdam women who inspired you, personally?

I wrote my ode to Rosa Cohen – Wittgenstein. She was brought to my attention a couple of months ago and after the person told me a few things about her, she concluded her story with: “by the way, she was the founder of the iconic Maison de Bonneterie-shop”. Which made me almost fall of my chair as I am a fashion (history) enthusiast and I did not know a woman founded this shop. So of course I had to write an ode to her.

Thanks Catherine for your answers!

To stay informed about this exhibition, check out Amsterdam Museum’s website and social channels: Instagram, Facebook or TikTok.

The exhibition will take place between 14 December 2024 to Sunday 31 August 2025.

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Don’t forget to check out my photo book: Amsterdam Through the Seasons!