Zand van de Zuidas

A river meandering through the snow-covered peaks of some remote mountain range? How appearances can deceive! On closer inspection, a few clues in the distance (a lamp post, the yellow shed) give away the actual scale of the scene. The ‘mountains’ in the image are in fact just piles of soil excavated at a construction site in the financial district of Amsterdam. Instead of capturing the urban aspects of this newly developed area, Boonstra created a scene reminiscent of the majestic landscapes she likely encountered during her documentary work in distant countries. With Zand van de Zuidas, Marjoleine Boonstra illustrates how an unusual point of view can completely change the scene in front of the camera.

Marjoleine Boonstra created Zand van de Zuidas in 2004 as part of Virtueel Museum Zuidas, a long-term project recording the construction of Amsterdam’s financial district, De Zuidas.