In 2025, Esther Polak and Ivar van Bekkum (PolakVanBekkum) welcomed nine guests to their studio at the blue table, to look back on AmsterdamREALTIME. These were former participants Chris, Merel, Peter and Tessa, and former team members Aske, Jeroen and Tom. Art experts Annet and Noa finally offer an outside perspective.
Chris was one of the few who drew a figure with his route — in his case, a pigeon. Holding his own print brings back the memory. He turned it into a widely listened-to radio item.
Merel is shocked by the simplicity of her route — in her memory, she mapped the whole city single-handedly! The magic of co-creation ultimately wins out over her initial disappointment. She cycles to Amsterdam Zuidoost. Merel's blogpost Kaarten van Amsterdam from that time
Peter, without our realising it, did in fact make a deliberate GPS drawing. For this he collaborated with his passengers, whether they liked it or not. The regular spots where he stopped evoke memories of the taxi life of those days.
Tessa was supposed to fly straight through the street grid in the trauma helicopter, which she worked with as a doctor. Due to unfamiliarity with the technology on the part of the hospital's security department, she had to keep her device on the ground.
Aske handled concept and project management and technical research for Waag Futurelab. He gets to hold the only surviving tracer in his hands, which sparks a cascade of memories.
Jeroen worked as an independent artist in collaboration with Esther. With photos of the space he designed at the Stadsarchief in hand, he looks back with enthusiasm and a touch of wistfulness. He tells us he wanted to give visitors the atmosphere of an airport or hotel lounge.
Tom developed the software and oversaw the technology for Waag Futurelab. He reflects on the privacy issues the project raised at an early stage. He wrote the visualisation in such a way that poor GPS reception became visible as a more blurred line. Technology is allowed to hesitate and fail.
As a curator and researcher, Annet draws the link between AmsterdamREALTIME, land art and performance. She delights in the sensitive line quality of the prints and describes the anger and comfort that location technology can evoke in her.
Noa is a visual artist and artistic director at Drawing Centre Diepenheim. Looking from his born-digital orientation routine, he views these route prints as artefacts from the prehistoric age of satellite navigation.