Steve Korver » Amsterdam Weekly

Unfold Amsterdam Hits the Streets

stevekor — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 13:25:44 +0000

Unfold Amsterdam has officially hit the streets. Every two weeks, Amsterdammers will be able to pick upÂ this free English-language poster/mag highlighting the work of local artists/designers and covering the best of whatâ€™s going down around town. Hopefully it will fill the gap left since the demise ofÂ alternative weekly Amsterdam Weekly. In fact, Unfold Amsterdam arises from the luminous efforts of some of the more luminary ex-Weekly staff and freelancers. So I dig it indeed. Especially this editionâ€™s poster by Simon Wald-Lasowski. So check, check, check it out — or at leastÂ put your finger on the pulseÂ by checking regularlyÂ at their sweet-looking website.

Also keep your eyes out for the Unfold special edition covering the mighty Klik Amsterdam animation festival coming up on 15-19 September.

Unfolding Election

stevekor — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 10:53:11 +0000

For those who want a, um, concise view on the national Dutch elections, my pal Floris Dogterom is writing a series of reports on the still very-BETA website of Unfold Amsterdam. This web/paperÂ publication is a very welcome endeavour to fill the void left by Amsterdam Weekly’s demise and includes a lot of Weekly alumni. They won’t be truely kicking off until 1 September but meanwhile the website already features a savvy choice of what’s going down in town. Check it out! It will rule! Support!

San Francisco Panorama

stevekor — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 11:28:59 +0000

Yesterday I bought a Sunday paper that should last me quite a few Sundays. Itâ€™s the one-off San Francisco Panorama brought to you by the always inspired folks behind McSweeneyâ€™s Quarterly Concern. Itâ€™s pretty old already but I think it took until their third run until there were enough copies leftover to make it to Amsterdamâ€™s Athenaeum. (But I guess I could have also just ordered it here.)

Anyway, itâ€™s pretty mindblowing. Basically they wanted to present the relevance a paper newspaper can still have in our internet world: so itâ€™s all in-depth journalism by amazing writers complete with high quality art, photography and design. They even give a run-down of the budget to inspire others to come up with their own daily newspaper. It actually comes across as a cross between a (really really nice) Sunday paper and aÂ (really really nice) alternative weekly. And certainly, if I was still the editor of an alternative weekly, Iâ€™d definitely steal — I mean, get inspired by — some of their ideas. It’s really, really that great. Gotta bless those paper products!

PRESENTeert

stevekor — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:01:08 +0000

The fine artiste Aquil Copier, friend and cherished ex-Weekly collegue, has just startedÂ a pamphlet about painting: PRESENTeert.

Track down a copy (he’ll even send you one…) and check it out.

I interviewed the artistÂ Pieter Paul Pothoven who has just returned from the caves of Afghanistan where he visited the minesÂ supplying theÂ Lapis LazuliÂ that formed the basis for Vermeer’s blue. What a story!Â And a story I will probably post here once the hard copies run out…

Klik Animation

stevekor — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 07:08:44 +0000

Animation fans should definitely check out the Klik Amsterdam film festival that is taking place 17-20 September. One of the organisers Luuk van Huet wasÂ a writer for Amsterdam Weekly, and as such I sometimes had to workÂ to calm his smartass tendencies (my older friends will recognise the absurdity of such a situation). It’s the festival’sÂ third edition and is screaming with ambition.Â A related exhibition, Animation Chiellerie, has already opened with prints and animations by the inspired locals likes ofÂ Erik Kriek,Â Lamelos, Martin Draax and Jeroen Blankert…

Under Construction

admin — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 18:45:58 +0000

But meanwhileâ€¦

Bio:

After years of travel subsidised by carpentry and B-movie acting, writer Steve Korver came to Amsterdam in 1991 to reverse the journey his parents made as immigrants to Canada. Soon he was a columnist, copywriter, editor/writer of guide books, and contributor to the likes of New York Times, Guardian, Time Out, McSweeneyâ€™s Quarterly, CondÃ© Nast Traveller and The Globe & Mail on such subjects as food/drink, design/architecture, Yuri Gagarin, Serbian gangster kitsch and all-things-Amsterdam. He finally got his first real job in 2005 as editor-in-chief of the cultural paper Amsterdam Weekly. But after 175 issues and 14 European Newspaper Awards, it was time to return to his freewheeling and freelancing writing roots. OK, butÂ first maybe a vacation is a good ideaâ€¦

Recent samples:

The New York Times magazine feature â€˜Holland Daysâ€™.
The Guardian article â€˜Streets Aheadâ€™.