iHet ScheepvaartmuseumOostelijke Eilanden
Vincent Ruijters - Crimson Gilt
An installation of more than a thousand knitted strips in gold and crimson conjures the ghost of the East Indiaman Amsterdam: gold for trade and prosperity, red for colonialism and exploitation.
More in Amsterdam
In Hirado, Japan, Vincent Ruijters hung his knitted ship with the gold side facing visitors and the red at the back, because that is how the VOC is remembered there. In Jakarta he turned it round. Now it hangs in the 1656 storehouse from which the Dutch Admiralty protected overseas trade, and he asks how gold and red should sit here.
The ship is more than a thousand knitted strips in gold and crimson, hung on bamboo in the outline of the East Indiaman Amsterdam, nearly eight metres at its longest. You walk straight through its middle. Gold stands for trade and prosperity, crimson for colonialism and exploitation, and the title plays on gilt and guilt. A soundscape by Yoichi Kamimura, recorded in all three ports, and a video link the stops.
This is one installation in one room, which looks out on the replica Amsterdam moored beside the museum. It is included in the €20 museum ticket (free with a Museumkaart), open daily 10:00 to 17:00.
Look for
The walk through the hull
Walk through the centre of the suspended ship, between walls of gold and crimson knitting, as the light and colour shift around you.
The replica outside the window
Look out from the room at the replica of the 1748 East Indiaman Amsterdam at the museum quay, the ship the knitted hull is modelled on.
The three-port soundscape
Listen for Yoichi Kamimura's soundscape, recorded in Hirado, Jakarta and Amsterdam and woven from natural, human and maritime sounds.
Good for
- An Hour Or Less
- Going Solo
- Rainy Days
Skip if
You want a full exhibition: this is a single installation in one room, with a soundscape and video.
With kids
Under-5s go free and ages 5 to 17 pay €8.50 for the museum ticket, which includes the installation.
Also at Het Scheepvaartmuseum
On now nearby
Nearby
Image credits
9
- Vincent Ruijters - Crimson GiltTwycer
- Hella de Jonge – Dichter bij hun zielCourtesy of Verzetsmuseum Amsterdam (Dutch Resistance Museum)
- Abracadabra: Mysteries from Houdini to Hans KlokJeroen Bont
- Recent Additions to the Collection in the Art GalleryCourtesy of Joods Museum (Jewish Museum, Jewish Cultural Quarter)
- Het ScheepvaartmuseumFernando via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- NEMO Science MuseumElekes Andor, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Verzetsmuseum Amsterdam (Dutch Resistance Museum)A. Bakker / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0
- Joods Museum (Jewish Museum, Jewish Cultural Quarter)S Sepp / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Rembrandt House Museum14:43, 17 October 2006 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0