Through OVER|ONDER|HOUD (MAINTAIN|SUSTAIN), KETTER&Co is creating a monument dedicated to maintenance—a tribute to what often goes unnoticed in a society focused on innovation and progress. This monument honours gardeners and is developed in collaboration with three dedicated gardeners from Amsterdam-Zuid: Nicole de Rop, Claus Schaapman, and Luis Nobre Canha. Their intimate knowledge of and connection to the parks they care for—besides the Amstelpark also Sarphatipark and Vondelpark—is made visible by incorporating their personal insights as annotations within the park landscapes. The result is a monument that captres and shares the gardeners’ philosophies, deep park knowledge, and love for their work in a tangible and sharable way.

The gardeners have their say

In the Amstelpark in various locations you can find three quotes by gardener Claus Schaapman (“het is echt een vallei”/”it’s really like a valley” en “hier kun je je hart ophalen”/ “here you can hear your heart”) en Luis Nobre Canha (“het lijkt wel een sprookje”/ “it seems like a fairytale’)). Made from plant material from the Amstelpark in their own hand writing and then cast in bronze they form small memorials of personal connection to the landscape.

OVER|ONDER|HOUD: the podcast

In December 2025 (exact date to follow shortly), this four-part podcast series will be launched in Amstelpark. These monuments are the outcome of guided walks with the gardeners through the parks they tend. Accompanied by cultural, park, and garden historian Erik de Jong, the gardeners led KETTER&Co to significant, beautiful, and poignant locations. The experiences and insights gained from these walks, as well as the monuments themselves, will be shared with the public via a four-part podcast series of the same name.

Background

This project is a continuation of an exhibition Zone2Source organized in 2017 with Irene Fortuyn, the Garden and the Gardener, bringing into the spotlight several of Amstelpark gardeners and their work.

This inspired a one year long park residency of artist Irene Fortuyn and her collective of Ketter&CO in 2019 and 2020 at Zone2Source under the title Tuinbazen: Making the Commons, in which they explored the role of the gardener as a caretaker, educator and inspirer, asking whether a park can become a communual garden.

OVER/ONDER/HOUD is a more permanent outcome in continuing the effort to make the gardener and maintenance and caretaking work in the city more visible.

To know more:

Ketter&Co website

Watch a TV debate in which Irene Fortuyn and the gardeners talk about the work at Max Vandaag.

Watch an evening event at De Balie.

Listen to the podcast here on Spotify.

This project is made possible with support from the Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, Het Amsterdamsche Fonds, Cultuurfonds, Fonds voor Zuid, Iona Stichting, and Stadsdeel Zuid.

Claus Schaapman, gardener in the Amstelpark, offers the first flower to mayor Femke Halsema. Photo credit: Irene Fortuyn