Beurspassage Amsterdam (Stock Exchange Arcade)
Thousands of people walk through it every day. Most don't notice they are inside an artwork. The Beurspassage on the Damrak is a public shortcut — but step in, and every surface has been transformed. Ceiling, walls, and floor are treated as a single composition: over one million Italian glass mosaic tiles overhead, terrazzo underfoot, gold-leaf tiles lining the walls, stained-glass objects and gilded chandeliers suspended above.
The proportions are those of a small cathedral: 8 metres high, 4.5 metres wide, running between two of Amsterdam's busiest shopping streets. The theme is the city's creation myth — Amsterdam rising from water, the canals as primordial soup from which all life and culture emerge. Fish, fauna, city history, and the textures of the IJ all fold into the imagery. The passage follows the line of a medieval alley from 1416, one of the oldest pedestrian routes in the city centre.
The chandeliers are made from recycled bicycle parts — gilded and hung like baroque fixtures, a nod to Amsterdam's cycling culture. On one wall, a fish mouth dispenses bottles of Amsterdam tap water labelled "Tolerance Elixir." A collaboration with Iris Roskam and Hans van Bentem.
📍 Beurspassage, 1012 LM Amsterdam
