Book
Aldo van den Broek & Boris Tellegen
Tunnel Vision
A one-to-one reproduction in book form of the underground metro route between Amsterdam Centraal and Amstel stations.
- Format
- Paperback with dust jacket
- Size
- 229 × 295 mm
- Extent
- 240 pages
- Published
- September 2024
- ISBN
- 978-90-833493-1-2
- Language
- Dutch and English
- Photography
- Aldo van den Broek, Boris Tellegen
- Essays
- Dumaar Novyork, John Prop, Reaze, Joris van Casteren
- Photo editing
- Geert Jan Mulder
- Design
- UNDOG
- Support
- Mondriaan Fund
About the book
Tunnel Vision is a one-to-one reproduction in book form of the underground metro route between Amsterdam Centraal and Amstel stations. Compared to other cities, it is a mini network; the so-called Oostlijn is only slightly longer than four kilometres as the crow flies.
Despite its modest length, the underground tunnel has proven to be a magnet for graffiti adventurers worldwide. The tunnel was built in the 1970s; the first graffiti appeared in 1984, or perhaps 1983, by writers HIGH (RIP), who wrote REAL at the time, and Prikkeldraadje. Sleuths will find these tags in the book. Since then the walls have grown ever denser with graffiti: the identities of people who went down, under somewhat risky conditions, to express themselves and seek adventure. When the book was made, the tunnel had never been cleaned or repainted by any official body. Much graffiti has disappeared under new layers, but if you look closely, you can still find some of the very first writing. It is the last piece of unpolished Amsterdam.
On a Saturday night, artists Aldo van den Broek and Boris Tellegen walked from Amstel through the tunnel to the end blocks at Centraal Station in about four hours. Every five metres they took a picture, one taking care of the left side, the other the right. At the stations they crept silently along the platform, hoping not to be noticed by the station cameras. They took more than 2,000 photos, going down several times to re-photograph parts of the tunnel. Mounted together, the photos form an image 15 cm high and 12.5 metres long for each stretch between two stations.
Since the first tags, hundreds of people have gone down to leave their names. For contemporary archaeologists, the photos are material to study: which identities can be recognised in the tags and pieces, and what stories can be found about the people behind them? In a wider perspective, the publication unlocks a part of the city that is inaccessible or unnoticed by almost everyone.
With the publication of the book Tunnel Vision (Ruyzdael Publishing), you can view the tunnel quietly, without pressing your face against the glass of the subway carriage windows. With essays by Dumaar Novyork, John Prop, Reaze and Joris van Casteren.
