Gewoon Koffie aka 'Just Coffee'

Photography
2015

In recent years, Amsterdam has transformed from a city for locals into a hotspot for tourists. Traditional shops and cafés made way for international flagship stores and trendy bars. This transformation is not unique to Amsterdam, but traditional coffee houses that once occupied every street corner are quickly disappearing from the city. The coffeehouses used to be inseparable from the lifestyle of the city, but a new generation of coffee drinkers prefers hip boutiques and exotic coffee drinks.

The disappearing can’t be stopped, times have changed. This project shows the last standing coffeehouses of Amsterdam. To preserve their special character, the twenty five photographs were printed in a traditional darkroom using coffee from the actual coffeehouses to develop the images. The paper was stained with coffee, and it has given the photographs a unique character…and of course the smell of fresh coffee.

Gewoon Koffie is a series of 25 handprinted photographs of Coffeehouses in amsterdam. The prints are made in darkroom with a special recipe developer based on coffee (cafenol). The work was presented in full at VolksHotel in 2015 as a solo exhibition thanks to a supporters of a crowdfunding campaign on voordekunst.

It was presented again in 2019 at Photoville Brooklyn, NYC as 'The New Amsterdam Coffeehouse'. Generously supported by Photoville, DutchCultureUSA and the Dutch embassy in New York.