IN HOLLAND STAAT EEN FLAT* is a community art project we organized in collaboration with the inhabitants of a housing project in the city of Delft housing over 650 people and situated in a densely populated urban area. The project's long-term aim was to improve the quality of living in the neighborhood by initiating, stimulating and organizing unconventional encounters among the inhabitants. Art and the artists acted as intermediaries in this process. As a means towards this end, we opted for the production, promotion and sale of a jointly made block-calendar for the year 2004. The community could use the calendar’s sales profit to realize collectively established goals such as better playground facilities for the children in the neighborhood and improvement of the green areas around the building. By assisting the inhabitants in achieving goals of their own choosing, the artists hoped to establish a sense of self-empowerment in the community which will outlive the immediate realization of these goals and provide a future basis for better mutual understanding between individuals and cultures.

(*In Holland staat een flat translates rather awkwardly as In Holland stands an apartment building. The title is a variation on an old Dutch nursery rhyme).

sample page from the calendar

THE PROCESS The inhabitants participate by providing material for the calendar. As in any good block-calendar, the material is extremely diverse. The collected material includes photographs, recipes, poems, jokes, personal histories, adventures, children’s drawings, objects relating to private stories, traditional ceremonies, embroidery, works of art, information about various religious practices, favorite websites, secret sight-seeing tips for Delft, jewelry, sayings and more. We have assembled all contributions into an attractively designed calendar, suitable for commercial sale through bookshops, art institutions and kiosks.

THE RESULTS Several thousands of calendars have been printed and distributed to various sales channels. Revenues from the sales amounted to over 5000 euros. All this money has been donated to the newly established Liszt kids club, an initiative set up and run by mothers living in the building. This initiative has been one of the main spin-offs from the project for the inhabitants. It has been so successful, that more kids clubs like this one will be launched in neighboring apartment blocks.

sample page from the calendar

IN HOLLAND STAAT EEN FLAT was part of a larger community arts project organized by several public institutions, who joined forces to improve the quality of life in one of the most densely populated areas of Europe, the neighborhoods Voorhof and Buitenhof in Delft. More info - mostly in Dutch - about these projects can be found here:

In Holland staat een flat had it's own website, where one could order calendars and read up on the production process. Since the project's end, we have stopped updating this web site on it's old address, and have put a mirror site here.

Delftse Kleden - TIP: here you can download a practical brochure (in Dutch) how to org anise your own community art project geared towards women

IN HOLLAND STAAT EEN FLAT was published as number 6 in our Cultuurgoed series.

Other editions in the Cultuurgoed series can be found here:

Edition no. 1 - Edition no. 2 - Edition no. 3 - Edition no. 4 - Edition no. 5