On Friday 23rd of October we released ‘Drift, a new track by Amsterdam based BlackBeach.
BlackBeach is a live electronic 3-piece from Amsterdam. Their sound ranges from space to rave, organic to energetic. Expect rapid beats, melodic synth riffs and extreme modulations, all generated live.
Read more
Listen on Soundcloud // Spotify // Beatport
Rad-Ish #014 – Kickstarting AADE: on ADEV as a movement with Layla Gijsen
In this episode, we dive into the intersection of art and organizing with Layla Gijsen. Layla, aka dj Sjaak, is an Amsterdam based graphic designer, illustrator, dj, and programmer. We walk through what we can expect from ADEV as an alternative to the commercialization of ADE, explore how as an artist Layla navigates the balance of being situated within commercialized and non commodified spaces, and how her art reflects on social structures and struggles.
Listen on:
AA website // Soundcloud // Spotify // Youtube
Now online: Fragmenta #003 - Tatiana Spiewak & Sarah Zechut
Interview with choreographic duo Tatiana Śpiewak & Sarah Zechut about their new performance ‘The upgraded woman’ (March 2026) and their first piece, which they performed in the boiling heat and chaos of the Amsterdam Alternative part of the Ring party on the 21st of June 2025.
Amsterdam Alternative just launched a new video department called Fragmenta.
Check out the Fragmenta page for more info about this project and how to join as a video maker.
Amsterdam Alternative publishes articles about free spaces, gentrification, politics, climate, music, art, housing and other urgent topics. We publish in our bi-monthly free newspaper as well as online.
See all articlesNamenmonument voor gedode kinderen in Gaza voor het eerst in Amsterdam op buitenmuur van Plein Theater. De Wall of Tears van de Amerikaanse kunstenaar Phil Buehler is een gedenkteken voor 18.457 kinderen die in Gaza zijn gedood. De installatie toont de namen van de kinderen in de volgorde waarin zij tussen 7 oktober 2023 en 19 juli 2025 om het leven kwamen. De eerste is Wesam Iyad Mohammed Abu Fsaife, een jongen van veertien. De laatste is Sabah Omar Saad al-Masri, een meisje van acht. Vanaf
Aanstaande zondag (1 maart) vindt een woonprotest plaats in Amsterdam. De demonstratie wordt gehouden op de Dam en is aangekondigd door een brede coalitie van woonactiegroepen, waaronder de Bond Precaire Woonvormen (BPW), de ASVA Studentenvakbond en het Platform Wooncoöperaties Amsterdam (PWA). Volgens de organisatoren is het protest een reactie op het falende woonbeleid en een gebrek aan structurele oplossingen voor de wooncrisis.
Kritiek op woonbeleid en leegstand
In een verklar
Amsterdam, 9 februari 2026 – Vier jaar geleden bedacht een groep creatieve mensen een eigen oplossing voor de woningcrisis: een coöperatief woongebouw in Amsterdam Noord. De Woonwolk werd geboren. Inmiddels is de bouwteamovereenkomst getekend en kan dit jaar de bouw beginnen. Deze mijlpaal is een belangrijke stap in de ontwikkeling van de Woonwolk en het realiseren van de duurzaamste wijk van Europa. Het nieuwe coalitieakkoord laat zien hoe kwetsbaar betaalbare en toegankelijke hui
Amsterdam, 22 januari - Vanaf 1 mei geldt er een verbod op fossiele reclames en vleesreclames in de openbare ruimte en OV-stations in Amsterdam. Dat besloot de gemeenteraad zojuist. Amsterdam is daarmee de eerste hoofdstad ter wereld met een verbod op vleesreclame en fossiele reclame. Het verbod wordt vastgelegd in de Algemene Plaatselijke Verordening (APV) en is een aanscherping van eerder beleid. Het besluit houdt in dat reclame voor onder andere vlees, vliegreizen, cruises en auto'
Amsterdam Alternative has initiated a wide variety of projects since 2015. Some were temporary but most are still running. Check some of the most current projects below or visit the projects page to see a full overview.
See all projectsFrom the 1st of February 2023 Amsterdam Alternative is running the cinema + bar on the second floor of the OT301. The spaces are being used for film & documentary screenings, discussion nights, comedy, music, dance performances, workshops, book launches, podcast recordings and more.
AADE is organised by Amsterdam Alternative since 2018. We started the AADE not as an anti ADE event but to offer an alternative music program that is more affordable, more experimental and far from all the commerce that comes with the big, and most often commercial ADE (Amsterdam Dance Event).
Anderworld is a record label founded in 2026 by Amsterdam Alternative. Not a traditional, hierarchical label, but a cooperative, post-capitalist initiative focused on music, research, and experimentation. Alongside joy and creativity, we stand for collective ownership models, community meaning, hope, and radical imagination.
Sometimes, you sense it. A gesture, a sound, something pulses quietly beneath the surface of the city. A story waiting to be heard. Rad-Ish is a podcast about the silent dreamers, everyday radicals and hidden dissenters who keep the city alive. We seek out the voices of the underground, the pillars of movements that often go unseen yet build the foundation for collective spaces and a desirable future for the many, not the few. On a regular basis we release a short episode where we pull that little red thread that runs through Amsterdam, from the people directly shaping alternative culture to those nurturing it in the background. We're here to pay attention to those who resist the obvious, and talk to those who quietly practice other ways of being.
Thanks to all the talented photographers in the Amsterdam Alternative collective we always have great images in our newspaper and lots of nice photo reports online.
See all photographyThis years ADEV street parade took place in Amsterdam Noord. The parade went from Oostkant Noorderpark (Meeuwenlaan 331) to the IJpromenade (at Eye).
This year, we were reclaiming the streets of Noord, the district where the raw reality of gentrification hits harder than ever. As the historic working-class neighborhood transforms into a playground for expats and real estate investors, true Noorderlings and our cultural safe spaces are being ruthlessly priced out of the city. And our city government? They’d rather cut budgets for the district than invest in its people. While the NDSM wharf turns into an unaffordable and inaccessible amusement park, packed with overpriced ADE parties, unique safe spaces and socio-cultural initiatives like Het Groene Veld, De Modestraat, and Buurthuis de Bol are disappearing. They’re being sacrificed for the profit margins of investors and developers. Together with other action groups and organizations in Noord, we demand that our safe spaces and facilities remain or are given a permanent place in the neighborhood. We won’t let our city be stolen by big money!
Photography: Brian Frank
On Friday 23rd of October during our AADE (Amsterdam Alternative Dance Event). We organised our second Anderworld Records release party to celebrate the release of ‘Drift’ by BlackBeach.
Besides a great live performance by BlackBeach we had performances by Omar Media, Camy Huot, vvvoidangel and Parrish Smith.
Photography by Andrey Budzinauskas
In summer 2026, Amsterdam held its first WorldPride celebration. As the city filled with massive events, tourists, and corporate branding, Café Saarein - one of the city's oldest feminist and queer bars - decided to host a celebration on its own terms. They closed off the street outside their doors and hosted a free, ticketed party: a safe, intentional haven only for the community.
One of the attendees depicted was Marjan Sax, a groundbreaking Dutch feminist lesbian activist and one of Saarein's original founders - the very woman who fought to open this historic women's and queer café back in 1978. All these years later, we are still here: celebrating, protesting, and carrying the torch for the shared cause.
Photographer: @ljuba._.glitzern
(Big thank you to Talisa for making this reportage possible)
Amsterdam Alternative started as a network of solidarity and free newspaper but we’ve alwys had the ambition to create inspiring videos as well. In 2024 we created and published about 50 hrs of video about collective ownership, in 2025 we started a new video department called Fragmenta.
See all videoRed Rebel Brigade symbolises the common blood we share with all species,
That unifies us and makes us one.
As such we move as one, act as one and more importantly feel as one.
We are unity and we empathise with our surroundings, we are forgiving
We are sympathetic and humble, compassionate and understanding,
We divert, distract, delight and inspire the people who watch us,
We illuminate the magic realm beneath the surface of all things and we invite people to enter in, we make a bubble and calm the storm, we are peace in the midst of war.
We are who the people have forgotten to be!
Doug Francisco
Known around the world as the Gangsta Gardener, Ron Finley transforms overlooked spaces in South Los Angeles into gardens, food and community. His garden is living proof that meaningful change can take root right where you live.
Gangsta Gardener explores resilience, revolutionary thinking and the power of community-driven change.
Directed by Miranda Winters and Rocky Romano
Camera: Pablo van Wetten
Audio/music: Peter Rutten
Edit/animation: Ivo Schmetz
Met dank aan/Thanks to:
People: Ad Vlems, Diny
Funding: AFK, Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie
In the Amsterdam Alternative agenda you’ll find the public programming from our participating venues.
See the complete agendaA Lab is Amsterdams een bruisende gemeenschap, broedplaats, werkplek, podium en netwerk in één. Hier vind je een bonte mix van creatieve, innovatieve en sociale ondernemers die samen nieuwe ideeën verkennen en ontwikkelen – in Amsterdam en daarbuiten. Gevestigd in het oud
Volta is hét podium van Amsterdam West. We fungeren als oefenruimte en concertzaal voor jonge bands uit Amsterdam. Volta ligt vlak voor de Spaarndammerbuurt, naast het Westerpark. In de podiumzaal worden door vrijwilligers verschillende avonden georganiseerd, doorgaans met Amsterdamse bands.
GROND, a new art space and collective at the Nieuwe Bajesdorp, centered around collectivity, sustainability, cross-pollination and process-based work. Bajesdorp 20 jaar geleden (2003) werden de leegstaande cipierswoningen van de Bijlmerbajes gekraakt. Toen in 2010 het kraakverbod inging, startte
Mike’s Badhuistheater is the home of English-language theater in Amsterdam. The theater is a friendly welcoming location in Amsterdam Oost for music, dance, theater, parties and meetings. For nearly four decades, the Badhuistheater has brought together performers and audiences fro
Het Fort van Sjakoo verkoopt kritische en opstandige literatuur. We werken alleen met vrijwilligers, zo houden we ook nog wat over om aan andere collectieven weg te geven. We zijn politiek en anarchistisch, maar nemen die thema’s heel breed. Je vindt hier planken als Underground Literatuur, Ge
Since 1998, EHBK has united a diverse, international community that runs the alternative, not-for-profit platform OT301 as a collective, in which housing, work and public functions are combined to contribute to the arts, politics and subculture. EHBK shares knowledge and organizational duties in a
De Nieuwe Meent is a housing cooperative in Amsterdam East structured around the core values of commoning, care, diversity, and sustainability. The development of De Nieuwe Meent began in 2018 as part of the housing cooperative pilot in Amsterdam with the aim to shape 'a post-capitalist urban co
In 1993 werden twee naast elkaar gelegen leegstaande scholen in Oud-West gekraakt. In 2005 werd gebouw Kostgewonnen gekocht door Vereniging Kostgangers, waarvan alle huurders lid zijn. Na de aankoop hebben de leden van de vereniging de twee gebouwen samengevoegd, heringedeeld en grondig gerenoveerd.
If you want to be kept up to date about Amsterdam Alternative projects then please subscribe to our email newsletter.
We will not spam you with lots of emails and we will not share or sell your contact details to other organisations.
Email:
General: info(at)amsterdamalternative.nl
Editorial: redactie(at)amsterdamalternative.nl
Advertise: advertentie(at)amsterdamalternative.nl
Music reviews: music(at)amsterdamalternative.nl
Book reviews: books(at)amsterdamalternative.nl
Collective Ownership: collectiefeigendom(at)amsterdamalterantive.nl
Fragmenta: fragmenta(at)amsterdamalternative.nl
Ventilator Cinema: ventilatorcinema(at)gmail.com
Vrij Beton: vrijbeton(at)amsterdamalternative.nl
Collectief Eigendom: collectiefeigendom(at)amsterdamalternative.nl
Postal Address:
Wenslauerstraat 16-2
1053BA Amsterdam
Press
If interested in an interview or presentation about Amsterdam Alternative, Vrij Beton, Collective Ownership or another AA project please contact info(at)amsterdamalternative.nl.