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21/10/2015 / Issue #001 / Text: Ewout Lowie

Alternative

What does ‘alternative’ in Amsterdam Alternative actually mean?

Dear reader of the very first – in the history of mankind – edition of Amsterdam Alternative’s newspaper. It’s great that you read this. It may be the case that you don’t exactly know what Amsterdam Alternative is. That’s all right, we’ll explain it to you: Amsterdam Alternative is a collaboration between ADM, Cinetol, De Ruimte, OCCII, OT301, Plantage Dok, Ruigoord en de Vondelbunker which materializes in a website and the monthly release of a news paper.

As you could infer from the name Amsterdam Alternative, you won’t find all these venues in Bommelewaard or Meppel, but in Amsterdam. The second part of the name might cause some confusion because the meaning of the word “alternative” is not as clearly defined as, for instance, the “welcome” on a “Welcome to Amsterdam” welcoming-sign, which is why we should power up some clarity by throwing it some clarity-crystals.

In order to find out what people consider to be “alternative”, it might be an idea to type the word on Martkplaats (the Dutch ebay).  After a bunch of stuff about alternative medicine, we present you with the first few hits:
“Alternative christmas tree with 1001 options/possibilities” (€20,-)
“Alternative window-opener – this is actually a microphone holder but you could easily open a high single-hung window with it. If the window contains an eyelet, it will even be easier. “(€2,50)
“Suspenders with skull (emo, alternative)” (€4,-)
“Various gothic/alternative corsets/shorts and tops (dragonshirt is size 140)” (PDL*)
From the first two results we gather that “alternative” may denote something that is different than the usual, but shares an identical function (the alternative Christmas tree is little a wooden 3D-Christmas tree located in the corner of the from which, as the end of December nears, will undoubtedly lift the mood). So, an extra option. An extra option is often very convenient: for example, if you are on your way to the South of France with your fully-loaded car and with a cruel twist of fate hit a traffic-jam between Dijon and Lyon. An alternative route could then save you a lot of boredom and misery. However, if everybody else decides to take the alternative route it might still be possible for an elderly Frenchman on his mobility scooter to pass you as he happily waves his baguette, and you could even ask yourself whether it is still an alternative route.

In any case, it’s good to know that there is at least more than one option. It is also good if you can choose from multiple brands of liverwurst in the supermarket, and that there is a veggie alternative for liverwurst (the so-called vegetarian liverwurst. Choice is good, which makes alternatives good. Not having a choice is not good, because then you are forced to choose one option which you might not support.

In the bottom two hits of the search on Martkplaats, ‘alternative’ has more of a cultural meaning, only in a somewhat simplistic fashion. A little like in high-school where you were alternative if you polished your nails black and wore things with skull-prints. After that, the term alternative in the cultural sense became a bit more complicated than ‘things that have to do with emo, gothic, dragons and skulls’. ‘Alternative’ can actually mean anything as long as it isn’t the most standard, widespread and often boring stuff, because that’s where it distinguishes itself from. Take for instance somebody who wears a really beige suit to work every day. Or somebody who, instead of the bicycle, uses the canoe for transport in Amsterdam.   

Maybe, Amsterdam Alternative is a combination of all these meanings. It simply offers an alternative to the offers that are already there: the big, common, ordinary places/venues in Amsterdam that everybody knows, and also probably feature in the Lonely Planet. But it also offers a specific type of cultural things. Amsterdam Alternative offers the experimental, innovative and adventurous; the arts and culture that do not get a place on the standard, giant, commercial stage. And this is everybody’s profit. Because even if you do not line experiments, innovations and adventures, and you always buy the same liverwurst, and you stay put in a traffic-jam on the highway, you have to admit: it’s always good to have an alternative •