23 May 2025
AM Late: Women of Amsterdam
Stories woven through time and tradition
23 May 2025
Amsterdam Museum on the AmstelIntergenerational storytelling
On Friday May 23rd from 7.30 to 10.00 PM, you are welcome at the Amsterdam Museum for the special evening opening 'AM Late - Women of Amsterdam'. This evening focuses on the theme of intergenerational storytelling. Surprise and inspire yourself by a broad program full of different elements such as guided tours, performances, workshops and conversations with makers and thinkers.
Price: €0,00 - €7,50
Language: Dutch
Evening program
- 19.30 to 19.45 | Launch mini-expo Gaite Jansen
- 19.45 to 20.30 | Gossip Session Bloody Beautiful
- 20.45 to 21.00 | Round 1 preview performance Dilan Yurdakul
- 21.00 to 21.25 | Artist talk with Mina Abouzahra
- 21.35 to 21.50 | Round 2 preview performance Dilan Yurdakul
- During the evening:
19.45 to 21.30 (30 minutes, starts every 15 minutes) | Guided tours
19.30 to 21.30 | Creative Workshop
19.45, 20.15, 20.45 and at 21.45 | Ode recitals
Scroll down for more information. Please note: the program is in Dutch.
Launch mini-expo Gaite Jansen
We open the evening with the launch of a new mini-expo featuring the fifth and final Girls On Top creator: Gaite Jansen. Gaite is an actress, writer and creator. From a young age she has performed (leading) roles in Dutch films and series.
For Girls On Top, she is showing a new immersive experience about rebirth and transformation, titled: How You Were Never Born. In this work, we follow the inner journey of a woman who gives birth - but not to a child. She gives birth to herself anew. In an intimate and spiritual narrative, she tries to explain to her unborn daughter how, through nature and the deep-seated power of feminine energy, she comes ever closer to herself.
About Girls On Top
For the exhibition Women of Amsterdam - an ode, young Amsterdam makers explore roles around gender, identity and feminism from different perspectives. Under the name Girls On Top, they will show their work in pop-up exhibitions at Studio Panorama. In doing so, we provide a platform for the voices of a new generation.
Time: 19.30 to 19.45
Language: Dutch
Gossip Session - Bloody Beautiful
Why is menstruation still such a taboo subject when it affects millions of people? Bloody Beautiful, a movement organized by the creative studio Affect Lab, wants to change that. That's why they are organizing an interactive Gossip Session in collaboration with Debra Knoop. Debra researched an archive of letters sent to Elly Brink by women in the 1970s after she put out a call to share their experiences with menstruation. During this session, four of these letters will be read aloud. The audience is invited to respond and share their own stories. Together, we will break the taboo and create space for new perspectives on menstruation.
Time: 19.45 to 20.30
Language: Dutch
Dilan Yurdakul – De Stille Vrouw
Actress, writer and playwright Dilan Yurdakul offers an exclusive preview of her new play, which will be seen in Dutch theaters starting January 2026. Dilan, known for her solo performances with Likeminds and her role in the motion picture De Jacht op Meral Ö, brings a radical honesty to the stage that both moves and confronts. In this new performance, Dilan gives a voice to her grandmothers, women from the first generation of women migrants, and asks what she still carries with her from these women and what she herself will pass on.
Times: Round 1: 20.45 to 21.00 | Round 2: 21.35 to 21.50
Language: Dutch
Artist Talk – with Mina Abouzahra
During this artist talk, designer Mina Abouzahra (pictured left) will discuss her work in the exhibition Women of Amsterdam - an ode. Together with moderator Dymphie Braun they will explore the themes central to her work: connection, transference, female heritage and the importance of craft.
Abouzahra's installation 1.5 Women is an ode to strong women and includes a tapestry she made with Amazigh women from a Moroccan weaving cooperative. Each tapestry is unique and tells a story in color and pattern - messages that connect generations of women. The work celebrates the weaving craft and makes tangible how this tradition lives on, even in the present.
Be inspired by Mina's perspective on identity, heritage and design, and discover how the personal and the political come together in textiles, form and story.
Time: 21.00 to 21.25
Language: Dutch
Workshop Make an ode - Silhouette of Amsterdam
Women often don't get the recognition they deserve in history. During AM Late, we invite you to change this. Throughout the evening program, there will be the opportunity to create a silhouette ode, a creative representation of a woman who has meaning to you. Walk by, join us and bring her story to life in shapes and images, rather than just words. Contribute to a collective work that enriches the story of Amsterdam.
Time: Continious from 19.30 to 21.30
Language: Dutch
Guided tours
Take part in several tours of the exhibition Women of Amsterdam - an ode. In the exhibition you will meet more than 100 women! From inspiring artists to influential entrepreneurs, from tireless activists to dedicated key figures in working-class neighborhoods. In the museum rooms there are recitals by ode-makers, discover the stories.
Time: 19.45 to 21.30 (duration of 30 minutes, starts every 15 minutes)
Language: Dutch
On the soapbox! - Ode recitals by writers
At various times during the evening, an ode will be heard from the soapbox. Writers recite their texts - personal, powerful, moving or sharp - in the middle of the exhibition. Have you just written an ode yourself and want to share your words? Get on the soapbox, grab the microphone, and let your voice be heard.
Among others with Alejandra Ortiz, more names will follow soon.
Times: 19.45, 20.15, 20.45 and 21.45 (blocks of 15 minutes)
Language: Dutch
About the theme
The sharing of stories between different generations is called intergenerational storytelling. For example, the anecdotes and stories grandparents pass on to their grandchildren, the life lessons parents pass on to their children, or where communities tell stories that transcend age groups.
Intergenerational storytelling connects generations and helps make sense of historical and cultural context. But it also helps preserve traditions and arouses feelings of empathy. By sharing stories, people can not only learn about the past, but also reflect on the present and draw possible lessons for the future.
About the exhibition
In the exhibition, visitors are introduced to more than a hundred women who have left their mark on the city over the centuries, from inspiring artists to influential entrepreneurs, and from tireless activists to dedicated figures in working-class neighborhoods. Women who have each contributed or meant something to the city of Amsterdam and its inhabitants are thrust into the spotlight, whether through an object from the collection or a personal item on loan. Their story, and why they mattered, is told.
Contemporary artists
Ten artists and designers were asked by the Amsterdam Museum to create a new work for the exhibition. Mina Abouzahra, Tyna Adebowale, Danielle Alhassid, Mounira Al Solh, Yamuna Forzani and Céline Hurka, Jan Hoek and Duran Lantink, Çiğdem Yüksel, Charlott Markus, Sarah van Sonsbeeck, Studio L A, Hedy Tjin They drew inspiration from women who made an impact on them, and therefore on Amsterdam.