Rietveld 42nd Birthday Party
A silent protest, please do come!
(Dutch translation below).

Dear friends,

On Monday May 18th, we celebrate the 42nd birthday of the Gerrit Rietveld building (the school was officially opened on May 18th, 1967). To commemorate this event, we would like to adorn the building with a human chain: a festoon (‘slinger’) consisting of people, forming a temporary birthday decoration. A lunch-time party, festive happening and site-specific action, all taking place at the same time.

Gerrit Rietveld designed the building as ‘neutral’ as possible, in order to put the spotlight fully on the art of the students. The typical grey architecture of the building allows for a maximum use of colour. To underline that, we would like to ask you to dress yourself in one colour. Dresscode: monochrome. That way, we can form a human spectrum of colours.

Please come on Monday May 18th, 2009. The event starts at 13:00 hrs. We look forward to your presence. We are meeting in the cantine.
Rietveld Academy, Frederik Roeskestraat 96, 1076 ED Amsterdam

As some of you might know, the Rietveld Academy is in real danger of losing its rightful building. Due to a mix of opportunistic politics and economic interests, there is a big chance that the school will be forced to move out of the building. Don’t let this happen. Sign the petition at http://www.rietveldforrietveld.org/english

Kind regards,
The Rietveld Preservation Society.

P.S.
A loosely related anecdote, purely for inspiration: in October 1967, famous Yippie leader Abbie Hoffman organized a human chain around the Pentagon building in Washington DC. A large group of 50.000 hippies, radicals and self-proclaimed freaks gathered at the Pentagon, to form a human circle. In the words of Hoffman, a pentagon was an occult sign, that could only be neutralized by a circle. The goal of this ‘Exorcism of the Pentagon’ was the levitation of the building through combined psychic energy. Obviously, actual levitation never occurred, but the event sure was a big happening.

P.P.S.
A Dutch translation, for non-English speakers: Beste vrienden, maandag 18 mei vieren we de 42ste verjaardag van het Gerrit Rietveld gebouw. Op 18 mei 1967 werd het gebouw officieel in gebruik genomen. Dit willen we vieren door het gebouw te versieren met een menselijke slinger. Komt allen! Rietveld heeft het gebouw neutraal gehouden om alle kleuren toe te laten. We vragen je daarom om gekleed in één kleur naar het feest te komen. Maandag 18 mei, in de kantine van de Rietveld Academy, aanvang 13.00 uur. Onderteken die petitie hier: http://www.rietveldforrietveld.org/

P.P.P.S.
Some random jpegs, to illustrate this invitation:

Gerrit Rietveld Academy has published their new website with the graduation show 2007. In the new website of Gra it is possible to see all the graduation works of the students with their names, images and contact addresses.

Link: www.rietveldacademie.nl