‘The essence can be found on the edge of the field of vision, just as the city is most clearly defined on its fringe. This demands absent-minded concentration’ (J. Bernlef).The edge of the city was in everybody’s youth an area close to home where you could roam as if in distant climes, where you could cross the frontier between built-up and natural surroundings, filled with excitement. That frayed transition between city and countryside still invites one to wander, to look round with an inquisitive gaze.îTerrain Vague — On the Edge of Amsterdam takes the viewer along the periphery of Amsterdam and shows the unadorned exterior of the city. Along the system of motorways and railway lines are many dormant areas, places where something was once started but never finished, places waiting for a goal. Forgotten spots given a provisional function in many forms by city-dwellers, where they temporarily find space for activities which they cannot enjoy elsewhere. Temporarily. Because repeatedly — and more and more — improvisation has to make way for the order of the advancing city dictated by tape measure and compasses.
