Content51 photos in full color and 2 fold-out pagesA foreword by Fred Feddes: SLOW CITYWith NOTES ON THE LOCATIONSA MAP with the photo locations and showingthe direction of the camera by Stef van der GaagThe photographs in this book show an Amsterdam that is familiar and strange at the same time. As if by magic, public life had come to a standstill, and city and space could be observed unfiltered.As if by magic, public life has come to a standstill. The streets deserted, the water motionless in the canals, the city’s hum silenced, not a cloud in sight, everything in vivid colours beneath a clear blue sky. The city sees transformed into a theatre just after the performance: the audience gone, the stage deserted. With neither actors nor audience, the city itself claims the leading role. Suddenly, you can stand undisturbed in the middle of an intersection, look around and see the space with new eyes."A mysterious impression of the city – like you never see it, not evenin your imagination, not even in 19th-century photography."HANS AARSMAN, PHOTO DETECTIVEIn the winter of 2020 the city had undergone a historic transformation. As if by magic, public life had come to a standstill. Shops, theaters, and cafes were closed overnight. The streets deserted, the water motionless in the canals, the city’s hum silenced, the city seemed transformed into a theatre just after the performance: the audience gone, the stage deserted and the players disappeared behind the scenes.The city was no longer content with its role as a backdrop for the projection of selfies, but suddenly stepped out of the shadows and boldly claimed the leading role for itself.The first photograph in this book was taken early in the morning on Sunday, 22 March 2020, on Oudekerksplein in the Red Light District; the last, a year later, at dusk on Sunday, 21 March 2021, in Barentszstraat in the Zeeheldenbuurt. Between these two photographs, over the course of a year, the photographer has found his way through Amsterdam, wandering through the city without any preconceived plan and in ever-widening circles around it.The photos are not about the pandemic. The photos show empty streets, canals, and squares as a result of the measures to contain the pandemic. However, the photographer was not so much concerned with the emptiness as with the space of the city, with the urban space, which could suddenly be observed unhindered in its ‘pure form’. The book Amsterdam stills reports on this city in its nakedness in 51 photos, with remarkable observations at the locations in a separate section.As daily life returned to ‘normal’, human traffic once again took over the city, more than ever before. But the emptiness of streets and squares has also made room for a desire for a different, alternative city.