The following article is the full, unedited text of Mark Weidin's cover story for Amsterdam Weekly published in September 2005.

ARE OT301'S BREEDING DAYS OVER?

Amsterdam's formative squat and cultural centre faces an uncertain future. At the end of the month, the lease runs out for the OT301, and looming in the air are potentially big rent hikes, smells of third-party investors, and questions over the sub-culture's future. So take a quick walk through the OT - it may not be there much longer...

In front stands the large, familiar steel door on the street-side entrance, now propped open daily for the regular stream of artists and patrons who flow in and out. Above that door is where many of the artists live, and beyond it, where most of them work. You walk through a short alley that opens up into a large brick courtyard. One of the girls from the print shop stretches out in a piece of sunlight that made its way through the trees. "Hello", she smiles, and rolls over onto her stomach.

In front of you stands the main building, and inside, artists are bustling about, working on any number of things, all dictated by inspiration and intuition, rather than rules and plans. Off in a dark corner, a guy with blondish dreads takes a break from his work to fix a broken door lock. Laughter comes billowing out of the organic/vegan cafe, De Peper. And the sound of your footsteps echoes in the halls, as you climb the large concrete stairs to the third floor. There, in the sun drenched Cinema Bar, sits the Scottish musician Colin McLean, with smiling eyes and a calm demeanor. "Can I pour you a cup of coffee? I just made a fresh pot."

"Yes please. How are the negotiations coming?"

"Well, the situation at the moment is still a bit unclear." Colin is one of the original squatters at the OT. He, along with Alex Fischer, and several others who are known as Eerste Hulp Bij Kunst (First Aid For Art) squatted the former film academy in 1999. Then, after 2 years of negotiations with the owners, Stadsdeel Oud West, they became legal renters in 2001. But, with the contract set to run out at the end of the month, theres a feeling of uncertainty in the air.

"Well, I dont see any real danger in us getting kicked out the 1st of October." Colin speaks slowly and thoughtfully, as steam rises from his coffee. ""I'm confident enough that we'll be staying here in much the same way as we are, just because of the amount of stuff that goes on here and the amount of people that are connected to it, we do have some power."

As he talks, resident Peter Rutten, who makes up half of the terror-beat duo, Rotten + Bogoman, takes a break to sit outside on the balcony, soaking up the sun and dreaming of bigger and bigger, and BIGGER beats.

Below us, on the first floor, Martijn Rood oversees a bookbinding class in the warm, encouraging environment of his printing workshop, Stichting Grafische Werkplaats Fijnhout. And down the hall, Bob Schoo squints at his computer screen, as he reaches the midway point of another 16-hour session, writing code for the new website of a local artist.

Down on the ground floor, Rietveld graduates Tamuna Chabashuili and Adi Hollander speak softly under cigarette smoke, as they meet with an older artist who is interested in presenting his work in their Public Space with a Roof gallery. And that laughter coming from De Peper is the jolly American resident, Richard Williams, who's crunching numbers and making sure the OT stays out of the red.

All of this was on one of the last days in August, when the building was still closed for the summer break. By the time this article is printed, the OT will be back in full force, with 20 25 nights booked monthly for live music, film screenings, modern dance, art installations. Basically, any idea that seems interesting and fits the space as long as its non-profit is always considered. And any extra money that comes in is always put back into the building.

"We're always trying to get better sound equipment, better video equipment. There's always repairs that need to be made", Colin explains. "You probably saw Alex downstairs replacing one of the door locks. He's really good about doing general repairs. He's like the glue that holds this building together."

And beyond the glue, this sculptor/video artist seems to make the magic that keeps the building alive. You can see this in his eyes, but more so in the eyes of others when they talk about him. One friend said that he seems to artistically transform whatever he touches, be it a video screen or a tree-trunk, or a whole building. In fact, the OT's warm spacious Cinema Bar is mostly his doing - an impressive feat, considering it was once completely full of ventilation equipment.

And if Alex is the Magician, then Colin is the Old Master. Though, still very young at 48, as the elder member of the group, he takes on most of the bigger responsibilities, like concert programming, financial administration, and web publicity. But underneath it all is his drive as a musician: regularly improvising electronic music for dance productions, mastering records for local labels, and picking up his bass guitar now and then to play with The Ex.

And of course, there are many more artists and groups that work there, so if you want to meet them, show up on 29 September, at 17.00, where theyll be handing out their new CD, DVD, and Book, which covers all the history and details of everything that goes on inside the OT301. Also expected are several guest speakers, talking about the cultural importance of sub-cultural places.

History and Negotiations

When Eerste Hulp Bij Kunst [EHBK] first squatted the former film academy building in 1999, it was in very bad shape. The original plan of the local council, Stadsdeel Oud West, was to let it rot for a few years, then knock it down to build a bicycle path.

"Yeah, it was a really crazy idea. They budgeted it at something like 8 million euros, and everybody in the neighborhood was against it, particularly because theres a good bicycle path 50 meters down the road." Colin glances out the window. "You can see it from here."

Naturally, it wasn't hard for EHBK to come up with a better plan for the building. And after only one year of presenting non-commercial art and music there, the Project Management Bureau of Amsterdam named the OT301 a breeding place for artists. And Broedplaats Amsterdam, a new project started by the city to fund sub-cultural initiatives, granted them 770,000 euro for fire-safety repairs, and wind and water-resistant renovations.

With this support from the city, the artists of EHBK went from squatters to legal renters, and were given a 4-year rental contract from Stadsdeel at a low price. These minimal costs were important for cultivating an environment where artists could grow and experiment without commercial interference. It also enabled them to keep ticket prices down, and provide low-cost in-house services, like printing, web-design, video production, and audio mastering, all aimed at artists and non-profit groups.

But the new lease that Stadsdeel recently offered them has rental costs at over twice the previous rate. This was not something the OT people were willing to accept, and negotiations are still going. Eric Wuthrich has been heading up much of the talks recently.

"They made an estimation on their costs of maintaining the building", Eric explains, "and that's where the new rental price comes from. But were not convinced that the costs are that high, and we've been disappointed with how they handled our money in the past."

This disappointment began in 2001, after Broedplaats Amsterdam handed over the 770,000 for renovations. Because of the city council's legal responsibility over the building, Stadsdeel was fully in charge of overseeing how the money was spent.

But, after a year, the building was still not up to fire safety standards, and they were forced to shut down all public facilities in November of 2002. The OT remained closed until the spring of 2004, while they waited for renovations to be completed.

Jaap Schoufour, project manager of Broedplaats Amsterdam, [the guy who decided to hand over 770,000 to OT, and something like 30 million to other sub-cultural groups] does not blame Stadsdeel for the lengthy renovations. "Naturally, being shut down for two years was annoying for EHBK. But you must understand, it was not just a matter of drawing the plans, making calculations, and then just doing it. Rather, it was agreed from the beginning, that EHBK would have a role in the process as well. That was a fantastic ambition, but a highly unusual way of working, especially for Stadsdeel."

"Remember", Jaap continues, "they're good people [in Stadsdeel], conscious of their work, and they do it in a certain way - always in a certain way. And then comes a totally new approach with a totally different group of people from a very different culture. So in that time of renovation, theres a kind of culture shock that should be included. And seeing the results afterwards, I dont think it was that bad."

Regardless, the artists at the OT now have their eye on buying the building and managing it themselves. "First, we obviously need to get a new rental contract with rates as low as possible", Eric explains. "And somewhere on it should be an article that says we have exclusive first rights to buy. We havent seen that yet. And some people believe its because Stadsdeel is looking to sell to a third-party investor."

These suspicions began in early August, when a man showed up at the OT asking to have a look around. They asked him what his business was and he said he was sent by Stadsdeel Oud West, but wasn't prepared to explain the purpose of his visit. He was asked to leave, which he did, and they haven't seen him since.

"We really don't know what that was all about", Colin explains, "but given our somewhat precarious situation at the moment, it's not surprising that there's speculation that Stadsdeel may be dealing with others behind our back."

But Stadsdeel spokesperson, Patricia Weijer, said on a phone interview that they currently have no intentions of selling the building to anyone. And when more detailed questions were asked, it was explained that, under obligations of Dutch law, government institutions are not allowed to release information until the negotiations are complete. [They did, however, say that their relationship with the party at the former film academy is good.]

And Jaap Schoufour, who's done more work than anybody to insure sub-cultural life here, seems confident that things will work out in the end. And if not?

He laughs, "I'll start shooting people."

But as it stands right now, things are still somewhat vague, and everyone is certain that nothing will be settled on the 1st of October. But one thing is clear, the crew at the OT will keep on rockin as they always have.

And Colin takes a sip from his steaming coffee. "Can I offer you another cup?"

Sure man. It feels good just sitting in this place.