Two creative doers
Meet Max and Kiek, two creative doers who have brought together their passion for community-building, art, and activism in the beach house at Het Groene Veld. After their previous community space on the Zuiderzeeweg had to make way for demolition, they found a new place here to build a “neighborhood living room” and creative free space.
board game night
Max, 28, has a background as a cultural strategist at the advertising agency ACE, where for two years he focused on authenticity and inclusive communication for diverse audiences. After taking a break, he has now resumed his studies in Illustration/Design at HKU. In the beach hut, he focuses on creating a place where the question “what do I need?” takes center stage, rather than “how should I do it?”
His biggest project at the moment is the Friday board game night, where he is building a community around a specific tabletop wargame set in a First World War setting. Because this game hardly exists in physical form, Max uses a 3D printer to create miniatures and, together with others, builds trenches and landscapes from styrofoam, paint, and sand. With this, he aims to offer the first place in the Netherlands where this game can be played and developed physically.
The Feminist Library
Kiek, 27, recently graduated from a research master’s in Gender Studies and brings an activist perspective to the space. She founded the feminist library, which is open every Sunday. For Kiek, feminism is a broad struggle for freedom, connected to anti-capitalism, anti-racism, and climate justice. Visitors can read or borrow books here in exchange for a small deposit.
Kiek emphasizes that the library and the fight for equality are open to everyone, including men. Her academic background closely aligns with her practice; she wrote her thesis on the criminalization of pro-Palestinian activism and now aspires to a job in which she can further deepen her engagement with class struggle and equality.
Accessible living room
Together with their partners Thomas and Branco, Max and Kiek run the space as an accessible living room for creativity. They describe the atmosphere at Het Groene Veld as an alternative free culture where people help and inspire one another. The offering is donation-based, making it an affordable alternative to the expensive hospitality venues in the city.
Although running the space comes with challenges—such as finding the right balance between autonomy and structure for the diverse participants—Max and Kiek remain driven. They aim to provide a stable foundation for education and action, where various autonomous groups and makers can come together to dream and create.
