Docklands by 28 year-old Dutch photographer Sem Langendijk is a documentary project that looks at how the unused dock areas of several international cities are being redesigned and repurposed.
In 1997, a group of people looking to create an alternative society squatted an abandoned shipyard in the city’s docklands, giving life to what they described as “a cultural free-haven”.
“They had a mentality towards living together, and pursued the idea of being more free to decide what to do with their time and efforts. On a more practical level, they lived in temporary solutions—structures that could be taken away or deconstructed quite easily. They were aware that residing there without owning the land was a risk. In the twenty years they lived in that shipyard, they became an international known heaven for creativity, festivals and experimental living. All these activities were arranged along the concept of doing everything together.” The community was dismantled by the city of Amsterdam in early 2019.