A few years ago, where this large apartment complex now stands, there was a parking lot. Geuzenveld was built in the 1950s and this area around Lambertus Zijlplein is part of one of the large-scale renovation plans in Amsterdam-West. In addition to replacing and renovating homes, there is more green space and space for recreation, and the paving and lighting have been improved, among other things. The municipality has been renovating the neighborhood for about 15 years. Due to the extensive demolition and construction work, the appearance of this area has already changed drastically. Outdated buildings are making way for new homes intended for more wealthy residents and new facilities. This process of upgrading, called gentrification, also changes the identity of the neighbourhood.
During the 'Find me if you can' street art route in 2016, OakOak painted some concrete blocks that served as a roadblock for cars in the parking lot. He transformed them into the characters from Pac-Man. The classic computer game consists of a yellow gasping face that tries to eat the spheres in the playing field. The playing field is infested by four ghosts in the colours red, pink, light blue and orange. When Pac-Man gets caught by a ghost, he's gone. The coloured blocks provided a cheerful appearance. When the parking lot and blocks had to make way for this new building, the blocks were moved to the corner of the street near the Bastardilla mural. While making this multimedia tour, we received a message that the Pac-Man work was accidentally removed and destroyed during construction. The municipality planned to relocate Pac-Man again so that it could be preserved in the neighbourhood. A case of miscommunication.
