(Above) Former brothels are becoming the centres for some of the best new art in Amsterdam
Sitting in the decadent boudoir of Metje Blaak, a former prostitute and current "press adviser" of a call-girl support group, is nothing if not a surreal experience.
Her room is crammed with kooky artefacts, littered with several fancy dress shops full of costumes, whips and toys, and Blaak herself is wearing an outfit so overtly sexual it would probably make Prince think twice before donning it.
The fact that the pensioner is reflecting on a blockbuster life of sin and salaciousness while lazing on the bed where some of it took place would be weird enough without doing it as part of a trip organised by the National Gallery.
Blaak knows more than most about the world depicted in The Hoerengracht, Ed and Nancy Kienholz's sensuous walkthrough tableau of brothel windows which is taking over a room at the Gallery.
Ed and Nancy Kienholz's installation at The National Gallery is bringing a disappearing part of Dutch culture to London
We've seen part of this amazing installation being attended to by workmen in a warehouse several miles away, where Colin Wiggins – the thoughtful, witty curator of the show – pored feverishly over the intricate details of a creation so eerily life-like it could have been the scene of one of Blaak's myriad of stories.
"This man was depressed because his girlfriend had gone away, so I went to visit him at his home," she casually recalls. "He had an axe. I ran off."
What about when they visited her? "I had a bag with a stone under my bed, so if anyone tried to strangle me I had that to protect myself with."
The handbag-sized dog she is stroking once bit a suspicious visitor, but some of Blaak's peers have been less lucky. Earlier this year, a 19-year-old became the 13th Amsterdam prostitute to be murdered since 1990.
In early 2009 a teenage girl became the 13th prostitute to have been recorded as murdered in Amsterdam since 1990
"There are different stories…they never caught the guy," she says.
"There was a silent walk a few days after she was murdered, but the cremation later was sadder. There were no friends there, just police and social workers."
These are transitional times in the Dutch capital. The Hoerengracht is a vision which could be about to disappear forever, as peepshows and poppers are replaced by culture and commerce.
"We're not trying to outlaw prostitution," claims Arjen Hoogeveen, a Project Manager for 1012, the scheme investing billions of Euros into buying properties and attracting business to the postcode area it takes its name from.
"There is a criminal infrastructure here we really do have to tackle. Last year 120 women were forced to work behind windows. It will always exist, but we want to regulate it, so we legalised it and issued a permit system."
Rooms which were once known for showcasing showgirls are now displaying fashion and art
Hoogeveen and his colleagues can spin a few stories of their own – theirs are tales of Turkish gangs beating girls with baseball bats and submerging them in ice water to obscure their scars, or Mafia bosses using their neon architectural assets as headquarters.
They estimate the 220 city coffee shops bring in between 50 and 70 million Euros every year, which is likely to be a drop in the canal compared to the lucrative prospect of high-profile shops.
"We want to open up the Red Light District," he says, proposing a red carpet from the station leading to Harrods and Hugo Boss.
"When we talk to the police they say there are still a lot of robberies and violence. At the end of 2002 we decided to do something. The aim is to keep it exciting – it won't become Walt Disney, it won't get gentrified.
"The sex, drugs and rock and roll side of it should stay, but the idea is to restore the balance."
The spaces have been offered to arts groups at reduced prices
They want to get rid of 40% of the 462 brothels, restricting them to two specific zones, and they've bought 110 windows in the past year and a half.
"We're trying to make it more transparent," says Hoogeveen. "They came to us and said, 'we want to sell.'"
In The Hoerengracht, images of prostitution from centuries of Dutch painting spark the imagination, but now the use of the buildings has also turned to art.
Where you'd normally expect a bored-looking provocateur to return your glance into lit windows, these days the waifs are as likely to be mannequins modelling designs by companies with names like Red Light Fashion.
Laurence Aëgerter, a Marseille artist working out of one former brothel, has been given her narrow new space until the end of November.
A young performance artist, she's turned it into a Turkish snack bar, agnostic temple and public swimming pool in separate exhibitions.
French artist Laurence Aëgerter works from a former brothel
"It's a bit of a scary space," she admits. "They give you a pot of money and say, 'do something'. I have total freedom."
The locals haven't always reacted well, and she's occasionally mistaken for her predecessor.
"There are a lot of lunatics walking around. They come up to you and say 'you f****** whore, you slept with my brother.' They challenge me as a woman with their masculinity, instead of being happy I can put on a show here.
"That is what happens when you do this – in the back of their minds they have the history of the space."
She had to spend two months clearing the makeshift apartment out. "Dutch people are fantastic. They're very socially open," she adds, qualifying her fears."I don't think I could make this work in France."
She is less warm towards her landlords. "They are really not social, I can say that for sure. They ask us for rent even though we give them free marketing. The money is quite a lot for me. They say they are interested in art, but it's just a façade."
The 1012 Project is aiming to dramatically cut the number of adult entertainment sites in Amsterdam
Jan Broers, chairman of the Association of Windowbrothels, is unsympathetic. He started renting rooms out in 1986, and sells windows to girls for up to 150 Euros a night.
"The fashion designers didn’t pay rent for more than a year," he protests, claiming his rooms are "homely" for the girls, half of whom are Dutch.
"They choose to work this way. They have a special number for the police, who can be here in a minute if they press the alarm."
Broers laughs off 1012's attempts to link brothel owners with organised crime. "He was never convicted," he says, discussing one notorious owner accused of money laundering.
"They wanted to close him down but, when they realised they couldn't, they offered him a lot of money. He bought houses and did them up – they were good places to work."
Broers reckons 75% of Amsterdammers have no issue with the industry. "Why's the government so hard on pimps? These girls have had hard lives in places like Bulgaria and Romania," he suggests.
"If they're over 18 they can work. They make more money than I do. They always spend it, though – they might take their boyfriend on holiday or buy a car."
The pull of the show lies in pondering the lives which lurk behind the lights, which is part of the problem for Broers.
"The Labour party says there's criminality and people trafficking, and we can't prove otherwise," he concedes. "It cost them 25 million Euros to buy 17 houses.
"I don't sell to my enemy – nobody can buy me. In my bones I'm against them. I'll fight them 'til the end."
Kienholz runs at the National Gallery from November 18 2009 until February 21 2010. Visit our picture preview of the show, or keep an eye on Culture24 for exclusive insights from Curator Colin Wiggins, videos and a review of the show this week.
