Today, there is great interest in the 1980s, in its music, fashion and art. As then, a flourishing alternative scene exists in which artists have taken initiative into their own hands and are active in small, temporary locations. Even in W139, now back on the Warmoesstraat, we see a revival of the mentality of ‘making and doing’ that gave the 1980s their colour. Tineke Reijnders sketches a comparison of then and now.