The Hotstepper's Blog

In my post from September 18, Murals in Rotterdam (http://wp.me/sunIp-murals), I promised to search for old photos of murals or graffitis in Rotterdam. Here is an example of an unauthorized stencil graffiti that is actually still there! Although most graffitis are quickly removed, this little bunny survived the city’s ‘war on graffiti’ almost 4 years! I took the photo in November 2005 and I checked this weekend: it’s still there. Hurray for the little rabbit! I hope it will stay with us for a long time. I’m defintely going to check on it every now and then.

It had been a while since I’d been to Borgo d’Aneto. After weeks of run down tests, they have actually started their weekly Friday night, dinner night. After having some nice tapas in the last rays of sun in front of the Trattoria, we went inside to discover that, in fact tonight would be the first night with a new cook.

What a night for a first time… The place was packed, every table filled. Although this wasn’t a test night, the cook still passed cum laude. It’s been a while since the both of us had tasted a pasta so well al dente in a restaurant. Bravo!

After finishing dinner we had a couple of beers with some friends, who had also made their way to the trattoria. And although the restaurants closes a 11 pm, I took this photo through the window of the restaurant around 1 am…  It’s a bit blurry, but if you’ve ever been to the Trattoria you can recognise the staff relaxing after a long and busy night.

The mural at the corner of the Feijenoordkade and the Dillenburgstraat looks very authentic, but is only two months old. It was commissioned by Woonstad Rotterdam and painted by Leo Mineur in July 2009.

Years ago the text in the ‘picture frame’ was erased by painting it white, so it was hard to discover what was underneath. Still, they succeeded in discovering what must have been the text of the last advertisement. That is… they came up with 2/3 of the text.

Inquiries with people who lived in the area did not come up with a solution. And the few photos that exist of the Nijverheidstraat and the Feijenoordkade did not show the advertisement in it. Nevertheless, the project manager was all excited about restoring  the text they had discovered so far. He stated that it reads like a cool poem. In fact he’s right about that, although the poem doesn’t really make sense, the text is typical for the type of industries that were located in this area in the 40s and 50s, so it gives us an excellent view into the history of the Feijenoord district.  Translated it would be:

             Ship Repairs   Steel Masts   Derricks   On Shore Lifting Devices

Then one of the residents made a discovery in the City’s Archives. She found a picture showing the entire advertising frame and thus found the last pieces of the puzzle.

With a perfect example of the last known text available, it was decided that the restoration would be as authentic as possible, including the typographic and spelling errors, for they too are typical for the no nonsense working class area which the Feijenoord area was. For instance it is clearly visible that the spacing between words and letters is not the same and the longest line (STALEN MASTEN) is crushed to fit. The advertisement mentions the shop address on Nijverheidsstraat 28, but the street around the corner is Nijverheidstraat, spelled with one “S”.

Some time ago, a mural was made on the Feijenoordkade. It is a restoration of an old advertisement which is restored to its former glory. The sponsor was Woonstad Rotterdam and the mural the performing artist was Willem Kerssemeijer of well known Advertising Workshop Leo Mineur. ( http://www.mineur.nl/) The result is beautiful: it is as if the text is the original and has been on the facade for years for years!

The mural was unveiled by Hamit Karakus, who is Alderman of Housing and Planning.

Because of this mural I got interested in other wall art in Rotterdam.

For example, in the 70’s the so-called Chilean brigades were active in Rotterdam. Much of their work is lost, but at Zuidplein one can still admire their work.    

Not all murals are permanent. Some are part of a project and can only temporarily be seen. Others are removed due to demolition of the walls that they adorn or because of changing views about what is ‘beautiful’. Whatever the reason may be, the appearance and disappearance of murals gives in it’s own way a good example of how to dynamic Rotterdam is.

And this is only about official art wall, because there are also unofficial graffiti artists active in Rotterdam. I’ve already written something about those in my space invader blog in May this year. (http://wp.me/punIp-5o)

So from now on I will pay more attention to murals and other wall art in Rotterdam. I will search my photo archive for photos of murals since gone and while roaming the streets of Rotterdam I will search more actively for new and existing artistic expressions.

For anyone who is interested in the subject I can really recommend the book Stands well back to appreciate – Murals in Rotterdam – An exploration by Siebe Thissen. (in Dutch: Mooi van ver – Muurschilderingen in Rotterdam – Een verkenning)

Let’s first introduce myself:  My name is Magdalena, I am 18 years old and I am from Austria. I am here in Rotterdam for a year doing voluntary work via the European Voluntary Service.I will be active together with Pierre, a volunteer from France, in the Feijenoord district in all kinds of social activities, starting with activities in and around the trattoria Borgo d’Aneto. I am trying to learn the Dutch language and I have a language course from Monday to Friday. I am already able to say some basic sentences: hoe gaat het? Ik begrijp het niet, ik houd van mijn fiets en ik spreek een klein beetje Nederlands. I am trying to improve, however. Learning the language quickly might be a bit difficult because everyone speaks English very well: so please if you meet me speak Dutch, so I am forced to speak Dutch as well… (but please be a bit patient with me…)

Talking about bicycles. From the first moment I arrived, I noticed that everyone is cycling here, often in a quite dangerous way, which I do appreciate . I have my own bicycle here, a typical Dutch bike, een omafiets, and I really had to get used to brakes: on my bicycle I only have backpedals, so the first few days I had difficulties stopping at the right time, at the right spot. I already noticed that cycling is a very efficient and convenient way to get around in Rotterdam. I once went by metro and it wasn’t quicker than by bike. This is partly because everything is flat here, so no hills to climb (especially compared to Austria), only bridges… to get from the city centre to the Feijenoord district.

Something I noticed from the first day I was here, is that you have a lot of brick houses. Maybe for you this is quite normal, but in Austria we have just very few of them. What are the houses in Austria made of you might wonder? I’ll show you a picture of my home town, Villach, so you can see the difference. I cannot decide what kind of houses I prefer: I think Rotterdam looks nice with the brick houses and Villach with the houses that we have there.

Since I have not been here for too long, I don’t have many suggestions of what to do in Rotterdam, but I think there is always something going on; I have already been to the R’Uitmarkt and to the Witte de With festival, which I both enjoyed a lot. I also know certain nice places. I like to sit nearby the water, so sitting at the river Maas, see the people passing by, for instance at the Boompjes, really gives some nice views over the Rotterdam skyline…

Next time I will tell you more about the things I like here and maybe the things that are different from what I am used to in Austria!