Otto Snoek in Afrikaanderpark

Coinciding the exhibition Turken in Rotterdam 1975 -1985 (http://wp.me/punIp-tm) in Het Gemaal, photos of Otto Snoek under the title .nl.de.tr./Turkishconnections were to be seen in the Afrikaanderpark.

Commissioned by Kosmopolis Rotterdam, Otto Snoek made 14 collages of businessmen, managers and researchers with a Turkish background in Rotterdam, the Ruhr and Istanbul.

The outdoor exhibition can be visited for free until April 10. Kosmopolis Rotterdam will be organizing more interesting events, such as for instance Mode.Rotterdam-Istanbul 2010, a fashion show inspired by a masterclass by Hatice  Gökçe, on April 3 at 15.00 at the Afrikaanderplein.

Exhibition Turken in Rotterdam 1975-1985

“In stockinged feet, they entered, the foreign workers from Turkey. They did their work silently and unseen until, with a thundering blow, they really arrived in our country: during the riots of 1972.

On a hot August day a neighbor dispute, just around the corner, got out of control. Some Rotterdammers started to smash the windows of houses where the Turkish immigrant workers had found shelter. After the stones came the bottles filled with burning gasoline. The Turks were trapped and had nowhere to go. And the Netherlands? The Netherlands looked stunned for days, and saw that behind those windows was a hidden world where they had not known of.

Robert de Hartogh was there. He listened to the stories of those distant newcomers, saw their wrecked rooms, felt their desperation and then wished everyone knew who they were and what they were doing here.

Since the events in the Afrikaanderwijk Robert de Hartogh decided to record everything that concerned the Turkish community. He photographed the men in their new country. The men at work. The men in their free time. The arrival of their wives and children after reunification. And before he knew he was the artist turned into a documentary photographer.

The photos in this exhibition were taken by an unbiased eye that never looked through a camera. And what the eye saw were very brave people who just had crossed the threshold of a new life.”

The above text is a free translation of what I read on the sign at the entrance of the exhibition Turks in Rotterdam from 1975 to 1985. Only last year I learned about the riots in the 70s in Afrikaanderwijk when I bought a book at a flea market, and read it. It is called De Tafel van Spruit by Jurrien Dekker en Bas Senstius.

When I stepped into Het Gemaal and again got faced with this black page in history of Rotterdam, it made the hairs on my arms stand up. The political and social climate in the Netherlands now seems a lot less open and tolerant than in the 70s. “History will not repeat itself?”, I thought, I hoped.

In that respect, the exhibition should actually be ‘required reading’ for everyone in this country. Through beautiful photos migration was given a human face. It also evokes a nostalgic image to everyone who has experienced the 70s and 80s consciously.

I’m glad that, although it was at the last minute, I have visited the exhibition, held from February 6 to March 27. If it was to me the exhibition would be prolonged because both the beautiful photos of De Hartogh and the educational contribution to tolerance and solidarity deserve it!