Living room in the park

There will be living rooms, at Nassauhavenpark!

From a survey among local residents it showed that they want nicer seats at their local park. That idea was picked up by the district Feijenoord and veritable living rooms are now built.
Besides thick carpets stylish sofas from Spain and lamps are put down among the trees. I look forward to the final result! Once I have pictures of it I will share them with you! The changes to the park will be before the end of July.

Here’s a close up of the floor of the living room.  Now it is still covered with sand, but you can imagine how cheerful it will look after the sand is gone and there’s nothing left but yellow carpet, sofa’s and some lamps.

Ik en mijn familie – Persoonsdam

After the succes of the Monsters out door exhibition, another outdoor exhibition has seen the light at the Persoonsdam in Rotterdam Feijenoord: Ik en mijn familie. The Monsters exhibition was part of the project Droom en Daad by Villa Zebra. The project was commissioned by Woonstad Rotterdam. The goal of the project is that children reflect on the exterior in the area around the Persoonsdam. Children from the neighbourhood have devised plans (dreams) that can be implemented (deed) in short term. (see also http://wp.me/punIp-8i)

Between the pictures is also room for messages of public interest.

I guess this new exhibition is also part of the project Droom en Daad. I cannot find information about it on the internet and in local newspapers… I wouldn’t be the first time that The Hotstepper beats the regular news, but this blog is not about me, but about the beautiful paintings that give the area around the Persoondam a colourful impulse again.

Huisman Advertisement – Feijenoordkade

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”.

Murals in Rotterdam

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)