The Rotterdam Project

The Rotterdam Projects is a collaboration which developed proposals to think the city in different terms. Through a process of thinking together and dialogue, an image of the city based on the specific and personal experiences of the participants in relation to other people, was created.

Complex social structures such as the city are often described in general terms referring to a limited number of functions. For instance, a city can be defined on the basis of its demographic composition, in figures expressing the economic activities in the port, or the ratio of robberies in relation to the number of residents. People, personal experiences, and specific situations are expressed in suchs ways that fit into these predefined categories. This method, although efficient, is not always an adequate description of the world we live in.

The Rotterdam Projects is a collaboration which developed proposals to think the city in different terms. Through a process of thinking together and dialogue, an image of the city based on the specific and personal experiences of the participants in relation to other people, was created.

The project consisted of a series of conversations in which these personal experiences found a place. Connections and relations gradually came into being: participants shared experiences and recognized themselves in the stories of others.

presentation

The proposals generated by the Rotterdam Project conversations were presented in Witte de With from September 12 to November 8. The presentation was intended to extend the dialogues to new participants. Underlying the presentation was the question “how can the experience of thinking together in conversation, be translated to a public forum”. Some of the connections were set up by the staff of Witte de With; a number of inhabitants of the Hoeksche Waard area near Rotterdam; and Theater Group Hollandia, each of whom reflected in their own way, on the meaning of ‘relation’ and ‘dialogue’. Participants of the project told their stories and started conversations about the city as a place of experience. The audience was invited to participate in the process of dialogue and collaboration.

portraits

For example, a group consisting of Anke Bangma, Hieke Compier, Noortje Hoppe, Craigie Horsfield and Femke Snelting were investigating how an exhibition can function as a place for dialogue instead of spectacle, and how publicity can be more than just information. The presented portraits (made by Craigie Horsfield) were made in collaboration with people from Rotterdam and Hoeksche Waard and made us experience that we exist in relation, that we come into being only in recognition of the other.

dinner

A group consisting of Craigie Horsfield, Rutger Wolfson, and Johan Simons and Jan Zoet of Theater Group Hollandia were thinking through similar questions in relation to theater. For example, Theater Group Hollandia developed a performance as a series of ‘events’ in which stories were not simply represented but passed on, where the audience were participants and not just spectators. In the special setting of a dinner, visitors could listen to recorded conversations of three generations of potato sellers from Hoeksche Waard and others involved in the prject. During the presentation at Witte de With, members of Theater Group Hollandia acted as guides, telling narratives to visitors, who were also invited to tell their own stories, whilst eating potatoes.

participants

The Rotterdam Project was a collaboration between the following people, made possible by Witte de With and Theater Group Hollandia, and related to the AIR-Southbound manifestation and the September in Rotterdam festival: Atty Baardman, Anke Bangma, Ge Beckman, Lijdie Blok, Jacqueline Blom, Manuel Borja-Villel, Hieke Compier, Annemie Devolder, Martin van Dijl, Camille Dings, Terry van Druten, Myriam Eijgenraam, Malou Elshout, Nous Faes, Paul van Gennip, Piet Gootjes, Cootje Gortzak, Eva Hage, Brecht Heemskerk, Rob Hol, Noortje Hoppe, Craigie Horsfield, John Hoornweg, Willemien Ippel, Alleta de Jong, Barbera van Kooij, Line Kramer, Hans Kruythof, Trijntje Kruythof, Dirk Lauwaert, Marcel Langenberg, Michael Lehman, Annet Lekkerkerker, Mariette Maaskant, Bartomeu Mari, Wouter de Nooy, Rachel van Olm, Rob van Olm, Lodewijk Owens, Silvain Perriraz, Sanne van Rijn, Maaike Ritsema, Mark Ritsema, Johan Simons, Rodney Slagtand, Femke Snelting, Ariadne Urlus, Bert Visser, Peter Westenberg, Anne Wolfson, Rutger Wolfson and Jan Zoet.