Rotterdam(mers) als erfgoed
Project details
- Year
- 2022
- Programme
- illustration
- Practices
- Social
- Minor
- Powerplay
What does it mean for the citizens of Rotterdam when you label and acknowledge them as heritage of their city? The project ‘Echt Rotterdams Erfgoed’ collects striking and topical stories of citizens of Rotterdam and acknowledge them as heritage of Rotterdam. They do this together with other citizens of Rotterdam, because they know what and who is important for their city. Together they unravel the DNA of the city. A new approach in which Museum Rotterdam, with this active heritage collection, collect stories and by this form a connection between the citizens of Rotterdam
Rotterdam(mers) als erfgoed
In collaboration with ‘Echt Rotterdams Erfgoed’, I started the project ‘Rotterdam(mers) als erfgoed’ ((Citizens of) Rotterdam as heritage). With this project I tell the stories of ‘Echt Rotterdams Erfgoed’ back to the city as the stories are not visible yet. I do this in a way of a new city bench. The concept is that eventually, there will be 100 benches, with 100 illustrated stories of ‘Echt Rotterdams Ergoed’, made by 100 different artists from Rotterdam. Today, you will see the first ‘story bench’, with the first ever collected story by ‘Echt Rotterdams Erfgoed’, Illustrated by artist number one: me.
ERE #0001 De Volkswagenbus van Kamen.
The story that is visualized is the story of the Volkswagen bus van Kamen, the first participant of ‘Echt Rotterdams Erfgoed’. De Bulgarian community remains a strong connection with its home country Bulgaria. Some Bulgarians travel each three months between Rotterdam and Bulgaria to extend their tourist visa. They do this to be able to keep working for the city. The bus, an anonymous object, is by labeling its story as heritage, an embodiment for the connection between The Netherlands, Europe and its working migrants. By telling the story of Kamen, it tells the story of many other working immigrants in The Netherlands.
The illustration on the bench shows the Volkswagen bus van Kamen whilst traveling from Bulgaria to The Netherlands. The landscape on the front of the bench portraits The Netherlands, the landscape on the back portraits Bulgaria.
By Luca Durham Ashdown