Art Office

Every year, artists – the Stadstekenaars – are commissioned by Rotterdam City Archives and CBK Rotterdam to record current events in the city in drawings. The City Artists of 2023, Nuno Orlando, Xaviera Altena and Johan Kleinjan, are now fully at work. This year, the urban artists were asked to depict the tension between city and nature, and the dilemmas that come with it.

Rotterdam is known as a city of progress. The construction of industry, infrastructure and housing at the expense of nature is still the order of the day. For example, the A16 was recently pulled through the low Bergse Bos and new homes are being built on the edge of Het Park and Kralingse Bos. At the same time, the tide is turning. For example, there is an ongoing discussion about whether Rotterdam Airport should disappear and whether a park could be created there. Out of necessity, because major issues such as climate control and the nitrogen dossier require a different approach than before. The city will have to become considerably greener. An immense task. The jury of the City Signs 2023 is curious to see how the artists visualize this tension or depict projects that contribute to a greener and climate-safe future for Rotterdam.

Xaviera Altena is working on a triptych of people who are involved in green initiatives in the city, such as Raymond Landegent, who is known from Groenmorgen Agency, Buurtcamping Dakpark and the NK Tegelwippen. She sets to work in a journalistic manner and first conducts extensive preliminary research with interviews before she develops the portraits. Altena normally mainly makes digital work, but she also wants to experiment with other materials for urban drawing.
See also: Studio Xaviera Altena

Johan Kleinjan is working on the Island of Brienenoord. This nature reserve right under the Van Brienenoord Bridge is a pearl in the urban jungle that is called Rotterdam. Forest, grass, pools, a tidal channel with Scottish Highlanders and various special birds and butterflies - all this makes the island a unique place. But what will happen if a third city bridge is built from De Esch? Johan Kleinjan has settled on the island and captures everything in his characteristic style, unpolished and with fascinating color combinations.
See also: Johan Kleinjan (kunstambassade.nl)

Nuno Orlando discovered the Quarantine area on the Heijplaat. Artists have been working for decades at this special place in the middle of the harbor violence, who also take care of the special nature of the site. Unfortunately, their stay is again in danger because the Port Authority has all kinds of plans for the Quarantine area. What does that mean for that green oasis? Like an impressionist, Orlando has settled into the terrain and draws what he sees, the drawings grow organically.
See also Nuno Orlando (kunstambassade.nl)

The work of the City Artists 2023 can be seen from 14 October 2023 in the Kunsthal Rotterdam. It will then be included in the collection of the Rotterdam City Archives.

Photo: Tim van der Post