Art Office

From October 22, 2022 to February 12, 2023 is Signed: Rotterdam! They killed my house on display in the Kunsthal. In this exhibition city artists Kazuma Eekman, Maria Fraaije and Marcel Herkelman each present their own view on the theme of gentrification. Commissioned by the Rotterdam City Archives and CBK Rotterdam, the artists set to work last summer to depict this process – the renewal and upgrading of the city, and its consequences.

Every year, Stadsarchief Rotterdam and CBK Rotterdam look for artists who observe the city and depict their reflections in drawings, the Stadtekenaars! Selected by a six-member jury, City artists Kazuma Eekman, Maria Beautiful en Marcel Herkelman the task of each representing their own view on the theme of gentrification in their drawings. In Signed: Rotterdam! Eekman takes his personal search for a studio as a starting point and records the facades of disappearing artists' studios. Fraaije depicts the social consequences of gentrification on the basis of memories of the Tweebosbuurt, which has since been demolished, and Herkelman shows the 'humour' of gentrification in abstract lines supplemented with razor-sharp texts.

History City Illustrators
Even before the bombing of 14 May 1940, but especially during the reconstruction, draftsmen recorded the changes in the city. Until the end of the eighties of the last century, the Rotterdam City Archives gave annual commissions to draftsmen. Due to the rapid changes, Rotterdam is an ideal source of inspiration. Since 80, this tradition has been restored by CBK Rotterdam and the Rotterdam City Archives.

Illustration Kazuma Eekman, Temporary Management, Rotterdam 2022 videographer Ciska May Interviews Jeanine van Berkel Music Chad Crouch