P.A.P.A. Lab Rotterdam took place from the 5 th till the 24th of April 2010.
Participating artists are: Lino Hellings, Nies Medema, Erika Blikman, Jan Konings, Maurice Bogaert, Robin van ‘t Haar and Martijn Nieuwenhuis.
Patterns we found are:
Pattern 1 Inside/outside or Real/unreal
The heart of Rotterdam is in a constant process of rebuilding. The building activity everywhere does not feel like a necessity. It feels like a way to boost the economy.
In Nigeria one of the acronyms is NCNC: No Contribution, No Consumption. The pattern we found in Rotterdam is the opposite: NCNP, No Consumption, No Production. Here we have to consume to keep the economy running. In problematic neighbourhoods houses are demolished to be able to build new ones. A boost to employment and it shifts the problem out of town. Everywhere you see people eating in public space, while in Lagos one sees people producing in mobile shops and businesses.
Pattern 2 Responsability and Regulation
A lot has been taken care of in our society. Nobody will starve, healthcare is organized well. So you can plan ahead, develop ideas. That is great. Well we all pay taxes to enable this. But it looks like democracy has become one where everybody wants to have a say but nobody wants to have responsability. Walking in Rotterdam is like walking in a live Dr Spock parenting advice book. Everywhere signs and sentences about what you should or shouldn’t do. ‘Forbidden to sell cars here’ sounds for me like an invitation to do so. Must be the right spot. The text in the second picture says Nauseous of the chewinggum in the city.
Pattern 3 Here and elsewhere.
Rotterdam used to be the biggest harbourcity in the world. It has been a transit city and a city in transit for decades. Hotel New York and Hotel Manhatten makes you think of Rotterdam as ‘I want to be another city’. As Rotterdams heart was bombed in the second worldwar, the city is still searching. Rotterdam as ‘the eternal promise’ makes the city very vivid at the same time. Rotterdam counts a lot of poor neighbourhoods. The ones with jobless workers of the former shipping industries and the ones with 90 % mostly jobless immigrants. It makes the political stands in Rotterdam the sharpest of the whole of the Netherlands. It makes people depressed but then again it is very vivid at the same time.
Pattern 4 Public Territories.
As we saw in responsability and regulation there are a lot of signs that try to regulate behaviour in public space. They do inspire to act out the opposite. On the picture we see a A4 poster attached to a temporary traffic sign. It says Hurray Sociale Vernieling/Social Destruction, a wordplay with Social Vernieuwing/Social Development. It does play with the kink in the sign.
Rotterdam is proud of its skyline. Powerbuilding they say. It hosts major big Mass culture events. The city center has several connected consumer scripts:Hoogstraat market/Koopgoot/Lijnbaan.
Text and photos by Lino Hellings
