Voor het nieuwe woonpark Mortiere in Middelburg ontwierp kunstenaar
Maze de Boer vijf aluminium Shure 55 microfoons van elk zeven meter hoog, als muzikaal monument dat centraal staat voor de Blues en Jazzmuziek. De wijk heeft dan ook de aangename architectuur uit de 30-er jaren met straatnamen die verwijzen naar grootheden uit die tijd. Ze staan met z’n allen aan de entree van het woonpark Mortiere en vormen met z’n vijven een prettige muzikale binnenkomer. Met een beetje fantasie hoor je in de verte al de swingende klanken van Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington en Ella Fitzgerald.

In opdracht van gemeente Middelburg traden De Vleeshal en Mothership op als producent.

www.mazedeboer.nl

Met een tijdelijk buitenbeeld van Sober Industries werd de bouwperiode van de Nieuwegeinse binnenstad op 10 februari spectaculair afgesloten.
Het kunstwerk bestaat uit twee krachtige waterstralen die samenkomen, geïnspireerd op Nieuwegein als waterstad waardoor enkele kanalen lopen en het samenkomen van de vroegere gemeentes Jutphaas en Vreeswijk in 1971. Het beeld is opgebouwd uit vele stukken hout waarop 3D-mapping word toegepast. 3D-Mapping is een bijzondere combinatie van geprojecteerde animaties en volgt precies de lijnen van de sculptuur. Bewoners en belangstellenden konden in de avonduren met behulp van de kunstenaars van Sober Industries zelf digitale projecties op het beeld toepassen.

In het kader van Culturele Activiteiten Binnenstad Nieuwegein trad Nataša Heydra namens Mothership op als projectleider.

www.soberindustries.com

In de maanden oktober en november 2011 vonden workshops plaats waar kinderen vanaf 10 jaar met kunstenaar Freerk Wieringa in een ambachtelijke, mobiele smederij teruggingen in de tijd.
Een van de laatste projecten van de gemeente Nieuwegein waaraan haar bewoners konden deelnemen was Samen Smeden, waarbij de kunstenaar met de kinderen een grote sculptuur van staal in elkaar sloeg. De onthulling vond 18 januari jl. plaats door wethouder Hans Reusch in het nieuwe stadshuis van Nieuwegein in aanwezigheid van de pers, belangstellenden, de kunstenaar en de kinderen.

In opdracht van Programma Culturele Activiteiten Binnenstad Nieuwegein trad Natasa Heydra namens Mothership op als curator en producent.

www.freerkwieringa.nl

Voor de gemeente Heerlen ontwierp Arno Coenen een mozaïek van 150 m2 met een lengte van 60 meter voor het Corneliuspark in Heerlerheide. Samen met een landschapsarchitect van de gemeente Heerlen, ontwierp Arno een golvend terrein dat doorsneden wordt door een holle weg waarop het mozaïek geplaatst wordt. De belangrijkste symbolen van Heerlerheide en typisch Limburgse kenmerken zijn verwerkt in het kleurrijke mozaïek. Voor het leggen van de meer dan 300.000 glassteentjes werd een speciaal mozaïekevenement georganiseerd waarbij wel 700 buurtbewoners enthousiast meewerkten aan hun kunstwerk voor Heerlerheide. De oplevering van het park staat gepland in juni.

In opdracht van de gemeente Heerlen trad Mothership hierbij op als producent.

www.arnocoenen.nl

In de Grote Rotterdamse Kunstkalender 2012 is 29 februari een bijzondere schrikkeldag! Het is een dag die maar een keer in de vier jaar voorkomt. Een schrikkelijk mooie dag om onze Hans van Bentem eens in het zonnetje te zetten!. Hij gebruikt de mooiste technieken die perfect passen bij zijn iconische beelden. Hans is een veelzijdig kunstenaar en reist de hele wereld over voor zijn ambachtelijke kunstwerken.

Mothership werkt regelmatig met Hans van Bentem in opdracht van gemeentes en overheid. Voor het Mothership label Rock&Royal maakt hij kristallen kroonluchters in allerlei verschillende gedaantes.

www.hansvanbentem.nl
www.rockandroyal.com

En haar naam is Marieke Noordhof. Je kunt haar bezoeken tijdens werkdagen op het Mothership kantoor in Rotterdam. Marieke is als stagiair bij ons voor de duur van vijf maanden en ze studeert Visual Art & Designmanagement aan de Hogeschool Utrecht. Op het moederschip leert ze de fijnere kneepjes van het kunstprojectmanagement.

Een superfeest was het vrijdag 13 januari in BIRD.
We, Mothership, Riverpark Films & NNFP, hebben enorm van jullie aanwezigheid genoten.

Bekijk hier de foto’s.

The love medallion by BLISS is celebrating its two-year anniversary on Saturday February 18 at 17:00 ‘o clock and will be enriched with a plaque! It is the place to be in Rotterdam to seal your love in a romantic way.

Have you found your great-great-greater-greatest love? Now is your chance! Come on down on Saturday to the love medaillon in the idyllic district Delfshaven and you will receive, apart from a big hug from Bliss, also a free padlock and a nice glass of bubbly.

Did you know that in major cities around the world people seal their love by locking a padlock to a bridge or monument? At the heart shaped photo column you can place a camera and immortalize your moment.

Place to be: Lock of Love, Saturday, 18 February 2012 from 17:00 until 19:00.
Waterfront location at the Havenstraat opposite number 51, Delfshaven-Rotterdam
(near the Lage Erfbrug).

De gemeente Nieuwegein organiseerde gedurende het bouwen van een nieuw stadscentrum een reeks culturele activiteiten waaraan haar bewoners konden deelnemen. Een van de laatste projecten was Samen Smeden, waarbij op ambachtelijke wijze een grote sculptuur van staal werd gesmeden.

In de maanden oktober en november 2011 vonden workshops plaats waar kinderen vanaf 10 jaar  met kunstenaar Freerk Wieringa in een ambachtelijke, mobiele smederij teruggingen in de tijd. Samen ontwierpen zij een dappere ridder van staal.

De onthulling vond woensdagmiddag 18 januari 2012 officieel plaats door wethouder Hans Reusch in het nieuwe stadshuis van Nieuwegein in aanwezigheid van de kunstenaar, de projectleider en de kinderen.

In opdracht van Programma Culturele Activiteiten Binnenstad Nieuwegein trad Natasa Heydra namens Mothership op als curator en producent.

www.freerkwieringa.nl

Sorry, this entry is only available in Nederlands.

VRIJDAG 13 JANUARI beginnen we al vanaf 17.00 uur leuke dansplaatjes te draaien en nodigen u gaarne uit om bij ons en onze huisvrienden van Riverpark Film en Nieuw Nederlands Filmplatform aan te sluiten.

Ons danspartijtje sluit naadloos aan bij het reeds welbekende feestje van HIPHIP die hophop doorgaat tot in de vroege uurtjes. Graag zien wij u allen bij ons verschijnen in het moderne etablissement BIRD.

BIRD
Raampoortstraat 26 te Rotterdam
Klik hier voor de route

The Mothership team wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy End!

And not entirely unimportant:
Mothership is closed from Monday, 26 December, through 1 January, 2012.

A little park with real plants and bushes and a park bench has been placed in front of Copy Garden, a photograph on vinyl that is a realistic copy of a bit of natural beauty in the nearby park on Rotterdam’s West Kruiskade, and the path leading up to it has been lengthened. It is all just as deceptively real as a trompe l’oeil, so you’d better not run up the path too hard or you’ll bump your head on the wall!

On Friday, 2 December, 2011, the first copy of Copy Garden was unveiled on the Gaffelstraat in Rotterdam by the city alderwoman Alexandra van Huffelen. At the same time the festivities were the starting gun for much much more greening of the Old West neighborhood in Rotterdam.

Mothership came up with the concept for Copy Garden, as a commission from Bureau Binnenstad, in cooperation with Woonstad Rotterdam.

Photography of Copy Garden: Rick Messemaker and Monique Benthin

The monument for the youth worker René Kempenaar, who died suddenly in 2007, was recently unveiled on the Weerwaterplein in Almere. The artwork by Arno Coenen is a tribute to this once so vital force behind youth work in Almere.

After René Kempenaar’s death the young people in Almere raised an insistent call for some way of honoring this unique individual. The different facets of Kempenaar’s work and personality are brought out in the design, such as his youth work, the medal he received from the queen, and “036” (a reference to Almere), but also his tattoos, which his children later adopted.

The octagon refers to a combat ring, a link to the Asiatic martial art of Pencak Silat, which René actively practiced. The portrait and text “Welkom” indicate that the artwork is both a tribute and a place where young people can gather.

Commissioned by the Museum De Paviljoens, Mothership acted as producer for this project.

www.arnocoenen.nl

You can’t miss the line of poetry in neon, ‘de omgeving van de mens is de medemens‘ (the environment of man is his fellow man), by Jules Deelder, on Nieuwe Binnenweg 125. It’s a busy street in Rotterdam. It makes our ‘night burgomaster’ himself very happy whenever he walks past this line from one of his poems – and that is almost every day.

At the request of Rabobank Rotterdam and the City of Rotterdam Mothership acted as curator and producer for this project. With thanks also to Woonstad Rotterdam.

www.deelder.com

A publication designed by Studio Léon&Loes about the process behind The Ballast Project, by the British artist Nathan Coley, has appeared to complement the project. It includes the years of correspondence among the advisors and institutions it took to be able to acquire the 17^th century bricks that had sailed along with VOC ships to different Dutch colonies. There are photos of the journey that the bricks made, copies of original travel documents, and photos of the ultimate artwork. This 2.5 x 15 meter wall, constructed from historic bricks, is permanently on view in the North Hall of the recently renovated Maritime Museum in Amsterdam.

At the request of the Dutch Government Buildings Agency and Nathan Coley, Mothership acted as producer for The Ballast Project.

www.haunchofvenison.com

The mosaic artwork is ready and installed on both walls of the passage. Arno Coenen was inspired by graphics
and games from pinball machines and computers from the 80′s.

Housing cooperation Havensteder invited Mothership for this project to act as curator and producer.

www.arnocoenen.nl

In response to the current trend to have more green space in cities as the outcome of all sorts of initiatives in urban planning, pocket gardens and green roofs, Mothership came up with the concept for Copy Garden. These involve copying a part of a nearby garden or city park for a less green and often cheerless spot in the city. With this green idea, a beautiful 10 x 10 metre depiction of the nearby park on the West Kruiskade was made for the wall of a small plaza on the Gaffelstraat in Rotterdam. But don’t let your eye lead you down the garden path: with the natural planting in front of this Copy Garden, it looks just as if you can go for a pleasant walk in the park!

Commissioned by Bureau Binnenstad, Mothership acted as curator and producer for this project.

It was high time a fitting line of poetry from our city’s hero and municipal poet laureate Jules Deelder appeared somewhere in the public space of Rotterdam.
De omgeving van de mens is de medemens (your fellow man is your environment) was realised in blue neon, and after 1 November can be admired in its full glory. Now this line is really in the right environment in this section of Rotterdam which is becoming ever more inviting, where the poet himself lives right in the neighbourhood. On Tuesday, 1 November, 2011, at 5:00 p.m., this homage to the ‘night mayor’ of Rotterdam will be unveiled by the poet himself.

At the request of Rabobank Rotterdam and the City of Rotterdam Mothership acted as curator and producer for this project. With thanks to Woonstad Rotterdam.

www.deelder.com

The community of Nieuwegein is getting a new town centre, and culture is being given a prominent place in it. During the construction the community is organising various cultural activities in which its residents can participate. In the project Samen Smeden (Forging community) the artist Freerk Wieringa has built a professional mobile forge in the heart of Nieuwegein. For two weeks he will be working together with volunteers from the town on forging a steel sculpture with a high cuddleability factor.

Want to join in the project? Respond quickly, by signing up at: n.heydra@nieuwegein.nl.
Participation is free!

Commissioned by the Cultural Activities in the Nieuwegein City Centre Program, Natasa Heydra is acting for Mothership as curator and producer. The hour-long workshops under the direction of the artist take place on school days, starting on 25 October, 2011.

www.freerkwieringa.nl

As a component of Food for the City, a part of the long-term Foodprint program, Stroom Den Haag organised the DAG HAP festival on a vacant site, the Erasmusveld. From Friday, 30 September through Sunday, 16 October this year, each weekend this sustainable foods festival was open for the public, with a variety of unusual art projects and activities. In unexpected and sometimes confrontational ways, DAG HAP stimulated its visitors to think about our food cycle. The event showed how food fits into sustainable living, and how Erasmusveld could become ‘the most sustainable neighbourhood in The Netherlands’. With the eight remarkable art projects, young and old alike could enjoy what artists and cooks presented at the DAG HAP festival.

Mothership acted as producer during the event.

www.stroom.nl

Thijs Kelder (a.k.a. Ruwe Data/Dstruct) from Rotterdam (NL) and Ephameron from Antwerp (BE) worked together on a one-off project, dressing up the under side of a railway bridge on the Plantin en Moretuslei in Antwerp. They took their inspiration for this from the printers Plantin and Moretus, who owned an important book press in Antwerp, founded in the 16th century. Using plans, stencils and spray paint, together they worked on the depictions of book presses, banners, old lead printing type, people reading, flying pigeons and a hand reaching down out of a cloud, holding a draughtsman’s compass to the printers’ logo.
The work on the viaduct was done as part of Buurt aan de Beurt, a project sponsored by the City of Antwerp, in cooperation with the European Youth Capital program.

Mothership acted as curator and co-producer for this project.

www.dstruct.nl
www.ephameron.com

The LelystART festival and Stadsmuseum project in Lelystad provided a festive framework for opening of the new cultural season there.
Mothership asked Sober Industries, in consultation with the client, Lelystad City Marketing, to prepare a design for a sculpture to be displayed during the festival weekend. Sober Industries was immediately inspired by the eagles which have returned to nest in Lelystad after a long absence, and came up with a plan to build a huge eagle. Sober Industries‘ bird is comprised of a large number of pieces of wood and is as all of four metres tall and four metres wide. What is extra exciting for the viewer – and also rather new – is that 3D mapping was used on the sculpture. 3D mapping is a unique combination of projected animations, and follows the lines of the sculpture precisely.
The animations were tailor-made in collaboration with Studio Rewind. They have recently been involved in collaborations to design several sculptures, such as a rhinoceros and an owl during Rotterdam’s Museum Night and the eagle for the Lelystad festival.

The idea was so well received that Lelystad decided to provide a home for this burly bird for a longer period, at a prominent location near the Agora Theater. Within the framework of the Stadsmuseum project, Mothership acted as curator and producer.

www.soberindustries.com
www.studiorewind.nl

To mark the 50th anniversary of Sculpture International Rotterdam (SIR), during the opening of the city’s cultural season with 24 HOURS Culture sculptures from its collection in Rotterdam were given their place in the sun. SIR, which manages the collection, made it a memorable day by adding to the sculptures’ allure with artists, story-tellers, actors, dancers, music, performers, a boy’s choir and a cook, who all took part in a journey woven around true or fictional stories about the artworks.

Mothership acted as producer for the event.

www.sculptureinternationalrotterdam.nl

During the 24 HOURS of Culture event Mothership produced the route which linked the cultural institutions in Rotterdam. The route was commissioned by Rotterdam Festivals. As a way of welcoming the visiting art and culture lovers, eye-catching bicycles with bouquets of flowers were placed along the 24 HOURS of Culture route. These bouquets were inspired by the graffiti artwork Flower Thrower by the British artist Banksy.
Banksy regularly treats an international audience to surprising artworks in public space, and for once visitors to the festival could do something nice for him in return. People could have themselves photographed in a Flower Thrower pose, and each photo was placed on internet in the hope that Banksy would see it.

Mothership developed this concept in cooperation with CCCP and Rotterdam Bycycle, and also produced it for Rotterdam Festivals. 24 HOURS of Culture took place on 8 and 9 September, marking the opening of the 2011-12 cultural season in Rotterdam.

As part of Voedsel voor de Stad of the multi-annual program Foodprint, Stroom Den Haag organizes the festival DAG HAP at Erasmusveld, a the vacant lot consisting of an area of ​allotments, open areas and ditches. As of Friday, September 30 through Sunday, October 16, every weekend the sustainable food festival is open to the public with various special art projects and activities. DAG HAP stimulates the audience to think in unexpected and sometimes confrontational ways about our food cycle. The DAG HAP festival shows how food fits in with sustainable living and how Erasmusveld can become the ‘most sustainable neighborhood in the Netherlands’. Through remarkable art projects, young and old can enjoy and learn about what artists and chefs are presenting.

During the festival, Mothership is acting as a producer.

For more information www.stroom.nl

The artists Thijs Kelder a.k.a. Ruwe Data from Rotterdam and Ephameron from Antwerp worked together for this occasion on a unique decoration for the underside of the railway bridge on the Plantin en Moretuslei in Antwerp. For this, they were inspired by the printers Plantin and Moretus, who owned a major book printing company in Antwerp since the 16th century and which has been a historical museum since the 19th century. Ephameron and Ruwe Data worked with patterns, stencils and spraycans on the images of book printing presses, banners, typographical old lead letters, reading people, flying doves and a hand with compass from the clouds to the logo of the printers.
As part of the ‘Buurt aan de beurt’ campaign, a project of the City of Antwerp in collaboration with the European Youth Capital, the underpass was improved in a contemporary and graffitian way. The viaduct will be officially opened on Friday, September 23 at 16.00 by the mayor of Antwerp, Patrick Janssens, in the presence of the artists.

Mothership acted as curator and co-producer.

www.studioruwedata.nl
www.ephameron.com

From September 10 to December 11, 2011, an overview of the art project Polder Cup by Spanish artist Maider López will be shown. The project took place in 2010 in the South Holland polder landscape around Ottoland, for which Mothership acted as producer.

For the Polder Cup López brought together the passion for soccer and the typical Dutch landscape in a unique way. The Kunsthal presents a film and photo series of the special game of soccer where the players had to invent new rules on the spot.

Polder Cup by Maider López is part of the project “Between You and I”, a collaboration between SKOR and Witte de With.

Up and until September 2011, there is a monumental tree with a protective “coat” of wooden planks on the Heemraad square in Rotterdam. Normally such a wooden ‘jacket’ is wrapped around the tree for protection during works, to a height of two meters. With the title “Mollycoddler”, meaning something like excessive pampering or nurturing, the New Zealand artist Regan Gentry wrapped the tree all the way to the branches. Because 2011 is “The International Year of Forests” the Centre for Visual Arts (CBK) Rotterdam has made a route along various monumental and art trees in Rotterdam.

Mothership acted as curator and producer.

www.regangentry.com
www.makeaforest.org
www.cbk.rotterdam.nl

During the first weekend of juli 2010 Rotterdam hosted le Grand Depart, the start of the Tour de France. The world was watching as the cyclists rode the first kilometers through the city. A large part of the parcours was situated in the borough of Feijenoord.
The executive board of this proud borough asked for a permanent memory of the Tour de France in Rotterdam. The artwork, shaped like a medal was recently revealed at the Hillelaan, near metro station Rijnhaven.
The artwork by artist Luuk Bode embodies speed and strength, which fits perfectly with the energetic appearance of the Tour the France.

For this project, Mothership acted as curator and producer.

Because it is International Year of Forests 2011, the Rotterdam Center for the Arts (CBK) will be making a route along various art trees and monumental trees in Rotterdam. CBK asked artist Regan Gentry to create a special intervention along this route. Regan came up with the idea to show how special a tree is, by wrapping it in a protective wooden ‘coat’. Normally, this protection has only a height of 2m and is meant to protect the tree during works. Gentry however wants to protect the tree in it’s entirety. The tree wrapped by Regan Gentry can be seen on the Heemraadsplein from beginning of June.
Since it is International Year of Forests 2011, this art tree idea comes from a worldwide art and design project called ‘Make a Forest’, for which artists, designers, students and other creatives are invited by art institutions to make an art tree. Every art tree hence contributes to one world wide art forest and draws attention to deforestation any where in the world.

For this project, Mothership acted as promotor and producer.

www.regangentry.com

Housing cooperation PWS Rotterdam invited Mothership to come up with a nice plan for an uninviting passage in the Fredrikstraat in Crooswijk.
Mothership asked Arno Coenen to come up with a design. He was inspired by graphics and games from pinball machines and computers from the 80′s. This summer, the artwork will be installed on both walls of the pasage.

For this project, Mothership acted as curator and producer.

www.arnocoenen.nl

In 2012, behind the Coolsingel the construction of the new Central Administrative Office will commence. On behalf of the city of Rotterdam, Mothership asked four artists to make a pitch for a design to fill up the now empty facade with a temporary artwork. The artists are: Bliss, Marcel Kronenburg, Geert Mul and 2012 Architecten. Residents of the area around the Central Administrative Office were invited to pick the winner and they chose 2012 Architecten and their design consisting of tree shapes that are being formed by plants that are attached to the facade. Over time, the plants will make the shapes grow into full, green trees. Eldermen Hamit Karakus and Alexandra van Huffelen opened the artwork. For this project, Mothership acted as curator and TAK Artistic productions acted as producer.

www.2012architecten.nl

The project Points of View consists of four historical mill viewpoints, from which one can listen to the history of the mills, from hand stitched seating objects. Commissioned by Kunstgebouw and Erfgoedhuis Zuid Holland, Studio Léon&Loes designed the cross stitched solidified flower sacks as seating objects near the mills in Aarlanderveen, Rijpwetering, Schiedam and Vlist. During the year you can have a seat on the hand stiched sacks and call the cross stitched number. This project is part of the provincial theme year “Long Live the Mills’, that brings attention to the 228 mills around the Zuid Holland province. Many enthousiastic volunteers of all ages participated in the cross stitching.

For this project, Mothership and Peter Bosman acted as producers for Studio Léon&Loes.

www.pointsofview.nl

Did you know that Mister Motley is a super cool magazine about contemporary and modern art? Did you know that Mister Motley is an art magazine with substance and is published 4 times a year? Did you know that Mister Motley really has everything for passionate artists, collectors, art lovers and others interested in art? Gotten curious for more from Mister Motley?
Then now is your chance and receive the Mothership book as a gift.

Now with the Mothership-Mister-Motley offer for only 18,50! So subscribe now on: http://mistermotley.nl/Abonnement/
A regular subscription to Mister Motley costs €23,50.

www.mistermotley.nl

The British artist Nathan Coley planned a special artwork, ‘Bringing Back the Ballast’, for the National Maritime Museum in Amsterdam, now undergoing renovation. Coley designed a wall with the underlying idea that it be built of 17th century Dutch bricks that had once travelled out to Dutch colonies as ballast in empty East India Company ships. After an intensive search, a sea container with a typical Dutch make-over (Studio Loes&Léon) travelled by way of Australia, Singapore, Suriname and Sint Eustatius. After two fine years of collaboration by Nathan Coley, the Maritime Museum and Joost ten Bruggencate from Mothership, the bricks have now been laid in a 2.5 x 15 meter wall in the museum and the project is entirely wrapped up.

www.hetscheepvaartmuseum.nl

Geert Mul created the artwork ‘Light Wall for Information and Doggerel’ for on top of the theatre in Tiel. Mul‘s goal was to produce an integrated system for this location in which architecture, an outdoor electronic text display, content and the control system would form an harmonious visual whole, in service of the same objective. The software not only processes information, but also produces it, by means of a poetry generator. Thanks to the artwork’s generative character, each line is a surprise: ‘charming, subtle and musical, how do you survive all that?’. In cooperation with the theatre and the artist, Mothershipper Joost facilitated the whole production.

Link to video “Light Wall for Information and Doggerel”

Commissioned by the Visual Arts Foundation and the City of Middelburg, Mothership is implementing the Art in the community project, in which a total of six artworks will be executed in various neighbourhoods in consultation with the residents. Recently the fourth project, ‘The mothers of Klarenbeek’ was realized in the community of Klarenbeek. With her art project the artist Birthe Leemeijer wanted to make the Klarenbeek area more blossoming and fragrant by marking the birth of each new resident by planting fruit tree in each new mother’s front or backyard. The planted trees form a route through the gardens of women sought out by Birthe, who have become mothers since 1 April, 2008.

www.devleeshal.nl

As part of the ‘Year of the Windmill, 2011′, in a commission from the Province of South Holland Studio Léon&Loes has produced a cross-stitch design for use on four eye-catching seating objects. These seats (that is, flour sacks) are being placed near a windmill in four different areas of South Holland. Sitting by the mill, you can call a telephone number to listen to a story about the mill you are looking at. The design for the seating objects is based on flour sacks with a cross-stitched sampler that has a direct association with the flour mills, and are stitched by needlewomen from the immediate area.

www.leon-loes.nl

Rotterdam is working on a more attractive city centre, and the new Municipal Office is a symbol for that. Construction starts in 2012, and until then the façade of the old city office building is begging for a special art project. For this, a pitch by Bureau Binnenstad and the OBR was set up for which Mothership proposed four artists, the artists’ collective BLISS, Marcel Kronenburg, Geert Mul and
2012 Architects. Residents and businesses in the vicinity chose 2012 Architects; they too feel strongly about sustainability. Their design for the façade of the old city offices is for a ravishing vertical garden that will reflect the seasons in the form of large trees growing and blossoming through the façade.

www.2012architecten.nl

Peter Putkamer did his internship at Mothership from September, 2010, through January, 2011.
Peter has gone on now to his third year of studies at Hogeschool Rotterdam, majoring in Leisure Management. With his boundless enthusiasm, he was a support to our team in carrying out various projects.

It was again an enjoyable party, largely because you were there! See you again next year? XXX

View the photo’s here

A beautiful graffiti-knitting of a whopping 40 m2 was put around the symbol of Nieuwegein in the early morning of 1 December. For a month inhabitants of Nieuwegein in the ages 8 to 80 were diligently working on knitting, enabling them to do this naughty action in the pitch black, together with creator of graffiti-knitting Marly Weemen.

www.in-space.nl

Wij zijn blij met de allereerste gestyleerde mosgevel ter wereld die sinds december aan ons pand DS25 hangt. De mosgevel is een spiksplinter nieuw concept van HUNK-design en Studio ID Eddy en biedt meteen een goede uitkomst om luchtvervuiling aan te pakken. HUNK-design en Studio ID Eddy, bekend van The Flying Grasscarpet, ontwierpen deze op maat gesneden mosgevel in opdracht van Gemeente Rotterdam en Mothership. Een bijkomend voordeel van mos is dat het geen tot weinig onderhoud vergt. Het natuurvriendelijk ingestelde Mothership wierp zich dan ook graag op als proef object. Ook zin gekregen om jouw gevel in het nieuw te steken?

www.groenegeveldesign.nl

The Mothership website has been given a facelift and is prettier, quicker and has a better overview. After 6 nice years Mothership decided to make a clean sweep of its deck and with it create an even better course for the future.

As we like to do every year, we will be celebrating the new year together with our groovy dj’s Michiel & Jasper and the 5 female dj’s FNNNN at cafe De Unie, Mauritsweg 35 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. You are cordially invited from 17.00 ‘o clock to drink and dance with us until the wee hours of the morning.

Got nothing to do during the Christmas season? Go to the Centrum Beeldende Kunst at the Nieuwe Binnenweg 75 in Rotterdam (NL) and feast your eyes on the Rotterdam Male Artists. The expo at the Centrum Beeldende Kunst contains different pictures than those in the calender. The Rotterdam Male Artists calender and the exposition have been composed by our own Monique Benthin and Nataša Heydra.

The city of Eindhoven is dominated by light and is proclaimed ‘City of
Light 2010′. This years theme is ‘The meaning of Light’. A nice moment
for Piet Hein Eek and Menno Derk Doornbos,
in close collaboration with Rock and Royal, to open the former Philips
ceramics factory in Eindhoven during the Dutch Design Week. The 11,000
m2 factory is next to a store, a warehouse, a showroom, a home to
collectors and a restaurant also a gallery. In Van Eek’s factory the
ever popular designs by Piet Hein Eek are displayed, but also works by
famous international and national art heroes. Hans van Bentem is one these heroes. The factory will be a permanent location where Van Bentem‘s special crystal chandeliers will be on display.

www.rockandroyal.com

The inhabitants of Nieuwegein strive for a vibrant city center and are
working hard to obtain it!
To honor these local heroes for their exceptional commitment, Nieuwegein
decided to put them in the spotlight. Their portraits will be displayed
on a flag and temporarily placed at various locations in Nieuwegein. Thijs Kelder (Dstruct) designed these heraldic flags.

www.dstruct.nl

Since 2008 Mothership is assisting the Scottish artist Nathan Coley
in his grand quest to find special bricks used as ballast in the 17th
and 18th century by VOC ships. The assignment was commissioned by
Rijksbouwmeester.
To pick up the bricks, our project manager Joost ten Bruggencate
traveled to the Caribbean island of St. Eustatius, where the Ballast
container came ashore. The island, together with the islands of Saba
and St. Maarten, belong to the Leeward Islands. The winds blow fearce in
this part of the world as Joost has noticed…

Our female Mothership collegues, Monique Benthin and Natasa Heydra, used their experienced female gaze to create a Rotterdam Male Artists calendar, which you can enjoy for an entire year.
Amongst others you can check out Luuk Bode, Gyz la Rivière, Rufus Ketting, Léon Kranenburg and Arno Coenen.
A surprising gift for your wife, girlfriend, lover and so on. Suspend
it above the chimney, put it under the tree, in the bedroom, the
bathroom or the toilet. The calendar is available at the official
opening, with consecutive exhibition, at the Centrum Beeldende Kunst
Rotterdam on Friday 17 December. The photographed men will be present to
sign your very own copy of the calender.
www.cbk.rotterdam.nl

Mothership is proud to announce that artist Gyz la Rivière will be presenting a very special book about Rotterdam. In the book titled ‘Rotterdam 2040′, La Rivière
philosophizes about the future of his favorite cosmopolitan city of
Rotterdam and has invited many creative minds to think alongside with
him.
Through the good and bad things in the turbulent history of Rotterdam,
he sketches a possible future which could be interesting for all
residents. The first book will be presented to the Night Mayor of
Rotterdam during a festive book launch on Saturday 20 November, at the
Ro Theater in Rotterdam.

www.rotterdam2040.nl

Finally the date arrived! On Saturday the 4th of September, close to 400 people gathered to play and to cheer for the art project Polder Cup in the classic Dutch landscape of Ottoland.
16 soccer teams competed for the honor of the cup on 4 soccer fields during 12 matches. The
Polder Cup, developed by the Spanish artist Maider López, was commissioned and made possible
by Witte de With, Center for Contemporary Art and SKOR. Our own Faye Ellen, and helping hands
from Mothership, took care of and supported the whole production. The weather was kind to us
and showed her best side. ‘It’s more than perfect’, let the satisfied Maider López know.

www.poldercup.nl

Residents of and visitors to the center of Nieuwegein where surprised by a man leaning, seemingly
nonchalant and high in the air, against the wall near the entrance of theater De Kom. This special and unique performance by the German artist Johan Lorbeer made a lot of people stop and see what
was going on and some stayed for hours. Lorbeer, apparently with one hand against the wall in
mid-air, is praised in many parts of the world for his special act. The performance was organized
on Saturday the 4th of September this year as part of Culturele Activiteiten Binnenstad Nieuwegein
where our Nataša Heydra is responsible for programming on behalf of Mothership.

www.johanlorbeer.com

TENT. opened the cultural season on the 9th of September with the comprehensive Paramaribo Perspectives, that is shown on different locations in Rotterdam. A part of the exhibition took place in neighborhood park Oude Westen on the West-Kruiskade, where the Surinamese artist Roberto Tjon A Meeuw made 4 benches that are based on the Surinamese Fatu Bangis. For these benches the artist used scrap wood that he found on the streets of Rotterdam. At the entrance of the park a monumental batiked cloth by Sri Irodikromo was placed on a tall scaffolding. This cloth is printed with a wide variety of prints from traditional motifs from various cultures. The production of both artworks was done by Mothership. Are you interested in adopting one of Roberto’s artworks? Then please contact Esther de Leeuwe at TENT.
edl.tent@cbk.rotterdam.nl

www.tentrotterdam.nl

Photo Monique Benthin

From 6 pm till 12 pm the artwork Jewels now shines in all it’s glory. The days are getting shorter
and that is exactly what this artwork made by Hans van Bentem needs. Jewels can be admired in its
various splendors in the Pimpernelstraat in Rotterdam Zuid. These enlarged jewels, made from
stainless steel and one sided mirrored glass, where unveiled earlier this year on the 29th of June.
Jewels is a commssion in cooperation with the housing corporation Vestia Feijenoord and the Centrum Beeldende Kunst Rotterdam.

www.hansvanbentem.nl

The Virtual Fairytale 2.0 mega artwork by Arno Coenen from 2007 is to be admired from a great
height on Google Maps; Trumanlaan 60, Utrecht NL. Commissioned by the city
of Utrecht, Coenen made three huge mosaics wihin three years including I HVNT TLD HLF OF WHT I SW! in 2008 on the Marco Poloplein and Game Meadow in 2009 for the Peltplantsoen.
These three public artworks consist of different colored concrete tiles that show a variety of
elements of contemporary visual culture. We will keep you informed as soon as the other mosaics can be seen on Google Maps.

www.arnocoenen.nl

Artist Geert Mul is to receive the Witteveen+Bos Art+Technology Award 2010 for his entire oeuvre. Mul’s work is of great importance for contemporary art because of the innovative way that he deals with the overwhelming flow of information and images of today, according to the independent jury. He will receive the award at a presentation ceremony in the Bergkerk church in Deventer on 11 November 2010

www.geertmul.nl

Paris is a long way to go, and it is! 3.641 km is the distance that the riders of the 97e Tour de France will travel. The real distance to cycle from Rotterdam to Paris is 419 km, which seems do-able, but the riders of the Tour de France will be climbing high mountains and going through deep valleys.
For the Foundation Le Grand Départ Rotterdam, Mothership came with the idea to apply two identical stickers on both sides of the Nationale Nederlanden building in Rotterdam. The stickers have a total area of 1.500 m2 and represent a typical Dutch cycling route sign. You can see them from almost everywhere in Rotterdam and also from the sky. The stickers were stuck on such a high level by Blomsma Print & Sign.

www.tourdefrancerotterdam.nl

Mothership reckons that every rider in the Tour de France is a potential winner of the yellow jersey. Every starting rider has a chance to wear the yellow jersey. Almost 200 riders were portrayed on a yellow flag, together with their surnames and the colours of their national flag.
Artist Thijs Kelder of Dstruct designed the portraits of all the participants of the 97th edition of the Tour de France, by commission of the Grand Départ organization. Shipmate produced the flags.
On the 1st of July, the director of the Tour de France, Christian Prudhomme, happily opened the parade of flags together with city councillor Antoinette Laan. The yellow flags are flying along the route of the prologue on the Boompjes, at the foot of the Erasmus bridge.
The team leaders of the 22 teams will sign their own flags, turning them into special collectors items which will be auctioned at a later date.
And the latest news is ……….. Tadaa!: the flag parade will be going to Paris and will be on display on the Champs-Élysées. C’est formidable! Afterwards, all riders will get to take their own flag home.

www.tourdefrancerotterdam.nl

The Le Grand Départ Foundation asked Mothership at the last moment to come up with something grand and special to have on the water of the river Maas in Rotterdam. Mothership came up with the idea to use a crane vessel from Bonn & Mees, who were happy to sponsor. Attached to it a 400 m2 banner, design by Irene Jacobs and produced by Blomsma Print & Sign.
Jacobs, working under the name of I’m Jac Design, is a Rotterdam based artist who also did the illustrations for the Tour de France 2010 campaign and the recent Olympic Winter Games. The artwork, as big as a 10 storey building, was presented during the first four days of the Tour de France.
www.tourdefrancerotterdam.nl

The Spanish artist Maider López was asked by Witte de With, Center for Contemporary Art and SKOR (Foundation Art and Public Space) to do a project in the public space.
She created ‘The Poldercup’ which had its first try-out in Ottoland (NL) and also served as an addition to López’ exhibition ‘Between You and I’ on the facade of Witte de With. Depicted on the banner is the concerning polder in Ottoland, which is decorated with the white outlines of the sports fields. Mothership is handling the production for this Poldercup. On the 3rd of June, Witte de With started the campaign to promote and to attract participants for the Poldercup of September 4th 2010.
Both individuals and teams can apply for the competition on the 4th of September.
www.poldercup.nl

By commssion of the project office Poptahof, Blossum’s flower helicopter flew over the Poptahof in Delft, on March 1st. An ode of flowers to the Zwaluw, a building that housed many Poptahof residents and is now being torn down.

www.blossum.com

Along ‘Happy Street’, the Dutch pavilion designed by John Körmeling for the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, one will find houses that together represent the Dutch architectural tradition.
In one of these houses, the chandelier ‘Umbrella’ by Hans van Bentem is on display.

www.rockandroyal.com

On the 9th of June, by commission of housing cooperation Vestia Zuid, thousands of flowers were raining down by Blossum on the new houses in the restructuring area De Velden (The Fields) in Rotterdam Zuid. A group of children and women of De Velden cut the flowers on the spot, before they were loaded into the flower helicopter. As always a very happy event.

www.blossum.com

This brilliant artwork by Hans van Bentem was festively revealed on the 29th of June in the Pimpernel street in Rotterdam South. The enlarged jewels of stainless steel and one-sided mirroring glass is a commission in collaboration with housing corporation Vestia Feijenoord and Centrum Beeldende Kunst Rotterdam (Center for the Visual Arts Rotterdam). With his artwork Jewels, Hans van Bentem wants to celebrate the beauty and unity of the Pimpernel street. During the day ‘Jewels’ sparkles and at night it radiates different colours.

www.hansvanbentem.nl

On Saturday 15 May, Art Pie will open its doors at 4pm at Culturepark Westergasfabriek in Amsterdam. In order to participate Möthership proposed the Gesamtkunstwerk ‘Schwarzwald/Metal Heart IV’. The idea of Schwarzwald is derived from the artist brain of Arno Coenen and is based on heavy metal in the shape of a dark forest. Different artists show that the symbolism of the forest can be interpreted in different ways.

www.derschwarzwald.info

www.kunstvlaai.nl

Chief Government Architect invited the Scottish artist Nathan Coley to design an artwork for the National Maritime Museum in Amsterdam. The project is initiated by the Government Building Agency.

With the artwork titled ‘Bringing Back the Ballast’ Coley wants to bring back bricks that were part of a different culture for 400 years to the Maritime Museum.
Coley, who makes large installations based on historical architecture, proposed to build a wall constructed with Dutch ‘IJsselbricks’ which were used in the 17th century as ballast on vessels of the Dutch East India Company.

Mothership was hired as a true Sherlock Holmes to help find these bricks. The loaded stones are making a historical tour past Singapore, Australia, Paramaribo and St. Eustatius in a sea container designed by Studio Loes&Leon. Along the way new bricks will be loaded in the container and brought back to the Netherlands.

www.rijksbouwmeester.nl
www.scheepvaartmuseum.nl

On Friday 14 May 2010 it will be 70 years ago that the bombing of Rotterdam took place. On this day several memorials and ceremonies will take place. To end the commemoration a wreath of light will be placed around the statue ‘De Verwoeste Stad’ from Ossip Zadkine, with music by Arvo Pärt.
On this day you are more than welcome to attend the ceremony at 10.30pm on Plein 1940.

For the full programme see www.rotterdam.nl/herdenking14mei

The Stichting Beeldende Kunst Middelburg (Middelburg Foundation for Visual Arts) is coordinator for the art project “Art in the Neighbourhoods”, which was initiated by the Municipalty of Middelburg. Six works will be realized in consultation with neighbourhood residents. In Nieuw Middelburg the artwork
‘De Ontknopping’ by Joep van Lieshout has been placed. For the Zuid neighbourhood the artist Edwin Zwakman created ‘Straat’, a miniature duplicate of a series of houses from the area, and placed it in the ditch in front of these houses.
The neighbourhood ‘Veersepoort’ received the artwork ‘You Mean So Much To Me” from artist Hendrik Jan Hunneman.
Later this year three more artworks will follow by Maze de Boer, Birthe Leemeijer and Lara Almarcegui.
Go for more detailed information to the SBKM/De Vleeshal website.

Sculpture International Rotterdam invited Italian artist Paola Pivi to create a new publicly accessible artwork: ‘GRRR JAMMING SQUEAK’. The artwork operates as a professional, completely functioning sound studio and offers space to groups and individuals; to professional musicians and amateurs. The studio can only be used to create music with the sounds of animals. You can play, compose, improvise, record, make mix and master tapes, jam or listen to other people make music. The studio will be opened for a year and is free accessible for everyone. GRRR JAMMING SQUEAK is part of a multiple year program by SIR for the Coolsingel-axis (2009-2012).

For opening hours and information:
www.grrr.nu
www.sculptureinternationalrotterdam.nl

‘On a journey with tales of Rotterdammers’ is the title of the touring ‘tale table’ which shows stories and pictures of migrants in and around Rotterdam. In 2008 the Nederlands Fotomuseum (Dutch Photomuseum) has collected stories of migrants, in cooperation with care facility Laurens. In connection with the photographs in their own collection the museum has asked the elderly to share their migration stories through pictures. Five of these stories have been selected for the tale table. Each of the items has been edited to create a short film.
The tale table starts its tour through Rotterdam in care facility Laurens, location Sint Antonius Gasthuis at the Nieuwe Binnenweg 35. After this, the table will continue the tour to different locations in the city, amongst them the Rotterdam Public Library.

www.nederlandsfotomuseum.nl

Photo Monique Benthin
Hilde Westerink is a student of Visual Arts & Design Management at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht. During her internship at Mothership she has created a Mothership account on Twitter and Facebook, and is gaining experience as a project manager.
Follow us on Twitter, and Mothership will follow you!

During the International Film Festival Rotterdam in January of this year, Taneda’s Coolsingel Cube was officially opened. Not a complete coincidence, since Yohei Taneda is a famous Japanese production-designer, who was invited by Sculpture International Rotterdam to design a temporary façade for the Monisima Cube, at Kruiskade 2 in Rotterdam (opposite the Hilton Hotel). The basement of the cube was turned into a real Taneda movie set, where trailers and movie fragments were shown for which he had designed the sets. He has also designed the movie sets for Air Doll the newest movie by director
Kore-eda and the ‘must have seen’ movie Kill Bill Vol.1 by director Quentin Tarantino.
The façade will be on display day and night until June 2010.

www.sculptureinternationalrotterdam.nl
www.yohta-design.com

The love object by the collective BLISS has been festively revealed on Valentine’s Day, 14th of February. There are still enough places to attach your lock to the heart shaped chair and eternally secure your love for each other. At the front of the heart, people can sit and place their camera on the pillar of hearts opposite. Set the timer and just…. KISS.
The Lock of Love can be found at the bank of the Schie, near Havenstraat 53 in Rotterdam. With their design, BLISS won the contest Lock of Love, that the Hungarian wedding planner Renata Rakolcai had organized with the borough of Delfshaven.

www.aworldofbliss.nl

Since October 2009, SKAR (Foundation for Art Accommodation Rotterdam) is accommodating people from various creative disciplines within the cultural sector in an office building at the Stadhuisplein in Rotterdam. Here, SKAR and Bureau Binnenstad (Inner City Office) wanted to make “culture” more visible, by giving a commission to graphic designers that work in the building.
The three resident graphic designers Monique Sucric, Rudin Swagerman and Paul Swagerman came up with the idea to display the word RAUM in a large and visible manner. The building was officially opened on the 1st of March by city councillor Hans Vervat and at the same time the green light was given to house creative companies in buildings in Rotterdam that are temporarily or permanently vacant.
That should create some RAUM!

www.rotterdam.nl/binnenstad

The City of Middelburg made some ambitious plans for the realizations of a few artworks in her districts. An inventory was made of the wishes of the inhabitants, ideas coming in via email or mail were collected and the commission Kunst in de Openbare Ruimte (Art in Public Space) found some matching artists. Proposals by Joep van Lieshout, Hendrik-Jan Hunneman, Edwin Zwakman, Birthe Leemeijer, Maze de Boer and Lara Almarcegui were chosen to realize their art works. The foundation Beeldende Kunst Middelburg (Visual Art Middelburg) is responsible for the realization of the project, which is produced in co-operation with the inhabitants and for which Mothership does the production. The first three artworks will be placed and revealed in April 2010.
Joep van Lieshout’s artwork De ontknopping will be revealed on Friday 16th of April in Nieuw Middelburg. On Friday 23rd of April, Hendrik-Jan Hunneman’s artwork You Mean So Much To Me will be revealed at the skatepark in Veersepoort and Edwin Zwakman’s Straat will be revealed on the 9th of April.
For more detailed information, see the website of De Vleeshal.

John Kimmel’s coaching programme has yielded great results for Mothership.
One year after winning the Ketelbinkie award, presented by the Rabobank, we are still happy that we can keep on expanding our work as art producers. We are very happy to let you know that John Kimmel has joined us an advisory director.

www.parkgraaf.nl

Because of its fifth anniversary, Mothership has compiled an anniversary book.
A few projects have been selected from a total of 160, of which all of them we are very proud. Jeroen Everaert, director of Mothership, will launch and sign the Mothership book on the fifth floor of Rotterdam’s largest book store, Selexyz/Donner.

www.enterthemothership.com

more

The time was ready on the 27th of November for Standard Time by the German artist Mark Formanek. At 05.00 ‘o clock on a chilly Friday morning the “digital” wooden clock made out of scaffolding material started to work. During the next 24 hours the time was kept at the building site of Rotterdam Central Station (NL). A crew of punctual “workers M/F” kept the time manually, meticulously changing every minute. The project, which was part of the “bouwplaatsenprogramma” (the “building site program”), highlights the accurate, old fashioned and above all human approach of the comprehension of the concept time. The performance consisted of no less than 4890 actions. At the building site of Rotterdam Central Station the Standard Time performance was filmed non-stop for 24 hours. On this film you can also spot a couple of well-known people from Rotterdam like Jules Deelder and Jack Kerklaan & son. The film is adapted so it can be used as a real time clock! We would love to see this Rotterdam Standard Time clock on the many big screens in Rotterdam. With this “digital”clock by Mark Formanek, Bureau Binnenstad of the City of Rotterdam wanted to inform people in a positive way about the work on the different building sites in Rotterdam. Check YouTube for a glimpse of the clock: http://www.youtube.com/enterthemothership
more

Since last November, Faye has started at Mothership as project manager. She will paint the town red by being a representative and outspoken Mothership-employee. There is nothing strange to detect about Faye, but she has only for 30% vision: she can see everything, but different. We regard the addition of Faye to our team as a pleasant and positive development in bringing art closer to the public, with 100% dedication.

“Ik ben hier alleen maar een tekst op deze muur die je nu leest” (“I am here only a text on the wall which you are reading now”) by Aram Peekel has won the second prize in the poetry competition “Schuttingtaal” in Nieuwegein (NL). The competition had been set up to inspire the inhabitants of Nieuwegein to write about their changing city center. And with success! Quotes taken from the winning poems can be admired on the facades of different buildings in the city center. In cooperation with Projectbureau Binnenstad of the City of Nieuwegein it was made possible to read all the poems on the fence surrounding the building site of the new city hall. Other lines which can be seen on different buildings are “hoor de toekomst fluisteren” (“hear the future whisper”) by Jos van Liempdt (first prize) and“Mijn wereld, mijn haven, mijn thuis” (“My world, my harbour, my home”) by Elke Bon (third prize).

www.schuttingtaal.net

The BLISS girls recently won a contest which was issued by Italian wedding planner Ranata Rakolcai together with the borough of Delfshaven (Rotterdam, NL). The wedding planner noticed that in Rotterdam, or maybe even nowhere in the Netherlands, there aren’t any places where you could go to with your sweetheart to declare your love. Unlike in Italy. The romantic Italians believe in eternal love by attaching a small lock to an iron fence, because “true love does not rust”. Whether you trow away the key is up to yourself. The design by BLISS will be placed in Delfshaven in early 2010. Please don’t use hand cuffs!

Check the winning design on www.aworldofbliss.nl

Mark it in your diary: Friday 15 January 2010, because just like last year we would like to toast to the new year together with you! You are invited from 18.00 till 21.00 at cafe De Unie at the Mauritsweg 34 in Rotterdam (NL). Afterwards the party will continue with FNNNN, 5 sexy dj’s!
We are looking forward to seeing you there!

From left to right: Faye Ellen, Mathijs Goorhuis, Natasa Heydra, Monique Benthin, Jeroen Everaert, Jasper Pleune and Joost ten Bruggencate.

The six meter tall crowd controllers by Dstruct drew a lot of attention during the festival De Wereld van Witte de With in Rotterdam. Physics Distrorter 1.3 by Jan van Nuenen bounced and shot ecstatically across the façade. Eight barriers by Gijs van Bon in the Hartmanstraat went up and down in various rhythms, like dancers legs that are strong as iron. The young and old had themselves stuck on a modern version of a pillory, after which they were shamelessly paraded through the street. On the lawn next to the Nai and across the building site of the Museumpark, limit-expanding movies were shown with titles such as: ‘Rotterdam Heartcore’ and ‘Baghdad Disco’ by Arno Coenen, ‘The Very Best Tof’ by Matthijs Vlot, ‘Echte Liefde’ by the Humobisten and ‘Burning Car’ by the Danish collective SUPERFLEX. In short, there was plenty to do!
The festival drew over 35.000 people and received media attention from far across the Dutch borders.
www.festivalwww.nl

You’re always the one in front, you end up in all kinds of new situations and you have a great alibi to take pictures of strangers! During the Summer Events of Your World in Rotterdam, photographer Vincent Dekker was commissioned by Rotterdam Festivals to give a master class in photography for young people. The results of what these young folks captured on digital film are now on display on the ventilation structures on the Schouwburgplein in Rotterdam. The images will be on display until the 20th of November.
www.vincentdekkers.com
www.your09.nl

Thanks to photographer Elise Rijnberg and the Rabobank Rotterdam
The Ketelbinkie award that was handed out by the Ketelbinkie Foundation and the Rabobank in May of this year, turns out to be as large as life, passionate, friendly and with lots of experience in business. The award consisted of the real gentleman ‘John Kimmel’ (shown on the rightside of the photo). He’s known as a successful businessman and runs various companies. Together with the Rabobank he helps to support new and innovative companies, both content and business wise.
Mothership is now being professionally coached to help to attain its goals for the next 5 years. With all these positive developments, Mothership is in an anti-crisis and ready to expand. We welcome the warm personality of Faye Ellen who, as a project manager, will be an additional support to our projects.

www.parkgraaf.nl

The city centre of Nieuwegein is very much in motion, even more since our Nataša has been swaying her magic pen over there. To stimulate the liveability, the council organizes various projects; one of them being the poetry contest ‘Schuttingtaal’. Inhabitants of Nieuwegein were challenged to write a poem about the changes taking place in the city centre. From the 26th of October, the winning poems can be admired on various buildings in the city centre. The fences of the construction site of the new city hall will then also display the poems of all the contestants. The project was organized by the City of Nieuwegein, in cooperation with the Library and Foundation Beeldspraak.
Rufus Ketting did the graphic design of the project.
www.schuttingtaal.net

Mothership was asked by Sculpture International Rotterdam (SIR) to produce four different performances. When The Lightness Of Poetry is about the need for ‘a simple gesture’ and was performed in the week of 19 until 27 of September. For the performances, SIR invited four internationally known artists. A film called ‘The Ashes of Pasolini’ by Alfredo Jaar, the live performance ‘Lucky Day’ by Roman Ondák, the live performance ‘Time’ by David Lamelas and ‘A ee el u?’ a live performance by the young British artist Rory Pilgrim, who believes in the possibility of letting the unspeakable speak. On the stairs of the city hall, the artist did his performance with a new choir each time. The voices aren’t singing any comprehensible words but the offered song does end with a question to the audience: ‘Can We Help You’?
www.sculptureinternationalrotterdam.nl

With ‘Monster Movies’ being the theme of Rocket Cinema Festival 2009, a selection was made from classic monster movies for which dj’s and musicians wrote a new soundtrack.
Commissioned by foundation Rocket Cinema (Paradiso), Mothership asked Anita van Pelt (Artyshock) and Marijke Brinkhof (MAD) to create a real film set in the Vondelpark in Amsterdam. Last Saturday, 24th of October, 400 people were walking in the dark night with headphones on, accompanied by the scary sounds from the movie “The Blair Witch Project” and a live mixed soundtrack by DJ Carl Craig, creating a gruesome evening.
www.rocketcinema.nl
www.marijkesartdepartment.com
www.artyshock.nl
www.carlcraig-sessions.com

Recently, the very last tile was placed of the third Mega Mosaic in Utrecht, titled ‘Game Meadow’.
Just like the previous two mosaic squares that were commissioned by the City of Utrecht, ‘Game Meadow’ in the Peltplantsoen is made of various coloured concrete tiles and has the monumental size of 68 by 8 metres!
www.arnocoenen.nl

For the past few years, Van Bentem has been to China on a regular basis. He has a house there and a studio where he not only works alone, but also with other, Chinese, artists.
This time, his hard work has led to a big solo exhibition in C-Space in Beijing (Peking) and a smaller dress size, as some of his more intimate friends might have noticed. From the 31st of October until February 2010, various sculptures in porcelain, bronze and some crystal chandeliers will be on display.
Have a look at www.c-spacebeijing.com or drop by!

BLOW UP Studio VollaersZwart

The location of this new Graffitibriljant in the borough of Prins Alexander in Rotterdam is the overpass that lifts the A16 over the ‘s Gravenweg. The overpass was once a piece of concrete scourged by tags, but with the aid of this Graffitibriljant that has changed dramatically.
For the design of BLOW UP, Studio Vollaerszwart was inspired by the tags on the walls of the overpass, which they blew up to monumental sizes.
This Graffitibriljant was commissioned by dS+V and Centrum Beeldende Kunsten Rotterdam.
www.cbk.rotterdam.nl

I love you more than …

You’re receiving Mothership’s newsletter and we like that a lot.
Despite the summer heat, we did not fail to notice that starting this October, the regulations in the Netherlands regarding the sending of spam will be more strict.
Our newsletter is definitely no advertising or spam. But if you, regrettably, do not wish to receive our newsletter any more, then gently click here.

On 11, 12, and 13th of September, during the festival Wereld van Witte de With (Rotterdam, NL), Mothership presents several artworks that will be testing the limits.

‘Prohibido el paso’ by Gijs van Bon is an interactive artwork whereby the festival’s visitors will determine the theatrical choreography of 8 mechanical barriers.

‘Physics Distorter’ by Jan van Nuenen is a video installation with a wireless remote control in the shape of a globe. This realistic computer simulation of a 1000 falling, bouncing and colliding objects on a façade in the Witte de Withstraat fortunately knows its own limits.

Dstruct will be employing it’s crowd controllers and keep an eye on the visitors, making sure that no limits will be exceeded.

If your limits have been exceeded, you can now grab your chance to pillory your friends, acquaintances or family at Stick Up. After being taped to the mobile pillory, they can be paraded down the street.

Check www.festivalwww.nl for the complete programme.

By commission of Sculpture International Rotterdam (SIR) and Witte de With, Center for Contemporary Art, two large billboards with texts of the artist Billy Apple® have been installed in the public space of Rotterdam. “The artist has to live like everybody else” is placed on the façade of the Weenapoint B building, facing Central Station. “From sculpture international Rotterdam collection” has been placed on the façade of the building of foundation MEE Rotterdam at the Schiedamse Vest, temporarily taking the place of Laan Irodjojo’s artwork. The billboards will be on display until the 13th of September, during the solo exhibition of Billy Apple® at Witte de With, Center for Contemporary Art.


www.wdw.nl
www.sculptureinternationalrotterdam.nl

Saatchi & Saatchi approached Mothership to come up with a special live performance for the campaign “IndiviDUVELisme” for Duvel, a Belgian beer. Mothership presented them tape artist Buff Diss from Melbourne, who created 2 designs on billboards at the Leidsplein in Amsterdam. The “duvelish” plan was well received.

BUFFdiss’ photostream

The district Kanaleneiland in Utrecht has commissioned another artwork by Arno Coenen. In his own visual language, Coenen designed his third mega mosaic made with coloured concrete tiles.

Previously, Coenen designed an enormous mosaic called “Virtual Fairytale 2.0”, consisting of contemporary fairytale figures from computer games, and “I HVNT TLD HLF OF WHT I SW!”, a large mosaic depicting the display of a mobile phone and a quote from Marco Polo.

Coenen’s visual language was chosen again for a mosaic of coloured concrete tiles, that will be a central point amidst schools, soccer fields and basketball courts.
www.arnocoenen.nl

Being a part of Brazil-Rotterdam, the Combi van of artists Haas&Hahn is driving through Rotterdam, acting as a mobile multi-media centre. You will either shudder or enjoy whilst looking at the old Volkswagen, when it’s showing movies about the real life in the favelas. In previous years the artists have created large scale paintings with youths and inhabitants of no-go-area’s in Rio de Janeiro.
www.favelapainting.com

During the Summer Events of Your World, photographer Vincent Dekkers was asked to teach a master class to young people. After the master class, the youngsters went out to take some nice pictures.

The funniest, craziest, best pictures will be on display in September on the ventilation pipes at the Schouwburgplein in Rotterdam.

Vincent Dekkers’ own work consists mainly of street photography and photographic reports of youth cultures and the multicultural society. Since 2005 he has photographed hundreds of young people, using themes such as work, sport and games, daily environment and religion.
www.vincentdekkers.com

Free Gaming Round 2 recently took place at the Schouwburgplein in Rotterdam (NL). For a day, the square was being controlled by games computers, gamers and artists. Rnul presented ‘Control Me Life’, in which you could shoot the Free Gaming visitors (on a screen). With this artwork, Rnul wants to bring up these kind of games for discussion. The lighter work ‘The Tomato Killer’ enabled the audience to throw tomatoes on screen at people and game related characters.

Dstruct presented ‘Noise Joy’, a life size joystick with which you could manipulate 8-bit computer sounds.

www.rnul.nl
www.dstruct.nl

Mothership is proud to have been the first that believed in the progressive concept of the flying city park. At Artpie Amsterdam 2008, Mothership enabled the launch of the flying carpet, which has since then been flying from town to town. A year and a half later, it is nominated for the Dutch Audi Design Award 2009. The winner will be announced during the award show on the 17th of October. We’ve been keeping our fingers crossed for a while already. You too can vote on ‘The Flying Grass Carpet’ at www.dutchdesignawards.nl

Mothership is really proud of all its projects and artists. Many of them have been filmed.


www.youtube.com/user/EnterTheMothership

Inspired by the environment of the Polderplein in the Hillesluis district in Rotterdam (NL), Arno Coenen made an artwork, commissioned by the Feijenoord borough of Rotterdam, for a wall of 1,5 meters high and 22 meters long.

The work, made of glass mosaic tiles and printed ceramic tiles, contains Coenen’s typical symbolism and honour and is placed on the wall that separates the Fatih mosque from the Polderplein. On the square (plein), a lot of kids play and parents gather there to have a chat with each other. From now on, the conversations will most likely be be about the golden composition of the culturally diverse Rotterdam South.

The artwork makes a positive contribution to the direct environment and was recently festively opened by Rene Kronenberg (portfolio manager Art & Culture) and Soufian Touzani (local soccer talent).
Except for the Fatih mosque, also a primary school and a branch of Duimdrop (playground facility) can be found at the square. Also those who physically contributed to the work can be found within walking distance: pupils and teachers of secondary school OSGT Nieuw Zuid.

Also Roelof Kok from Foundation NRC is also thanked for making this artwork possible.

www.arnocoenen.nl

The artists have been interviewed, together with their artworks, for the series “Van de Straat” (From the Street), part of the television program AVRO KunstUur.
The episodes are completely dedicated to art in the public space: art that is on the street and is accessible to every one. The program invites the viewer every week to think about the fact that one doesn’t necessarily needs to go to a museum to experience art.

Last May 2nd, the “The Pink Underpass” by Transister was shown, on May 30th “Lady and her dwarf” by Cirque de Pepin and Hans van Bentem’s ceramic sculpture “Guard” will be shown this fall.

Check http://kunstuur.avro.nl for any of the concerning episodes.

Every year on the 14th of May, various commemorations and ceremonies are held in memory of the bombardment of Rotterdam. To make sure that we don’t forget how horrible the war was and to think about the wars in other parts of the world.

During the Year of Architecture in 2007, Mothership gave a spectacular overview of the scale of the devastation at the time. The enormous scale of the devastation could be seen in one glance. In 2008 the bombardment was commemorated in the same impressive way.

This year, a wreath of light was put around the sculpture “De verwoeste stad”. Preceding the wreath of light, the city’s poet Jana Beranová recited a poem, specially written for the 14th of May. During a short ceremony, the beams of light were positioned around the sculpture in a circle, after which they converged above the sculpture. At 01.27 AM, exactly 12 hours after the commencement of the bombing, the lights were turned off. The city of Rotterdam has the intention to repeat this ceremony every year.

The Walk of Fame Europe Foundation asked Mothership to make a plan for a total make-over of the Walk of Fame on the Schiedamsedijk in Rotterdam (NL). Besides upgrading the visual aspect, such as re-arranging and coppering the tiles, also a virtual aspect will be added.

Together with Connectholland, a plan has been made that enables visitors via their mobile phone to get more info about the celebrities with a tile in the Walk of Fame. The celebrities will tell a story about their special relation with Rotterdam. Think of Tom Jones, who “receives” a lot of underwear during concerts, enticing you to Marlies Dekkers’ sexy lingerie shop. Click here to listen to the fragment about Tom Jones, made by Hans Wessels.

Hereby we would like to take the opportunity to invite entrepreneurs in Rotterdam that are interested in getting involved in a similar way, to contact Mothership and ask for Mathijs Goorhuis on 010-280 71 71 or send an email to: info@enterthemothership.com

“Loading Ready Run” is an interactive artwork, representing the cultural organizations housed in the Las Palmas building. They are Nederlands Fotomuseum, LP II – space for urban culture and SKVR Beeldfabriek. The artwork is made by commission of both the Centrum Beeldende Kunst Rotterdam and the previously named organizations.

The work that is continuously in motion, lights up like a big kaleidoscopic lamp as soon as someone approaches it. It invites visitors to interact with the work, since the moving images react to the visitors. Also there is the possibility to upload your own images into the artwork, thus creating a reflection of the contemporary culture of images.

The artwork has recently been opened by the artists and the director of the Nederlands Fotomuseum, Ruud Visschedijk. Images of the opening have been uploaded into the artwork and can be seen there!


www.geertmul.nl
www.maurerunited.com

During the 2008 edition of the three-day A Campingflight to Lowlands Paradise festival, one of Van Bentem’s chandeliers was on loan and lit up the press tent. The Lowlands organization was so charmed by the artwork, that they decided to purchase a skull with crossed bones for themselves.


www.hansvanbentem.nl

The concept for this mark of honour was created by a specially founded project group. The project group consists of Jaap Toorenaar (Art director of advertising agency ARA and father of the concept), Jacqueline de Jong (town councillor for the Labour party (PvdA)), Hans Walchenbach (director Historical Museum), Kees Vrijdag (Chamber of Commerce) and Jeroen Everaert (Mothership), all residing in Rotterdam.
The mark of honour is about all the names and dates of birth of people of Rotterdam that lived and worked in Rotterdam during and since 15 May 1940. They relate to approx. 3 million people, who have rebuild the city from the shards of the bombing to the modern and largest port of Europe that it is today. Via keyboards spread all over the city, that are connected to the LED nets in the bridge part of the Hef (former railway bridge), names will light up within a minute.

Since the realization of this mark of honour is not definite yet, we kindly invite you to express your opinion via the website www.eerbetoonaanderotterdammers.nl (in Dutch only)

www.eerbetoonaanderotterdammers.nl

None other than Madonna, the Queen of Pop, now owns a chandelier for one of the rooms for her children in her apartment in London. Hans van Bentem based his 50cm tall and 75cm long design for this Gun on the Colt .38 Detective Special. For us and Hans van Bentem, every customer is a Queen or King; whether Pop or not.


www.RockAndRoyal.com

Basement Jaxx is a famous British dance-duo, consisting of Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe. They have scored hits with songs as “Good Luck” and “Where’s Your Head At”, were the support act for Robby Williams and did remixes for artists such as Justin Timberlake, Pet Shop Boys, Daft Punk and Missy Elliot. All this is just an introduction to the fact that ‘our’ Jan van Nuenen made an animation exclusively for the song ‘Scars’. The animation can now be seen during the European tour of 2009.

www.janvannuenen.com

On May 14th it will be 69 years ago that the bombardment on Rotterdam took place. On this day several commemorations and ceremonies will take place. As a final ceremony a wreath of light will be “placed” around the statue “De Verwoeste Stad” by Ossip Zadkine. Previous to this the poet Jana Beranová will recite a poem.

You are welcome on the 14th of May at 22.45 hours at Plein 1940 to witness the ceremony.

For years, René Kempenaar, who suddenly died on April 16th in 2007, fully dedicated himself to the young people of Almere. He wanted to create a cool hang-out for them, where they could gather and breakdance. Shortly after his death, many youngsters requested a mark of honour for this remarkable man and his work. The town of Almere, in cooperation with Museum De Paviljoens and the Kempenaar family answered their call. Together with the Kempenaar family, Arno Coenen made a beautiful design that shows different aspects of René, like the octagonal mosaic floor that refers to martial arts such as Pencak Silat for which he had a great interest. He was a good example for young people and received a royal decoration (“lintje”) which was given to him by Queen Beatrix. The tiles of 33m2 mosaic have mainly been laid by the youngsters of Almere, who in this way can show a lasting appreciation for him. The monument will be unveiled after the summer of 2009, in the city centre of Almere.

www.arnocoenen.nl
www.depaviljoens.nl

Together with Paul van Oort of Van Oort Culturele Zaken, a plan was made for the Dutch Embassy in Saudi Arabia to celebrate the traditional Queen’s Day on April 30th, together with their diplomatic relations. Mothership invited VJ crew 113B to create a VJ-set that shows a transformation of contemporary typical Dutch images. The images were projected on the Embassy building. Accordionist Fred Abbingh took care of the typical Dutch music to accompany the images.

www.culturelezaken.nl
www.robdonkers.nl
www.tymencieraad.nl

Commissioned by the borough of Feijenoord (Rotterdam, NL), Pepijn van den Nieuwendijk (a.k.a. Cirque de Pepin) made a plaque to commemorate the founding of the soccer club Feyenoord.
In the year of the 100th anniversary of the soccer club Feyenoord, the borough -where the club’s roots are- had decided to mark the former location of café “De Vereeniging”. The café was the location where the soccer club a 101 years ago (in 1908) was founded. The plaque is made of ceramic and hand painted by Pepijn.

Since 30 December 2008 a replica had been on the facade. On April 14th the original plaque was placed and can now be admired at the Damstraat 2 in Rotterdam.

We would like to thank Roelof Kok of Stichting Nieuwe Rotterdamse Cultuur for recommending us for this commission.

www.cirque.nl

Mothership was charmed out of their pants by a young, professional and inspired Marketing and Public Relations agency. That’s not strange, considering the fact that Miss Publicity consists of 4 female professionals. In their willful and progressive way, they generate the desired publicity for their clients and supply the press with relevant information.
Because of these ladies, Mothership now appears a lot more in the regional and national press, like Metro, NRC, and the Financieel Dagblad.
Thanks to them, a true boost in publicity was generated for and about our company, surrounding the winning of the Ketelbinkie prize on the 3rd of March this year.

www.misspublicity.nl

In the building of MFA Malberg (Multi Funcional Accomodation) in Maastricht (NL), the sophisticated project TIJDVERKIJKER has been realized. For the artist, the beautiful rural environment and the special light of the district Malberg were the basis for the design.
The surrounding landscape can be admired inside the building by means of a camera on the roof that is filming the environment. This camera can turn 360 degrees and is connected to a control panel located in the main hall. The recorded images are stored in a database and shown non-stop on LCD screens, thus also showing the relation between time and the seasons in the artwork. Via a wheel on the control panel, the users of the building can control the camera and manipulate time.

www.geertmul.nl

On March 7th of this year, the mayor of Rotterdam -Ahmed Aboutaleb- opened the “Rotterdamse Museumnacht” (the Rotterdam Museumnight) and thereby also the musical artwork of Rnul. They created the “Urban Lightguide”, in which the spectator is the main character, specially for this night. With four large spotlights, the audience could illuminate different elements on and around the Schielandhuis (Historical Museum), looking for sounds from the city.

www.rnul.nl

The only airline company on this planet specialized in flowerrains, flew over Nieuwegein on April 21st. With the the flowerrains, Nieuwegein celebrates the start of the construction of the new inner city.

www.blossum.com

On Saturday the 7th of March, more than 40 museums and galleries will open their doors between 20.00 and 02.00. The start of this eighth Museumnight will literally be put in the limelight by the for us now well known mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb. For this ocassion, the artists initiative Rnul Interactive (www.rnul.nl) specially designed a spectacular musical piece of art with the spectator as main character. This piece of art will open the Museumnight at 19.45 in front of the Schielandhuis.


For more information www.rotterdamsemuseumnacht.nl

On the 3rd of March, Mothership was competing with Railz Miniworld and Rotterdam Port Experience for the Ketelbinkieprijs. The prize is meant for an entrepreneur or an organization from Rotterdam, who has profiled itself in an original way during the last year, and put the Rotterdam character on the map.

The prize was presented by mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb, to a proud Mothership. It’s agreed upon that Mothership bridges the gap between the art world and business world, making sure that both artist and client are content with the outcome of each project.


www.ketelbinkie.nl

Geert Mul (www.geertmul.nl) and the duo Marc and Nicole Maurer of MUA (www.maurerunited.com) designed an installation for the cultural organizations (Nederlands Fotomuseum , LP2 and Beeldfabriek) in the Las Palmas building. This piece of art at the Kop van Zuid has been commissioned by the Centrum voor Beeldende Kunst Rotterdam. The design is a installation of monitors and mirrors in the porters lodge in front of the building. Via sensors the installation reacts to the passers-by. Via an upload point, passers-by can add their own pictures to the installation, after which they are “lifted” and strengthened by doubling and categorizing. The official opening is on the 19th of March, but it’s ready to use for the public. We all invite you to test “LoadingReadyRun” by uploading your pictures.

Rotterdam has been declared the first youth capitol of Europe. Your World, the brand name of the project, aims its activities at the youth aged between 12 and 18 years.
During the two-day event Create Your World on the 24th and 25th of January, 300 young people had the opportunity to take part in a program where they could pitch, talk about and develop their dreams.

The theme of the decoration, designed by Thijs Kelder of Dstruct (www.dstruct.nl), was “Helden” (Heroes). Heroes like Mohammed Ali, Ghandi and Johan Cruijf were seen on badges, big panels and pillows. The most eye-catching thing was the “Heldengalerij” (Hall of heroes), to which during the event the portraits of the participants were added. By photographing, editing and printing on the spot the portraits decorated the “Your Space”.

This project was realized is order of Container.

Mothership was invited by the CIA.IS (Center for Icelandic Art) in cooperation with the Nordic Culture House in Reykjavik, to speak about the impressive light project “De Brandgrens”. The international conference was not about the excess of women in Iceland, but about light and the city, art and light, feeling and space; with the focus on the importance of qualitative lighting in a city environment. Besides Mothership, several light designers, architects and theoretics from all over Europe were invited, to shed their light on the subject.

www.cia.is

For the 100th anniversary of Feyenoord, the Rotterdam based artist Hans van Bentem (www.hansvanbentem.nl) made a unique bronze statue by commission of the supportersclub of Feyenoord. The supporters were given the opportunity to order one of these limited edition statues. The bronze statues have a diameter of 19 cm and are circa 31 cm tall. The bronze statue is painted by hand and covered with gold leaf.

The Kralingen-Crooswijk underpass has been redone and in pink. The ceiling and the bus stop are painted bright pink, the pillars have been decorated with different designs and the two slanting walls have been decorated with beautiful portraits of ‘the youth of today’ and ‘the youth of then’. For the the portraits, Transister visited the neighborhood.
Wednesday 25th of March, between 16.00 and 16.30 the pink underpass will be opened by alderman Lucas Bolsius (initiator of the Graffitibriljants) and Lucas de Boer. Transister, the portrayed people and everyone else who made this project possible, will also be there.

We pulled 2nd years student Joost van Santen of the shelves of the Faculty of Leisure Management of the Willem de Kooning. This fresh young fellow will strengthen our team until the beginning of April. Welcome!

No speeches, just dancing feet. An informal reception that included dancing, music, a good conversation and the opportunity to wish each other all the best for 2009. See the really nice pictures on our website!!

See you again next year!!

Digital media artist Jan van Nuenen and art producer Jeroen Everaert of Mothership presented a program at the  Lille Internationale Film festival (www.festivalducourt-lille.com). Mothership and Jan van Nuenen were asked as inhabitants of Rotterdam (a sister city of Lille) to put together a film programme. Van Nuenen’s work (www.janvannuenen.com) consists of photo-, video- and audio samples, cut, processed, and combined into digital animated worlds, which refer to mankind, nature, technology and the future. Also shown were movies by their favourite animation artists, like Floris Kaayk (www.floriskaayk.com), Sil van der Woerd (www.silvanderwoerd.com), Studio Smack  (www.studiosmack.nl) and Arno Coenen (www.arnocoenen.nl).  

Geert Mul and Maurer United Architects (www.geertmul.nl, www.maurerunited.com) have joined forces to create an artwork for the cultural institutions in the Las Palmas building (Rotterdam, NL). An interactive artwork is being created inside the old porter’s lodge, which refers to the concrete columns inside the building. Visitors can influence the work of art by uploading their own pictures and set it in motion through their body movement. The work of art will be completed in January 2009.

Vivid pink is the entire ceiling of the underpass where the Oostzeedijk Beneden passes underneath the Willem Ruyslaan. Nelleke Boerkoel and Hanneke van Leeuwen of Transister (www.transister.nl) have visited the borough several times to create a lot of different portraits. They discovered students of different nationalities, various sub-cultures, but also the elderly in the service building Oostmaassteyn and got permission to use their portraits for the slanting walls of the overpass. The elderly people told Transister about their early childhood and gave them a glance at the old picture albums with portraits of forgotten times.
In February of 2009 the slanting walls of the overpass will be beautifully decorated with drawings by Transister. This “Graffitibriljant” is commissioned by the CBK Rotterdam, dS+V and the  borough of Kralingen-Crooswijk.

As of November of 2008 Nataša Heydra has been appointed as programme manager Cultural Activities City Centre for the municipality of Nieuwegein. Together with cultural parties and the inhabitants of Nieuwegein Nataša will develop numerous cultural activities. We are very proud of the fact that Nataša is reinforcing the Mothership team! 

After being about one-and-a-half year in the dark, the mosaic “Helemaal Hoogvliet” by Arno Coenen (www.arnocoenen.nl) will be illuminated. Thanks to the borough of Hoogvliet the mosaic will be permanently illuminated from December of 2008. Visitors and inhabitants of Hoogvliet will now also be greeted by the work of art in the evening and at night. The work was created by hundreds of inhabitants of Hoogvliet.

From September to the end of November of this year, the team of Mothership was reinforced by Cynthia van Nijburg. Besides the loads of works she has carried out, like the feasibility study for STARS by Studio VollaersZwart (www.vollaerszwart.com), she also did a study for Mothership. With the results of this we will be quite busy in 2009! Cynthia’s final presentation will be in February of 2009. After completion she will have her Bachelors degree in Media and Entertainment Management.
Cynthia, on behalf of everybody at Mothership: thanks and a lot of success! 

Commissioned by the borough of Feijenoord, artist Pepijn van den Nieuwendijk (www.cirque.nl)  set off to create a plaque for the location where the soccer club Feyenoord was founded. The plaque will be placed on the façade on the corner of the Persoonshaven and the Damstraat in Rotterdam (NL), where café De Vereeniging once was established. Unfortunately we cant show any pictures of the artwork yet. We’ll keep you in suspense until the next newsletter.

The mosaics attached to the ceiling of the access gates of the new housing project Le Medi (www.lemedi.nl) in the Bospolder-Tussendijken neighbourhood have been nominated a Groeibriljant a while ago by the city of Rotterdam. And now they are finished!
Mothership asked artist Arno Coenen to make a design for the mosaics. In co-operation with Rini Biemans of Creatief Beheer (www.creatiefbeheer.nl), special days had been organized on which the new house owners of Le Medi and current inhabitants of the neighbourhood could create the mosaics. The first tile was laid by minister Vogelaar (Housing, Neighbourhoods and Integration).
The remarkable architecture of Le Medi was inspired by the beautiful architecture from Mediterranean countries.
On Friday 31 October at 4.30 PM the mosaics in the gates of Le Medi will be officially revealed. The opening of this special occasion will be done by city councillor Karakus of the city of Rotterdam (Housing and Spatial Planning).

The overpass where Oostzeedijk Beneden passes underneath the Willem Ruyslaan, is one of three locations that have been designated for the “Graffitibriljant” project in the Kralingen-Crooswijk district of Rotterdam (NL).
Transister (www.transister.nl), consisting of Hanneke van Leeuwen and Nelleke Boerkoel, are the young artists that will brighten up the overpass. The 15 columns have already been painted.
Portraits representing young people and their subculture will be placed on the two long walls. Not only the current youths will be portraited, but also the youths of earlier generations. Transister will visit older people to find out how they looked when they where young.
Transister is represented by Shop Around! (www.shop-around.nl)
This Graffitibriljant was an assignment by BKOR (CBK Rotterdam), dS+V and the district council of Kralingen-Crooswijk.

This year, on Friday 12th of September, the festival was opened with the show Paradise by the Laptop Light (www.paradisebythelaptoplight.com), presented by Koert van Mensvoort together with some special guests. The presentation was held in the building of the former Nederlands Fotomuseum and was a big success.
Next, a flock of sheep sauntered through the Witte de Withstreet concluding the opening of this years ‘Green’ themed festival. Once again one could immensely enjoy a divergent program of various arts. Responsible this year for driving on and enthusing the different parties along the street was Nataša Heydra; massive compliments! Participating artists were Hans van Bentem, Onno Poiesz, Lastplak in cooperation with Snodevormgevers, Dienke Groenhout & Gigja Reynisdóttir, Freerk Wieringa and Jan-Geert Munneke.

Besides photographs, the Nederlands Fotomuseum (Dutch Photomuseum) now also has moving images. P15 is a new installation, designed by Geert Mul (www.geertmul.nl) and programmed by Rob Duyser. P15 enables visitors to compile their own movie program, with a maximum of one hour. All the short movies were made by photographers.

The owners of the Turkish restaurant Nazar and the Greek restaurant Olympia on the Schiedamse Vest in Rotterdam (NL), joined hands in order to get a sculpture for their street.
For this, they invited the artist Pepijn van den Nieuwendijk, a.k.a. Cirque de Pepin (www.cirque.nl) to make a design. Pepijn was inspired by the special duo and used their cultural history for the design of the ceramic sculpture. Other parties that have helped were Project Groene Duimen, the Centrum council and Stichting Stadswonen.

We have been asked by the Dutch Chief Government Architect to assist artist Nathan Coley from Glasgow (UK) in his search for bricks, which were once used as ballast on the ships of the Dutch East and West India Companies (VOC and WIC) during the 17th and 18th century.
After having been used as ballast, these bricks were often used to build houses, schools and churches. The bricks will be incorporated into the National Maritime Museum in Amsterdam (NL), which is due for renovation. Exactly how, will be clarified at a later stage: the creative process is still ongoing.
Our search takes us from Australia to Suriname, whereby we are scouring all countries and cities along the way that have once been visited by the VOC and WIC. So far, with our crew we have been able to get our hands on a nice amount of bricks. If you might know someone who could perhaps help us in these far away countries that were once visited by the VOC or WIC, then your help is greatly appreciated.
Want to know more about Nathan Coley? Then please check Haunch of Venison(www.haunchofvenison.com) or Doggerfisher (www.doggerfisher.com).

Mothership has appeared in the press many times already. We have recently placed a nice collection of these publications on our website (mostly in Dutch). Go here to read what others have written about us!

Festival “Wereld van de Witte de With”: Theme Green

On Friday the12 th, Saturday the 13th and Sunday the 14th of September, Mothership presents a special selection of art in the public space during Festival “Wereld van de Witte de With”: as green as it gets.

more

21st century nature originates from culture: Next Nature. How will we live in this next nature? During Paradise by the Laptop Light, showmaster/artist/scientist Koert van Mensvoort narrates on his surveys about Next Nature.
He will be assisted by special guests, short movies, speed lectures and one laptop computer.

Mothership is proud about the fact that Koert will present Paradise by the Laptop Light at the former Dutch Photomuseum on the Witte de Withstraat. His show will also be the official opening of the festival on Friday 12 September at 16.30 hours at the former Dutch Photomuseum on Witte de Withstraat.

You just got to be there!
Check www.paradisebythelaptoplight.com for the entire program.

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of football club Feyenoord, artist Hans van Bentem was asked to design a special and unique bronze statue, commissioned by the Feyenoord Supportersvereniging (the Feyenoord supporters union). During the festivities on Saturday July 19 of this year , the 2,5 meters tall statue was festively unveiled on the pitch in stadium De Kuip.
Untill September 30th you can also become the proud owner of a detailed and limited bronze replica statue. The diameter of the statue is 19 cm and it is around 31 cm tall. It weighs around 2,5 kilos, the scale is 1:6. For 335,00 Euros (excluding VAT) you can order your very own piece of Feyenoord history.

In between the two terraces of the Greek and Turkisch restaurants at the Schiedamse Vest in Rotterdam a statue will arise this weekend, which will be unveiled at Festival Wereld van de Witte de With. The statue has been designed and crafted by Pepijn van den Nieuwendijk, also known as Cirque de Pepin.
The ceramic statue refers to the Schiedamse Vest as centuries old defenses of the city of Rotterdam. The knight figurine with its sailors cap refers to the medieval defenses as well as the harbor.
The statue will be unveiled on Saturday 13 September at 16.30 hours. Come and join us!

Geert Mul has yet again been asked by the “Nederlands Fotomuseum” (the Dutch Photo Museum) to develop an interactive installation for its “Kenniscentrum” (knowledge center), whereby movies made by photographers are shown to the public. Visitors can create their own playlist of movies from the ones which are selected by the museum. The selection has old films from the archives of the museum, but also special presentation by photographers.

During the opening of the new exhibit on the 20th of September, this work will be officially be presented to the public.

In this newsletter we would like to note that coming Saturday 6 September at 16.00 hours several video installations, among others REFLECTIONS/ PERSPECTIVES, by Geert Mul will be opened at Ronmandos Gallery.

The gallery is located at Prinsengracht 282 in Amsterdam, where the installations are the main event of the seasons opening show.

Flying Grass Carpet

And did you see The Flying Grass Carpet by HUNK-design and IDEddy fly? It has touched ground in Rotterdam and can be seen at the Schouwburgplein until Wednesday September 17th.

With the remembrance of the Bombardment Periphery on 14 May 2007, Mothership won the Innovation prize. The National Events Awards were handed out in National Museum from Musical Clock to Street Organ in Utrecht. We received a beautiful certificate and had a wonderful evening with all the folks from Mothership.

The remembrance of the Bombardment Periphery on 14 May 2008 was again a spectaculair and appreciated event. This time there weren’t any clouds, but a clear sky instead. Very different from last year, but equally beautiful and impressive and again plenty of photo opportunities.

On the enormous Flying Grass Carpet by HUNK-design and IDEddy, many enjoyed their stay together with BLISS.

Arno Coenen has already made an enormous mosaic square for the building “Hart van Utrecht” in Kanaleneiland. Commissioned by the city of Utrecht, Movares asked Arno Coenen to make a new design for the Marco Polo square. This time, Coenen designed a display of a mobile phone with a photo print of a pair of eyes. The eyes are accompanied by the text “I HVNT TLD HLF OF WHT I SW!”, a quote by Marco Polo.

It is such a remarkable duo, the ceramic sculpture “Lady and her dwarf” by Pepijn van den Nieuwendijk (a.k.a. Cirque de Pepin). At the opening, this June, the duo was received well by everyone that was present. Galery Majke Hüsstege once again asked Mothership to nominate an artist for the outdoor exhibitions. It is the incredible detail in Pepijn’s work that makes it so fascinating.

Inside this enormous ship, there are 8 different chandeliers by Hans van Bentem. They hang in the middle of the spiral staircases that give access to the (also) very large theater.
The ship was officially christened by our always cheery queen Beatrix on July 1st.

10 – 18 May 2008 Art Pie International, Westergasfabriek Amsterdam – www.kunstvlaai.nl
Opened daily from 12.00 till 18,00 hours.

In front of the Machinegebouw (Machine building), Mothership presents The Flying Grass Carpet (18×21 meters), designed by HUNK-design and IDEddy.

Will you come fly with us? You can take a seat on one of the dresses of the BLISS ladies

For the Marco Polo square in Utrecht (NL) Arno Coenen designed a mobile phone display and eyes. The eyes symbolize the way Marco Polo would look at the world of today! The design is made with colorful paving stones and the area covers more than 11 x 46 meters.

ERA Bouw is building new houses in the borough of Delfshaven (Rotterdam West) in a Mediterranean atmosphere. Two large entry gates give access to the houses. Arno Coenen designed two beautiful mosaics which have been installed on the ceiling of the gates. The designs were inspired by famous Dutch painters mixed with Moroccan motifs. Staff of ERA Bouw, inhabitants, police officers and passers-by each contributed their bit, just like minister Vogelaar (Housing, Neighbourhoods and Integration) and city councillor Karakus (Housing).

On Wednesday 14 May 2008 Rotterdam will commemorate the bombardment of the city that took place on 14 May 1940. The bombardment brought about a radical change in the history of the city. The events of 14th of May 1940 will be remembered at various historical sites throughout the city.

During the whole day there will be gatherings, movie programs and commemoration meetings.

The latest information regarding the program can be found here

Mayor Ivo Opstelten will light the spectacular lighting of the bombardment periphery, designed by Mothership, on Plein 1940 at 22.30 hours. Also the final design for the marking of the bombardment periphery by design office West 8 will be unveiled to the public.

Mothership and the “Bombardment Periphery” project have been nominated for the National Event Award.
Will Mothership win in the “innovation” prize at the National Event Awards?

Interactive installation at Museum Boijmans van Beuningen – Rotterdam – NL
Mul has created a contemporary intervention on all the museum’s artworks depicting a horizon.
These landscapes dissect themselves into fascinating fragments due to the movements of the visitors, which are recorded by a thermo-graphic camera.

The software is made by Carlo Prelz.
The audio is mastered by Gideon Kiers

Interactive installation at CFI (Central Finance Institute) – Zoetermeer – NL
Mul was requested to give more clarity to the processes of the CFI, by means of an artwork.
On 4 screens, the processes are represented as growing or dying plants and each screen shows a different time span (Hour, Day, Week or Month).
This way, the amount of activity is different on each screen.

The software is made by Carlo Prelz.

Interactive installation at fire station Marsweg – Zwolle – NL
The work is based on a thermo-graphic camera that searches the environment for warm objects and people. Passers-by, personnel and visitors appear in a video-projection above the entrance.
When the artwork doesn’t detect any heat sources, it changes in passive mode.
The software is made by Carlo Prelz.

On the 14th of May 1940, the center of Rotterdam was heavily bombarded and completely devastated.
On the 14th of May 2007, 128 beams of light indicated the periphery of this area.
By request of the mayor of Rotterdam, Ivo Opstelten, the periphery will shine again on Wednesday May 14th 2008.

On Friday 18th of January 2008 from 17.00 until 21.00 hours, Mothership will open its doors in the new DS25 building, together with the other inhabitants: Thrift, Popov Film, Revolver, Argentinië Huis, WhiteBull Film en Communicado.
Simultaneously, we’re celebrating our three-year anniversary. You’ll be there too, right?

You will find our building on the Delftsestraat 25 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. For this evening, the entrance is located at the side of the building (Delftsehof).
Parking is possible in the surrounding streets, but until 23.00 hours you’ll need to buy a parking ticket.

Travel information if you’re coming by
car or using public transport?

Mothership will open her new building DS25 together with the other habitants (Popov Film, WhiteBull Film, Revolver, Argentina House) on Friday 18 January at the Delftsestraat 25 in Rotterdam. It starts at 17.00-21.00. At the same time we will celebrate our 3 year anniversary of Mothership. You’ll be there too, right? Let us know via this link.

The Snow project of VollaersZwart is currently being constructed on the Coolsingel in Rotterdam (NL), in front of the former post office. Saturday 15th of December SNOW will start to snow at 16.00. Be there!

Video-artist Jan van Nuenen has a website. You can see his movies and there is also a webshop available.
Go to: www.janvannuenen.com

For three days there was lots to see and do on this annual event.
The Joint Strike Fighter by the Snodevormgevers was parked, the disposable monument of Melle Smets was used interactively, Blossum made heaps of garlands and the car bomb wrecks from Irak by Jonas Staal and Jack Segbars drew a lot of attention. Rob Sweere’s Livesaver, Dstruct’s Fool Series and Bliss’ HELP made the street look heroic!

Arno showed his love for the city of Amsterdam by designing a mosaic for the district of Oud-West. The mosaic was made of prints on 15×15 ceramic tiles.
more

Festival ‘The World of Witte de With’ is traditionally held during the second weekend of September: from the 7th until the 9th of September 2007. The arts festival will show the arts residing in the Witte de Withstreet and the Museumparkquarter, during the opening of the cultural season in Rotterdam. ‘September in Rotterdam’ has commissioned Mothership to produce a part of the programme outside. Below you’ll find a selection of the artists and their work.

• The Barking Dog. Snodevormgevers deliver the first Joint Strike Fighter to the Netherlands and they park it in the Witte de Withstreet.
• It aren’t their deeds, personality or view on the world that turns them into heroes, but that what has happened to them. The disposable monument by Melle Smets, is a victim-hero-monument.
• Anatomy of a bomb wreck by Jonas Staal and Jack Segbars. They will be placing two car bomb wrecks from Bagdad in the Witte de Withstreet as works of art.
• Fool Series by Dstruct. Hero or Anti-hero? Visitors of the festival can judge for themselves on people like Osama Bin Laden, Britney Spears, Dr. Phil and Jan Peter Balkenende.
• Livesaver. Lying in the inflatable dome of Rob Sweere, one will have the idea of floating on the ocean. The ideal place to relax and contemplate one’s own heroic acts.

Next 8th of September, a wall painting by Navin Thakoer -a.k.a. NaferLovesYou- will be revealed in the Boomgaardstreet in Rotterdam.

He works from a popmodernistic view and uses sample techniques. It has no title yet; it is up to the citizens of Rotterdam to give it a title. The artwork is an initiative of Residents organisation Cool and CBK and the production was done by Mothership.

A former soccer field has been transformed to a beautiful garden by initiator and garden architect Bert Huls. On 1 September 2007, the exhibition “TEGENDRUK” (Counter pressure) was opened.
For this exhibition, Mothership was asked by gallery Majke Hüsstege to present two works of art.
The works are the mosaic “Understand where I’m coming from” by Arno Coenen and “Merry go round” by Michiel Reesink.

Estate Tessloo – Zwarte Wegje 1 – Oisterwijk – The Netherlands

We are very happy here in our new office!
The invitation for the official opening will be send later this year.