Newsletter #11, May 2009

Honour to the people of Rotterdam


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.nlmore

Is that a crystal pistol in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?
Chandelier for Madonna


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 shows an animation by Jan van Nuenen during European tour


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
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Wreath of light surrounds "De Verwoeste Stad"

Foto: Martijn Scholten
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.

Special monument René Kempenaar becomes collective art work in Almere
Artist: Arno Coenen


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

Mothership to Riyad (Saudi Arabia) with VJ crew 113B
Tymen Cieraad, Rob Donkers and Fred Abbingh


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 more

Plaque for soccer club Feyenoord
Artist: Cirque de Pepin


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
www.stichtingnrc.nl
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Miss Publicity & Mothership


From left to right:Esther van der Leer, founder Clarissa Slingerland, Cristèl Klandermans and Leonieke Hinse.
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

Sophisticated interactive project TIJDVERKIJKER in Maastricht
Artist: Geert Mul


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 more

The Urban Lightguide by Rnul during the Rotterdamse Museumnacht 2009
Artists: Rob Donkers en Aart Muis


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 more

Artists collective Blossum brightens up Nieuwegein

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.commore