Letters to the Mayor: Rotterdam

January 15th, 2018 – February 1st, 2018 

Het Nieuwe Instituut

 

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Storefront presents Letters to the Mayor: Rotterdam as part of the global Letters to the Mayor project. Each iteration presents a collection of letters by more than 100 architects, addressing the most pressing issues facing their city.

 

Letters to the Mayor: Rotterdam invites architects to write to Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb.

 

Participants

Ameneh Solati, Ana Luisa Moura, Andrea Prins (Andreaprins Publications), Barbara Luns, Carola Hein, Paul van de Laar & Tom Daamen (TU Delft & Erasmus Universiteit), Catherine Visser (DaF-architecten), Césare Peeren (Superuse Studios), Charlotte Ros, Claudia Mainardi (Fosbury Architecture), Cristina Ampatzidou & Ania Molenda (Amateur Cities), Dikkie Scipio (KAAN Architecten), Dirk Osinga, Donna van Milligen Bielke (Studio Donna van Milligen Bielke), Ekim Tan, Chrissy Gaglione, Txell Blanco, Sjors Martens, Elizaveta Izvolensky (Play the City), Elma van Boxel & Kristian Koreman (ZUS–Zones Urbaines Sensibles), Eva Pfannes (Ooze Architects), Felix Madrazo, Florian Boer & Dirk van Peijpe (De Urbanisten), Froukje van de Klundert (Posad Spatial Strategies), Füsun Türetken & Sammi Hammana, Füsun Türetken & Max Bruinsma (Studio Ft.), Hamed Khosravi, Harm Timmermans, Oana Rades & Thijs van Bijsterveldt (Shift Architecture Urbanism), Janna Bystrykh, Jere Kuzmanic, Job Floris (Monadnock Architecten / Hoofd Architectuur van de Rotterdamse Academie van Bouwkunst), Leire Calvillo Mendoza, Lidwine Spoormans, Like Bijlsma & Eireen Schreurs (SUB Office), Lilith van Assem & Elsbeth I. Ronner (Lilith Ronner van Hooijdonk), Lorien Beijaert & Arna Mačkić (Studio L A), Maria Fernanda Duarte, Marieke Kums (Studio MAKS), Marjolein van Eig (Bureau Van Eig), Marta M Roy Torrecilla (Kartonkraft), Mechtild Stuhlmacher (Korteknie Stuhlmacher Architecten), Merve Bedir & Jason Hilgefort (Land+Civilization Compositions), Nathalie de Vries (MVRDV), Negar Sanaan Bensi & Esin Kömez Dağlıoğlu, Peter Veenstra, Eric-Jan Pleijster, Cees van der Veeken (LOLA Landscape Architects), Riek Bakker, Sara Frikech & Daphne Bakker (Fellows of Het Nieuwe Instituut), Taneha Kuzniecow Bacchin, Teun van den Ende (Vers Beton), Ulf Hackauf (TU Delft), Willemijn Lofvers (Bureau Lofvers)

 

 

PROJECT TEAM

 

Local Curators

Marten Kuijpers, Marina Otero, and Michiel Raats (Het Nieuwe Instituut)

 

Exhibition Design and Mayoral Desk

Arna Mačkić & Lorien Beijarts, Studio L A

 

Graphic Design and Wallpaper

Rudy Guedj

 

Arif Kornweitz

 

Sophia Seawell, Malique Mohamud

 

 

ABOUT LETTERS TO THE MAYOR

 

Letters to the Mayor is an itinerant exhibition that displays letters written by architects to their city mayors. Initiated by Storefront for Art and Architecture in 2014, the project has traveled to more than 18 cities across the globe, including Bogotá, Mexico City, Athens, Panama City, Taipei, Mariupol, Madrid, Lisbon, and Buenos Aires, among others. See here for a list of iterations.  

 

Letters to the Mayor invites 100 architects in each city to write a letter to their mayor as a means of bringing innovative ideas and visions of the city closer to the decision-makers, and vice versa.

 

Throughout history, architects have addressed this responsibility by navigating the structures of economic, political, and cultural power in different ways, and with varying degrees of success. With the rise of globalization and the homogenization of the contemporary city, the political role of the architect has often been relegated to providing answers to questions that others have asked.

 

Letters to the Mayor questions this dynamic by inviting local and global architects to deliver their thoughts directly to the desks of elected officials and, simultaneously, into the public consciousness.

 

SUPPORT

 

Letters to the Mayor: Rotterdam was presented as part of City Forces, a year-long joint cultural crossover program between Storefront for Art and Architecture and Het Nieuwe Instituut, supported by the Dutch Culture USA program of the Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York.

 

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