TRACKING ROTTERDAM

Until the 19^th century in the Netherlands there were no numbers in the front door of the houses but ‘’gevelstenen’’ instead. These were small images that represented what the building stood for and who the inhabitants were. There could be the name, the origin, religion or profession of the owner. There could be used as a talisman protecting the home or as a commemoration of a special occasion.   By looking at them you could know more about the character of the house owner than you ever would from merely reading a house number or address. In the same way our houses in the Wielewaal have their own life and souls and they are something more that numbers on a map. Intrigued by this tradition, we decided to ask our neighbours what their ‘gevelsteen’ would be.

What image or word would they use to describe their home?What home means to them?

This way we got to meet our neighbours and have conversations about home. Then gathered these words and translated them into images. What you see here is the result of our conversations and the process of creating their personalized images. You can also see our working space inside one of the Wielewaal houses. After the exhibition the images will be given to our neighbours to hang them out of their house communicating this way who they are and what their home stands for.

 

It all started when I was a guest artist at Stichting B.a.d in 2011, during an open studio event. I wanted to have a carpet for that day in my studio, where I also used to live. I’ve thought that it could be nice&cosy to have a carpet during the exhibition as a symbol of turkish houses and therefore kind of sign for hospitality… We couldn’t find a carpet in the building so I decided to make my own, but how? I shouldn’t be drawing on the floor with a permanent marker or so… then I’ve thought maybe I could just draw on a paper tape and stick the paper tape on the floor… I ended up making 2 carpets. I liked creating them, people liked seeing them… and even since, I was asked to make new ones for many other exhibitions… mainly for the events of Gallery Niffo… but also for Werklicht, Pand Paulus, for my open studio exhibitions etc… light and fun… yet deep and flying carpets 🙂