BO^KMAmtichting Stiuiiecentrum voor kunst, cultuur en beleid Herengracht 415 1017 BP Amsterdam telefoon bibliotheek 020-6243739 fax 020-6385239 e-mail [email protected] De uitleentermijn bedraagt 4 weken. Verlenging met 4 weken is mogelijk, tenzij de publikatie inmiddels is gereserveerd. De uitleentermijn is verstreken op: / V» 99-527a * ” I 1 ■ V ~ In 2001 Rotterdam wants to show Europe how a new city as candidate for the title Cultural Capital of Europe in the year 2001. can be created in fifty years. That is the unique thing about the cultural capital of Following the reconstruction of the city, interest in culture has increased quite Rotterdam. What happens when a city has to redesign itself in the twentieth cen- considerably in Rotterdam over the past few years. The number of facilities and tury? What kind of architecture emerges if you decide not to just rebuild the old? activities has expanded rapidly. When it comes to culture, Rotterdam has become Sometimes we are amazed at how it has been possible to create such a new city in mature and unique. such a short space of time. We want to reveal that process, which is unique in In this ‘bid book’ we take you through Rotterdam. Its rich and turbulent histoiy Europe, to as many people as possible. has given rise to a whole spectrum of cultures. This cultural heritage from days Art and culture are ideal ways for a new society to express itself. Rotterdam, a new past forms the basis for a new start. In this context, there is a dual challenge. city in the physical sense, also has a new social and cultural ‘fabric’. For this reas- ‘Rotterdam 2001’ will also have to present the highlights of the past hundred years. on, it is the designers from the cultural sector in particular who are providing new Not a nostalgic retrospective, but a conscious balance in an eventful century in answers to the challenges facing Rotterdam on its path towards the next century. which Rotterdam created a new future. After all; culture is a broad concept, in which the whole of society can be reflected. With this as its stake, Rotterdam has been put forward by the Dutch government Hans Kombrink, Alderman Jor Urban Planning and Culture Colophon 2001 Ron Rijghard, Eugène van Rijn, Paans, Maarten van der Voorde Publiohep: ‘2001’ is published by Helene de Bruin Ppoduction: Tponslation: Translingua t.t.i. the Municipality of Rotterdam on the BIKKER Communicatie Rotterdam Rotterdam Ppinteps Drukkerij occasion of the candidacy of Design and loyouti Proforma, van de Rhee, Rotterdam Rotterdam for Cultural Capital of designers and consultants, Rotterdam Editopial addpess: Municipality Europe in 2001 as a special issue of Phofcogpophy: Tom Croes, Bas of Rotterdam, Department of Cultural Ai Rotterdam, the magazine of the Czerwinski, archives Dienst Stedebouw Affairs, Postbus 70012, 3000 KP Rotterdam City Development en Volkshuisvesting (dS-tV), Hans Rotterdam The Netherlands Corporation (ontwikkelingsbedrijf Gerritsen, archives Netherlands Rotterdam, OBR). Editop-in-chief: Architecture Institute, archives Nether- Kees Weeda Editopiol ■toff: Kees lands Photo Institute, Marco de Nood, Weeda, Monique Vogelzang, Mark Hans Pattist, Jan van der Ploeg, Huib Harbers, Jeroen Maters, Marc Mijer, Rutten, Daria Scagliola, Pan Sok, Erik Herengracht 415 1017 SP Amsterdam TSJ.S243739_ 1 S A day out in R’dam 7 Cultural Capital to crown reconstruction 16 R’dam’a Theatrea io Showcase of modern deveiopment SO Muaeuma SS Muaic and □ance 14 Party with up-to-date themes SG R’dam feativala 17 Experiencing scuipture on the streets SB Film and pop S3 World-renowned architecture 31 Partner citiea 3S To the Slat century 30 Investing in cuiture ■■ Rotterdom 2001, Rotterdam is always willing to give The city of RoUepdam Cultural organisations financially in cultural activities a boost and that is and activities arden why it decided to spend the extra in the context of the Cultural Capital. The second city of the Netherlands. Theatres: 19 theatres, including For the programme of activities in One year as ‘cultural capital’ also has The metropolis Rotterdam has a pop- the Doelen concert and conference 2001, the municipality of Rotterdam an economic spin-off. Experience in ulation of 1.2 million, comprising centre, the Luxor Theatre, the Rotter- has a sum of over 50 million guilders other cities shows indirect returns, many different nationalities. dam Schouwburg and Nighttown. available. This budget is almost fully through improvements to the city’s Facilities: Rotterdam Airport; Theatre campanies: 8 compa- covered. Naturally, these costs do not image, but also direct economic 299 educational institutes, including nies, including RO Theatre, Onafhan- include the extra investments which improvements through the generation the Erasmus University Rotterdam; kelijk Toneel and Bonheur. Music: are still to be made in the infrastructu- of employment: 8,000 jobs (some 512 sports and recreation facilities, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, re. In 2001, Rotterdam will benefit temporary) in Glasgow, the cultural including Blijdorp Zoological conducted by Valery Gergiev, and from, for instance, the new Luxor capital in 1990, and extra spending by Gardens; 18 shopping malls, inclu- approximately 100 professional and Theatre and ±e expansion of the tourists, who also bring tax revenues ding the Beurstraverse and the amateur choral/musical societies. Doelen concert and conference centre. with them. Glasgow (quite compara- Lijnbaan; 3 football stadiums; Ballet: 6 dance companies, inclu- But work is also progressing on ble with Rotterdam) attracted 3.5 mil- 42 hotels with 4,720 beds. Extensive ding Scapino Ballet and the Rotter- improvements to the tram and metro lion tourists, yielding economic network of public transport: bus, damse Dansgroep. Museums: 34 network, the roads in and around returns of 150 million pounds. tram, metro, water taxi and train; museums, including Boijmans Van Rotterdam and urban renewal. 639 bridges, including the famous Beuningen, the Maritime Museum and The budget of 50 million guilders is Erasmus Bridge and the Hef; Ring of the Ethnology Museum; 42 galleries/ purely for activities in the context of motorways with links to all surroun- exhibition halls, including Witte de the Cultural Capital of Europe and is ding areas. With, centre for contemporary art. in addition to the existing budgets for Cinemas: 25 studios in 6 com- the arts. For your information: the plexes. Library: i Rotterdam municipality spends 165 million guil- Municipal Library with 22 branches ders a year on art and culture. and 2 mobile libraries, i Central Disc Library. Events: 43 a year, inclu- ding the R-Festival, Summer Carnival, World Port Days, Dunya Festival, Metropolis and the Gergiev Festival. 2001 Rotterdam 2001 / pa^e 5 City in motion In this publication, we present a portrait of Rotterdam. Perhaps a surprising portrait for many who associate Rotterdam with the largest port in the world, with econo- mic activity, with trade and shipping. But Rotterdam has more than this to offer and is very eager to show this to Europe. Rotterdam is perhaps on the eve of what could be one of the most important events in its post-war cultural history: Cultural Capital of Europe in the year 2001. After the destruction of the city in 1940, a whole new society had to be created. Just like during the Industrial Revolution, there was evidence of a frontier mentality. Just as in the beginning of the century, a new city was - and had to be - built at top speed; there was no choice. This mentality is important in determining the cultural identity of Rotterdam and explains why the city is always able to renew itself. I am convinced that the largest and most important port in the world forms a unique stage for a cultural capital. Not only in the literal sense, as will also be the case, but mainly in terms of the cultural significance of that phenomenon. The port as symbol of change, renewal, as backdrop for the ‘city in motion’. The port on the Rhine Delta, the gateway to a hinterland of some hundreds of millions of Europeans, where the whole world meets; a pivot for trade and industry. Parallel to the development of the port of Rotterdam into a centre for the international economy, the city has also deve- loped its orientation towards culture, thereby illustrating a much more large-scale global process which causes econo- mic and cultural centres to converge (as was the case in the Middle Ages when religious and cultural centres coincided). As far as the geographic dimension of the events associated with Rotterdam Cultural Capital is concerned, contact has been sought with partner cities in Europe with which Rotterdam has close ties. Talks are being held with St. Petersburg, Gdansk, Cologne, Budapest and Bilbao and we hope and expect that they will result in fruitful cooperation. Rotterdam 2001 will mainly be a manifestation of the new European city in a new century. A city which continues to innovate, which simply must be open to changes in its built-up environment and in its social and cultural fabric. Rotterdam Cultural Capital 2001: a year focussing on a city that can possibly show better than anywhere else in Europe how a city arose from its ashes, how a new city was built, both physically and socially, and how art and culture have been given a place in a city with the largest port in the world. Dr. Bram Peper Mayor of Rotterdam Witte de With- attracted art bookstores and other art- Youth and training are of fundamental which is contradictory, heterogenous straat: cultural related shops to the street. Even the importance for participation in art and and volatile’, as V2 itself puts it. route in the police has gone with the flow! In the culture.