Building site: online première

On Thursday 21 January 'Bouwgrond' ('Building site') premiered online on the Boijmans YouTube channel.

While the construction of Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen is approaching its final phase and the furnishing is now in full swing, this special project takes you back to the beginning, to when the depot was still a building site. Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen stirs many Rotterdammers. Amazement and curiosity, but also pride and inspiration. Poet M. from Rotterdam wrote the text 'Bouwgrond', musician Winterdagen made the music and filmmaker Ruben Hamelink made a film of the same name as a visual enrichment for the piece of music. The film premiere would take place on January 8, 2021 in KINO, but unfortunately that was not possible due to the lockdown. That is why the project was released online. 'Bouwgrond' premiered live via the Boijmans YouTube channel. Afterwards there was the opportunity for a live chat with the creators via YouTube and to ask questions.

View the project below:

Watch the entire online film premiere below.

The program:

Introduction by the makers
Film screening
Ruben in conversation with the makers
Music M. en Winterdagen

The track is also available on Spotify, click here

The city and Boijmans, inseparably hand in hand.
Seen from the bottom, so inexhaustible Rotterdam.

The front view is side view, visually complete.
All around is wealth, mirror sound of joy.

Come and dance upstairs.
Until the roof terrace, and every piece of magic has come alongside.

Staring for days until I will carry every object like me.
More than man can make, treasury stories.

New Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen Rotterdam,
the whole world benefits from this.

A gift to the city, so let's unpack.

some excerpts from 'Bouwgrond'.

M. & Winterdagen at the depot's construction site. Photo: Ruben Hamelink

M. en Winterdagen

In 2017, Rotterdam Poet M. and musician Winterdagen were invited by Parfum de BoemBoem to be inspired by the construction of Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen. They visited the construction site several times. They met director Sjarel Ex and architect Winy Maas to get to know the story behind the depot and to get a feel for the architecture and the history, present and future of the area. Winterdagen composed the composition to the text by M. They gave concerts twice on the construction site of the depot. During a special winter edition of Parfum de BoemBoem in 2017 and the MOMOFestival in 2018. They also played the song at the Highest Point celebration on 3 September 2019 for BAM construction workers and invited guests.

Ruben Hamelink

The architecture of the depot and in particular the mirrored facade inspired the Rotterdam photographer and filmmaker Ruben Hamelink. The music piece 'Bouwgrond' was the starting point for Hamelink. He sees his film of the same name as a visual enrichment for the piece of music. In his film, Hamelink adds a layer to the Rotterdam theme of strength in transformation. For this he works together with Conny Janssen Danst. The dancers represent the city dwellers and are often depicted through the reflection of recognizable places in Rotterdam such as the forecourt of the Central Station, the harbor and in the depot. Dance, architecture and the inhabitants of the city merge in the mirrored surfaces. The film is a co-production with Conny Janssen Danst, supported by the municipality of Rotterdam Visual Arts Fund.