The Depot Inspires: Building Site
The depot’s architecture, and in particular the mirrored façade, inspired the Rotterdam photographer and film maker Ruben Hamelink. Hamelink’s starting point for his film was ‘Bouwgrond’ (‘Building Site’), a piece of music about the construction of the depot by the Rotterdam poet M. and musician Winterdagen, written at the invitation of Parfum de BoemBoem. He sees his film of the same name as visual enrichment of the music.
‘Rotterdam is an endlessly transforming city, where building not only creates new icons one after another, but is itself the greatest icon,’ says Hamelink. In his film he adds a layer to this Rotterdam theme of power in transformation, collaborating with the Conny Janssen Danst dance company. The dancers represent city residents and they dance mostly against backgrounds that reflect recognizable places in the city, such as the forecourt of the Central Station, the port of Rotterdam and the depot. Dance, architecture and city residents melt into the mirrored surfaces.
The film is a co-production with Conny Janssen Danst, supported by Rotterdam City Council’s visual arts fund. Want to see the film? Go to boijmans.nl/bouwgrond
Depot Journal
This article has been published before in Depot Journal #2 which is part of a series of six. If you would like to receive all the printed Depot journals by post, please send an email to info@boijmans.nl with your full name and address, reference ‘receive Depot Journals’.