Art in the Witte de Withkwartier

Rotterdam arts festival opens the cultural season with
(inter) national artists, local heroes, outsiders & new talent

'Art in the Witte de Withkwartier' opens the new cultural season with a 'State of the Art' from the Rotterdam art sector. The arts festival shows a cross-section of everything that Rotterdam has to offer at the intersection of performance art and visual arts, fashion, music, design, photography, video art and interventions in public space. From an international perspective, attention is paid to 'Bit Rot': the first large-scale solo exhibition of 'Artist in Focus' Douglas Coupland (CAN) in Europe. In addition, the Drempelprijs is awarded to young talents from the Willem de Kooning Academy. With 'World Beyond Art' in the Museumpark, attention is paid to the art of the outsiders. Sunday is the family day, with workshops, craft trips and a children's disco.

Artist Only and Preview Night
Bouncing into the festival with the Kunstblockparty
Organizer Kunstblock involves artists more closely in the festival and opens this year for the first time with an 'Artist Only' happening. The Threshold Prize is also awarded to young Rotterdam talents. Prior to the opening is the FITAX art exchange fair, where artists exhibit their work and exchange among themselves. For the public there is the preview night, with exclusive openings and small-scale events. New this year is the festival hang out in the Kromme Elleboog, a side street of the Witte de Withstraat, with a bar and outdoor stage that will be filled with a continuous program for three days. At the end of the evening, the program moves indoors and the arts festival is bouncingly heralded with the Kunstblockparty 'Double Cross x TEMPO' in WORM. - Fri 11 Sept. 17.00 p.m. FITAX art exchange fair, 19.00 p.m. - 23.00 p.m. 'Artist Only', Boomgaardsstraat and Preview Night in the Witte de Withkwartier; 23.00-06.00 Kunstblockparty, WORM, Boomgaardsstraat 71.

Artist in Focus, Douglas Coupland - 'Bit Rot'
The first large-scale solo exhibition in Europe
Where other cities take the past as an anchor point from which to derive their identity, Rotterdam does the opposite; the future shapes its character. In the context of the Manifestation 'Rotterdam celebrates the city', Kunstblock is pleased to collaborate with the Canadian writer, artist and designer Douglas Coupland (1965), as Artist in Focus for the year-long project 'Futurosity'. Coupland's first novel 'Generation X' (1991), in which he perfectly described an entire generation, became an international bestseller and Coupland still manages to capture the zeitgeist like no other. Inspired by Coupland's work, 'Futurosity' is an invitation to reflect together on the concept of 'future'. On the eve of the festival, on Thursday 10 September, Coupland will give an artist talk and open 'Bit Rot', his first large-scale solo exhibition in Europe, at the Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art. In this exhibition, the artist shares his thoughts with the public and addresses topics such as globalization, terror, the Internet, pop culture, social media and the resulting image economy. On Friday he will be present at 'Cocktails & Helvetica', a design and print workshop for slogan posters with the Helvetica font. - Thu 10 Sept. 17.00 p.m. opening 'Bit Rot' with Artist Talk, Witte de With, Fri 11 Sept. 19.00 - 23.00 'Cocktails & Helvetica'.

'World Beyond Art' - Outside Art in Museum Park
Art of sleepers, visionaries, outsiders and naives
The arts festival welcomes a special group of artists and performers in the Museum Park who create art from a certain isolation, not taking into account the hassles and conventions of the modern art world. 'You hear and you hardly see them'. Day in, day out, they work in silence in their own fascinating world, which they reveal with their art. International museums and art collectors have long appreciated this art movement, which they characterize as boundless, unconventional and surprising, while the Netherlands has so far lacked the necessary attention for this art flow. 'World Beyond Art' in the Museum Park draws the visitor into the world of these makers, which is exhibited in a colorful collection of caravans, construction chains, horse wagons and sea containers, attractively decorated with performances and pleasant hang-outs with music and bars. Art in the Witte de Withkwartier is the first arts festival in the Netherlands to offer Outsider Art a full place within the program. 'Worl Beyond Art' is part of 24 Hours of Culture. - Sat 12 to Sun 13 Sept., 'World Beyond Art', Museum Park.

The Threshold Prize - talent WdKA
Prize for the most promising, graduated young talents
The Witte de Withkwartier has a great attraction for art initiatives and artists, both established and young and up-and-coming. The art institutions and galleries have great involvement with and attention for new talent, including the students of the nearby Willem de Kooning Academy. To reinforce this, the new Threshold Prize will be awarded to the academy's most promising graduate young talents during the opening of the festival. The work of these graduates is shown in a specially designed exhibition on location in the Witte de Withkwartier. During the festival weekend, the results of 'Public & Private, Autonomous Practices' will also be presented, with work by fourth-year students based on a week-long workshops. - Fri 11 Sept. Presentation of the Threshold Prize, Fri 11 to Sun 13 Sept. Exhibition of the Threshold Prize and the presentation of 'Public & Private, Autonomous Practices'.

Family Program - Children have fun 'in front of their parents'
Kinderkaffee, Tentakelfestival and Fantasie on format
Art caravan Tentakel descends on the square at the Schiedamse Vest with a mini parade of artists and performers, from where the children's routes also depart. Sunday is family day: the Kinderkaffee ', the nicest café in Rotterdam, has a full program of lemonade, shaking cocktails, DJing and a children's disco. In the Eendrachtstuin, children learn to work with different textile techniques in the workshop 'Fantasy on Format', or get wavy on radio waves and swing from the groove with the 'Sound garden'. - Sat 12 to Sun 13 Sept. Art caravan Tentakel, at the Schiedamse Vest and Children's Expeditions, so. Sept 13th 'Kinderkaffee', #Wunderbar and 'Tailor-made Fantasy, Eendrachtstuin.

Kunstblock - Art institutions in the Witte de Withkwartier
Stand up comedy, carnival, party & Summer Sessions
Kunstblock is the name of the collaborating contemporary art institutions in the Witte de Withkwartier: TENT, CBK Rotterdam, Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Showroom MAMA, V2_ Institute for the Unstable Media and WORM Institute for Avant-garde Recreation. During the festival, the Kunstblock institutions will highlight a special shade of art: MAMA proves with 'Laff Box' that art is also stand-up comedy. TENT combines art with carnival in a parade of fourteen young talents led by performance artist Mette Sterre, as part of the manifestation 'On The Other Side Of Reality'. V2_ shows the results of their summer school 'Summer Sessions 2015', with work by international media artists. CBK Rotterdam is working with Urban Guides to map out the Art & Architecture route, along the reconstruction art in the outdoor space. Every festival day ends with the Kunstblockparty, where artists and the public meet. - Sat 12 to Sun 13 Sept. 'Laff Box', Showroom MAMA; bicycle route Art & Architecture, CBK Rotterdam; Summer Sessions, V2_; Sun 13 Sept. Street parade 'On The Other Side Of Reality', TENT.

More information: www.kunstwdwkwartier.nl