Pavilion ... on the Water

A low-rise building with a view of the Maas is located on the Briello Avenue, hidden between the Kwik Fit and the Menebafabriek. The Pavilion ... on the Water is an initiative of Vitibuck Architects and Stedelinks010 (Team Kamiel Verschuren, RAAF, JeanneWorks). As a new cultural project space on the Maashaven, it is also the first public place on the waterfront of Charlois.

In the summer months it does Pavilion ... on the Water serving as a restaurant, two artists are staying twice in the winter months, from October to December and from January to March. The artists always live and work for three months in the Pavilion, which offers them the opportunity to further develop their work and to enter into a relationship with their environment; with the edge of Tarwewijk on one side, the factories next to it, and the water and the harbors in front of the pavilion.

Two artists were already staying in the residency last year. Their stay resulted in two special projects: Stijn van Dorpe (BE, 1970) organized the walk Shortcut Wheat district, in which the artist led his guests through Tarwewijk in a straight line through gardens, buildings and houses. Levent Kunt (DE / TR, 1978) realized a light installation: he translated the sound of the chickens in an adjacent garage into a flashing lamp outside the pavilion's workshop.

From restaurant to residency
According to Kamiel Verschuren, one of the initiators, the pavilion must be both a home base and a base, which can also function as a meeting place or exhibition space. Experience taught him that it is more effective as an artist to take to the streets, to confront and to meet people. "After all, there is no public in Zuid, but there are potential participants and participants." The artists who reside there are therefore selected for the way they look at, or are active in, the public space.

Between April and October 2016, the Pavilion functioned as a weekend restaurant and there were a few evenings a week cooking by constantly changing teams. The proceeds from the restaurant went entirely to the Pavilion; with the money new events from Charlois ... on the Water are organised. After the last dinner on 1 October, the Pavilion was converted into a residency: a base with restaurant kitchen, two work and bedrooms and a large shared work space. The new residents, Robert Carter (UK, 1987) and Josephine Baan (NL, 1987), ended up there because of the call that was made last summer via various platforms such as East Street Arts en TransArtists was scattered.

Every day is groundhog day
The artists started their residency in October and tell me about their plans for the last half of the residency period. Both agree; the space and time to develop ideas, explore a different environment and meet new people are incredibly valuable for renewing and developing your work as an artist and are therefore very much appreciated. Robert Carter"Every day is groundhog day; in a residency you can and want to redefine every day what you think is important as an artist, you can reinvent discipline, and re-determine what it means to make art or to be an artist. ” Josephine Baan After completing her MFA at Goldsmith's University in 2015, she did not live in London for long, since then she has resided in residencies in Switzerland and Finland and since October in the Pavilion. In Helsinki she ended her stay with a night walk through the city: walking and talking go well together and are the most accessible way of entering into a dialogue. JB: “But walking is not without obligation, and always political; after all, you enter a public space where a new context always applies. "

What is it like to stay in this residency?
RC: 'I came to Rotterdam a little earlier so that I could also see the space as a restaurant. It was a strange sensation, because I was alone and only heard Dutch language around me. Fortunately, I soon ran into Josephine. As a residency, the Pavilion is a completely different place that we have made our own. The kitchen in particular is used a lot, I bake a lot of bread, and people come by. Because we are only the second generation of residents, we are a kind of guinea pigs; we actually determine the terms of the residency while we're at it.
JBK: Because I originally come from Rotterdam and have already stayed in various residencies, I was looking forward to 'coming home'. Yet it felt very different, because you are on a very different side of the city and you are quite isolated without direct neighbors and you overlook the water and the harbor.

What are you doing now?
RC: I just came from a busy period in which I showed work such as Associate Artist for the Liverpool Biennale. Together with the other selected artists we made an exhibition in the India Buildings in Liverpool. In front of my presentation I invited an artist to show his work in my frame. I chose the location and that framework, because a frame plays an important role, both literally and figuratively. A nice frame makes an image recognizable as a work of art, and a context makes you understand a text or image as a work. That is also the role of a curator; I have often accepted this in my work as an artist and that is a subject that I want to think about further here in Rotterdam; whether I want to present something as the artist, or rather in a private setting. ”

JB: “After my MFA at Goldsmith's I stayed in different residencies. At the Arc Artist Residency in Romainmôtiers together with Maëlle Gross, I investigated how you can shape your professional practice as an artist by following the daily working methods of famous artists for three days. Voltaire, for example, had working days of 20 hours; he woke up at 4 at night and then stayed in bed until half 12 for a minute to write down his thoughts, changed his clothes and worked the rest of the day until late at night. Other artists such as Tchaikovsky had calmer daily schedules, in which we proved to be more productive. ”Josephine wants to use her time in Rotterdam mainly to think about and work towards a future project. She also works on small paintings and sculptures during her stay, and performs daily activities in and around the residency. In March 2017, Josephine and Robert want to share their work with a larger audience.

Charlois ... on the Water is a collaboration between residents, entrepreneurs and policy makers. The initiators are Vitibuck Architects, G-Routes and the Rotterdams Wijktheater. Since 2014, Stedelinks 010 has been actively involved as a partner.

Pavilion ... on the Water is part of State of the City, an international exchange program supported in 2016 by AIR Antwerp, AIR_Frankfurt, the Mondriaan Fund, the city of Frankfurt, the municipality of Rotterdam, the city of Antwerp and the Flemish Community. The residency of Pavilion .. on the Water is supported by CBK Rotterdam.