Kamiel Verschuren, an artist involved with Paviljoen, but also with B.A.D in Rotterdam Zuid is a interdisciplinairy artist. Involved from the start I decided to interview him for this assignment, just like reinaart. Unfortunately he was unavailable.
In light of the collaborative practices, 'outside the white cube' I cant ignore initiatives from Rotterdam Zuid, where i'm from.
Paviljoen ...aan het water is a small venue, between the landfill and a hot water reserve on the riverbanks of Maashaven on Rotterdam Zuid.
This project started twelve years ago with two city-architects, Sander and Arzu, and artist Kamiel Verschuren. In 2025 it will continue in collaboration with Rotterdams Wijktheater.
The place connects the waterside, the industry and view over the Maashaven to Katendrecht. The SS Rotterdam, the city skyline with the people living in Tarwewijk. Over twelve years the place has evolved from a temporary idea to a community driven cultural art space with a large kitchen to feed up to 60/70 people that come for dinner.
Personal involvement.
I think how quickly my involvement was adopted by the organisation shows the community sense of Paviljoen ...aan het water.
When I moved to the Tarwewijk in Rotterdam I had never heard of it. I came by via friends and started volunteering when I heard that they were looking for people. I loved being behind a bar again and helping people set up their event / night / dinner. I have worked in restaurants many years, organized community events and (dinner)party's, but never in Rotterdam. As I am a little bigmouthed, I told the initiativetakers that if necessary I would gladly be involved more.
In 2024 they did not work with a programmer, but wanted to hand the keys to several key figures in the community. And I was one of them and I accepted the keys and curated May 2024.
I did not know what collaborative art practices were, or ruangrupa or that it I saw it as a performance. I wanted it to be personal in a way, and called all my creative friends to help me fill in the months. It was also this place that taught me about Rirkrit Tiravanija.
Paviljoen ...aan het water started to include the people from the Tarwewijk with the other side of the little dike. As it was meant as a space for people, the programme and how it was ran differs over the years.
For a long time Paviljoen had kookteams that roulated cooking for their community and all people who wanted for a very decent price. Tarwewijk is inhabited by many different cultures. In these kookteams varying from Polish, Armenian, Turkish, Dutch and many other countries and cultures have been cooking.
Combining the space with art, having it serve troughout the summer (May - end of september) as a collective space, usually in the wintertime it serves as a resendency for different artists from all over the world.
It's not a community centre, since it is not 'just open'. It suits the need in Rotterdam (Zuid) to create spaces for local artists, initiatives, workshops and community.
With twelve years of running a place it has evolved ofcourse. From the physical building evolving to the people involved.
Kamiel Verschuren is an artist who has his own practice. And works on communal spaces.
Leave the place better then you found it.
Take responsibility
These are two imporant mantras. His goal is to create spaces where people can come together and create, produce, eat.
He's actively involved with B.A.D, the artist space in Charlois. Paviljoen ...aan het water.
And now is working on his shared living house in france to become fully selfsustainable.
Take-A-Way Collective
On a stonesthrow distance from paviljoen aan het water is the Gaasbeekstraat. On this street there is a house that is open on certain days to come together, drink coffee and hang out. Like a lumbung in the true sense. Things are created. The people draw and exchange stories.
The work is now on display in de Kunsthal in a group expo on art from the city of Rotterdam called May I Exists. On the website of de Kunsthal this text is to be found on this collective:
Since 2022, Take-A-Way Collective has been bringing residents of the Rotterdam Tarwewijk neighbourhood together for coffee, stories, and creative sessions during which people from a wide variety of backgrounds jointly make products. The proceeds from selling these products are used to help people in need. The collective offers a safe space for sharing vulnerabilities, thus providing a unique insight into living and surviving in Rotterdam. For their work as city artists Take-Way-Collective has jointly created drawings that combine various personal experiences of social insecurity. The collective’s work is based on the stories they have been gathering all over the city while cycling around with their coffee cart.
