The end of the road for Museum van de Wijk en Toko51

All good things come to an end, so they say .. and unfortunately, now that is the case for the Community Museum (Museum van de Wijk) Oude Westen, the project I have been working hard on the last couple of months together with the great guys from Cretopia Rotterdam. As the building our pop up museum was in, officially has been sold to a new owner, and with no other option to start elsewhere, we have to call it quits.

At least for now.

We have no idea what the future might bring, as Rotterdam's economy is booming and the whole property development market is growing at lightning speed, so, unfortunately, to prices and affordable accomodation for smaller creative initiatives is becoming more and more rare. The same goes for opportunities to start a something on a temporary or pop-up basis: they are getting scarce, too.

So, this not only means an end to The Museum van de Wijk but also to what over the last couple of years has been a small gem of local creative and social entrepreneurship and community building: Toko51. Which has been an open and openminded space for creative artists and makers from the neighborhood. It's a sad thing to see this place go and I wish both Piet Hein en Lennard, the driving forces behind this all, a lot of strength with having to break down what they built up over the last two years.

For those of you who are Dutch (or are able to read Dutch), please read this blog in which I wrote about why, to me, Toko51 was such a unique place in the cultural scene of Rotterdam:
''Het Museum van de Wijk in ''De Toko'': een plek als geen ander! 

Here's the last and final footage from that special place at de West-Kruiskade.
Bye Toko51, you will be missed...

But, as they say... when one door opens, others will open so this is hopefully not the end of what has been a great collaboration. On to new adventures, we go!

''For Your A-Mouse-Ment": philosophical m(o)usings to challenge and question your views of the world!

Sometimes, Witty Art ends up making a switch from one Series to another or starting a Series of its own - or even crossing the existing but admittingly very fine line between Singles* and Series**, as happened with this (yep) series of six drawings. Initially, they started off as six invididual drawings, with no theme or so in mind, though they were definitely connected by the appearance of a nameless figurine, a little and somewhat philosophical mouse who, in truth, has been a trusted companion in doodles and sketches, but not in Witty Art as we've all come to know it (including myself!).

Then she started appearing in my Witty Art Book 'My Life In Limbo', in which she assumed the role of a rather down to earth commentator to everything she'd witness around here. She's doesn't actively participate in all of the turbulent events going on around her, much more prefering the role of a spectator, making comments and asking questions, all of them valid in their own particular way, as Mouse happens to have a very personal view of today's world. Equally often, her comments are questioned and her questions countered by more questions, posed upon her by what seems to be an o going parade of other characters, all of them taking turns in adressing the audience as well.

Then, Mouse stepped out of the book of sketches and doodles, claiming her rightful spot in the World of Witty Art by appearing in these six drawings, I created earlier this year.  To be honest, I didn't think too much of it at first, but shortly after I decided to showcase them as a series of six at the Museum van de Wijk (Community Museum) here in Rotterdam, it became clear to me that Mouse indeed deserved to have her very own series.

So, I am proud to present to you all, my new series ''For Your A-Mouse-Ment'', a series that I hope will both amuse and arouse you by offering you a catalogue of philosophical m(o)usings, aiming to challenge your existing views of the world and offer some lighthearted entertainment, too!

* You can find all about my Series by clicking on these two links: 
Witty Art Series, Part 1 
Witty Art Series, Part 2 

** You can find all about my Singles by clicking on these two links:
Witty Art Singles, Part 1
Witty Art Singles, Part 2  

Have fun while browsing through my work. And don't forget, if you have any questions about my work or would like to even purchase one, all you have to do is click here to get in touch with me!

Another small visual impression of the Makers Expo at Toko51!

Yesterday I was host at the Makers Expo at Toko51 (my joint project together with Cretopia Rotterdam). It was a relatively quiet day, so I took the opportunity of making some more pictures, especially as this exhibition is what you could call a work in progress in itself, as some artists and makers have already left, because of other obligations and/or opportunities, but also some new faces have come on board and joined our beautiful adventure called Het Museum van de Wijk (The Community Museum) based in Het Oude Westen Rotterdam! 

In a next blog*, I will elaborate a bit more on my own Witty Art presentation and why I made the choice to exhibit this new artwork. Stay tuned for more!

Het Museum van de Wijk July 15 - September 30 2017
Toko 51, West-Kruiskade 51 Rotterdam
Open Thursdays - Saturdays 13-17hrs.
Artwork & Creative Crafts by Jaap de Korte, John Vandergalien, Wolbert van Dijk, Rio Holländer, Snotnose, Mireia Romaguera, Amine van Lieshout/BagMe, Margo Ramp, Diana van Wijk, Judith de Leeuw/JDL Streetart, Donovan Spaanstra, Esther Schoonhoven, Lenny O., Piet Hein, Robin Hendriks, Francisca Ghiraw, Laura Ketting, Akke Haarsma & Students and Christy de Witt.

* Additional edit September 6 2017: This particular blog has now been written and online, you can read it by clicking here, enjoy!

A small visual impression of the Community Museum's Makers Expo at Toko51!

As promised, some more pictures of the Makers Expo at the recently opened (pop up) Community Museum (Museum van de Wijk) at Toko51, my joint project with Cretopia Rotterdam. I think this selection gives a pretty good impression of the creative potential of local artists and makers, whose work is very rarely given a platform within the established art scene - or not even given one at all!

Het Museum van de Wijk July 15 - September 30 2017
Toko 51, West-Kruiskade 51 Rotterdam
Open Thursdays - Saturdays 13-17hrs.
Artwork & Creative Crafts by Jaap de Korte, John Vandergalien, Wolbert van Dijk, Rio Holländer, Snotnose, Mireia, Amine van Lieshout/BagMe, Margo Ramp, Diana van Wijk, Judith de Leeuw/JDL Streetart, Donovan Spaanstra, Esther Schoonhoven, Lenny O., Piet Hein, Robin Hendriks, Francisca Ghiraw, Laura Ketting, Akke Haarsma & Students and Christy de Witt.

Foto's courtesy by yours truly ;-)

For an impression of the opening earlier on July 15th and some background information on how this project came to be and what it is about, please click here.

Great turnout for the Rotterdam Makers Expo at yesterday's opening of The Community Museum Oude Westen!

Foto: Cretopia Rotterdam

Yesterday, the Museum van de Wijk (The Community Museum) of Het Oude Westen, Rotterdam has opened its doors with its first ever exhibition of local makers, either living and/or working in the area. The opening drew quite a crowd of interested visitors, who witnessed yours truly taking to the stage to do the honneurs of hosting the event, before giving the stage to our key note speaker Arnoud Molenaar, CEO of Resilient Rotterdam.

Arnoud spoke about the importance of resilience within a city's inhabitants, and especially present in artists and makers, whose creativity often enables them to offer a different approach when tackling problems and taking on challenges that 21st century cities face. Whether it's issues like (over)population and gentrification, sustainability or mobility, the environment and so on, it's more and more social and creative entrepreneurs working together with local government, corporate businesses and other parties to come up with solutions. In that light, he spoke about the significance of local grass roots initiatives such as this Community Museum for connecting people and bringing them together through art and culture.

In times like these, when art and culture indeed are often under pressure, it's a very important and welcome message - one I fully support. But given my passion for the arts, that should come as no big surprise to you all.

After Arnoud's speech, the museum was official open to the public and it was time for people to mix and mingle, while browsing through all the artwork and engaging in conversations with many of the artists who were present. All the while, local singer-songwriter and musical multitalent Nani Kry was playing the Toko51 piano and singing his bluesy/R&B-like songs. It was a very intimate, but positively-spirited event and I can say I am extremely proud to be an active part of all this.

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So, time to share with you all something about how this whole project actually came to be. A couple of weeks ago, I sat down with fellow creative and social entrepreneurs of Cretopia Rotterdam, who currently have their homebase at Toko51 at the West-Kruiskade and, talking about art, art galleries and art institutions like musea, we wondered (not for the first time) why these organisations often have very little connection with the city they are based in - or at least, they very little show sign that there is such a connection at all. Though I am all for galeries and cultural institutions operating and programming on an international scale, for it is my firm believe that art knows no borders - so I am all for that.

However, it is my personal and professional experience that these organisations are still very much high brow, highly academical and conceptual and have very little room or space for the often exciting work of outsider and street artists, the illustrators, cartoonists and sketchers who do a lot of commissioned work for (online) magazines, who promote and sell their work via online channels such as Instagram, Etsy and so on. It's like there is still this big artificial (and superficial) divide between high and low art - and if there is anything I hate (with a vengeance) it's labels like ''high'' versus ''low'', well, when applied on social structures and statues, and especially when applied to art.


One thing I have also loved about Cretopia and Toko51, is that from the very first moment they opened up, they literally opened the doors and welcomed people from literally all walks of life and from all kinds of different backgrounds to host their events and projects there. Which resulted in the occasional chaos every now and then - but it set the tone for a space in which a lot of exciting creative things could and would happen.

So, when speaking about art and museums and all that, we just thought: why not set up our own neighborhood museum? With the aim of showcasing as much work created and made by local artists and makers, especially those who have very little to no access to existing platforms for exhibiting, promoting or selling their art, products, let alone their skills. So we went out to find both amateur and professional makers, selfmade and outsider artists, makers of handmade products and other craftspeople and asked them if they would display their work at Toko51 during what we apptly named Het Museum van de Wijk (The Community Museum), which now is open weekly from Wednesdays through Saturdays from July 15th up and till with September 30th.

So far, we already found over 20 artists who are exhibiting their work, from drawings and paintings to handpainted or handcrafted objects and accessoires, such as clothing, jewelry and bags. It's a very nice group coming from and working in various disciplines - and naturally, yours truly is one of them!

Foto: Caroline de Jager

You can view way more pictures of yesterday's opening on the Cretopia website, of which I shall post a small selection at this blog too, later this week or so.

For now, here's a first impresson of the actual exhibition as it looks like right now, including a couple of pictures of the day before, when we were all busy preparing the venue for the opening. The exhibition will run up and untill with September 30th, so if you are around, feel free to drop by!

Het Museum van de Wijk July 15 - September 30 2017
Toko 51, West-Kruiskade 51 Rotterdam
Open Thursdays - Saturdays 13-17hrs. 
Artwork & Creative Crafts by Jaap de Korte, John Vandergalien, Wolbert van Dijk, Rio Holländer, Snotnose, Mireia, Amine van Lieshout/BagMe, Margo Ramp, Diana van Wijk, Judith de Leeuw/JDL Streetart, Donovan Spaanstra, Esther Schoonhoven, Lenny O., Piet Hein, Robin Hendriks, Francisca Ghiraw, Laura Ketting, Akke Haarsma & Students and Christy de Witt