We nominate Jeanne van Heeswijk because as an urban curator, she offers genuine alternatives for change in southern Rotterdam’s Afrikaanderwijk neighbourhood in the form of the Freehouse project, which has helped the district to grow stronger culturally and economically.
Freehouse is an exceptionally successful project that fits within the working method Jeanne van Heeswijk has developed for her urban projects. Because she believes city dwellers feel less and less involved in the processes and designing of public space, she employs dialogue and confrontation to provoke a new engagement. She initiates and organises processes in public space that result every time in products that suit the place in question and the people who live, work and play there. The way she communicates and designs these processes evinces a striking sensitivity to the zeitgeist. Freehouse serves as a home for a new cultural entrepreneurship. There, Van Heeswijk has succeeded in bringing together local businesspeople, youth, artists and designers to exchange knowledge, experience and ideas.
The Dutch are traders, and many of our most pleasant city squares are market squares. Since ancient times, markets have been places for cultures to come together and exchange goods and ideas. Today, though, tighter regulations, decreased supplies and declining sales have caused markets to suffer, and the Afrikaandermarkt is no exception. This is why it’s fascinating to see Freehouse betting on the square’s playing a key role in the neighbourhood’s revival. After conducting extensive research and interviews with manufacturers, businesspeople and educational institutions, Van Heeswijk visualized together with co-developer Dennis Kaspori and project leader Annet van Otterloo the opportunities for the area. In an exceptionally imaginative way, she succeeded in converting problems and possibilities into concrete plans. Thus, it became clear that the Markt van Morgen (Market of Tomorrow) should be a hub for new local projects augmenting production already taking place in the neighbourhood.
In collaboration with designers and artists, Van Heeswijk set up three pathways for local cultural production. In Suit It Yourself, clothes and accessories are being developed with women from local sewing and craft groups, while MWFH is a fashion collection produced in collaboration with the Freehouse sewing studios. And at Lucky Mi Fortune Cooking, a mobile kitchen and snack lab that devises new intercultural recipes, diners can sample the flavours of south Rotterdam. These initiatives have grown into the Wijkatelier (Neighbourhood Studio) and the Wijkkeuken van Zuid (Neighbourhood Kitchen from South). These initiatives conduct a fruitful trade with the Afrikaandermarkt, buying fabrics and foodstuffs there and selling items such as clothing, patterns, accessories, dishes and recipes on their own stalls, as well as at other locations in Rotterdam and elsewhere. The Markt van Morgen has become well known in Rotterdam, and the Afrikaandermarkt is once again the beating heart of the district.
Freehouse has also inspired new initiatives, like the baked-goods shop Suzy’s Season Cake, or Fast Flex Feijenoord, a special environmentally friendly transport service. People continually undertake small-scale projects to test out and continue new forms of collaboration, from fashion shows to fashion magazines, from the Join Us arts festival to exotic barbecues. The local people's enthusiasm for Freehouse is evident in the numerous videos, photographs and stories they have contributed to the website (www.freehouse.nl).
Jeanne van Heeswijk is realising her ambitions. She was able to diagnose exactly what the neighbourhood needed. With Freehouse, she has entered the dynamic field of developments and processes and made the residents and businesspeople of the Afrikaanderwijk aware of their neighbourhood’s cultural wealth and economic potential. Unexpected connections have arisen between residents, businesspeople and creative professionals. And Rotterdam has gained another world-class destination.
Credits
Project concept: Jeanne van Heeswijk, Dennis Kaspori, Annet van Otterloo
Project team: Wrienda Baboeram, Maartje Berendsen, Dennis van Dorem, Ramón Mosterd, Farida Moultmar, Annet van Otterloo, Waii Seu Chan, Mariska Vogel, Fiona Weir, and many others
Visual identity: Studio Roger Teeuwen, Nadia Troeman
www.jeanneworks.net
www.freehouse.nl