- The blue spheres, Hilestraat - A collection of seven strikingly blue spheres in the playground.
- Woman in burka, Hillelaan - Here I saw a woman in black burka pushing a black pram on two different dates. Was it always the same woman? A black madonna. Or a modern ghost.
- Lonely garbage bag, Hillelaan - Each time I come here there's a lonely gray garbage bag sitting in an empty shop. The emptiness and loneliness are overwhelming.
- Dirt triangle, Brede Hilledijk - Ancient dirt collects in a triangular (alluvial) fan shape on the concrete stairs. The rain sorts the garbage by size. Instant archaeology.
- The portal, Maashaven - A spray-painted black portal by Influenza. There are several of them in Rotterdam and they are all connected.
- Metro platform view, Maashaven - From here you have a great view of the nicely depressing industrial walls of the Maashaven Silo. There's a small illegal patch of grass growing between the concrete slabs.
- The out-of-place plastic seagull, Maashaven - Someone has glued a small plastic seagull on top of one electricity pylon of the streetcar. You can only see it from the metro platform. It looks like an artwork, but could be a practical joke. I have not found any information about it.
- The spooky birch trees, Zuiderpark - A grove of spooky white birch trees with a menhir in their midst. Birch trees are associated with amanita mushrooms and are thought to be magical in Northern cultures.
- Menhir, Zuiderpark - Several modern, artificial menhirs have been placed in the park.
- Dead poplar trunks, Zuiderpark - The grey trunks of dead poplar trees are like ghost sticking out from the neglected greenery.
- Geometric constructions, Zuiderpark - Beautiful but disorienting constructivist artworks. On the border between art and functionality. Difficult to interpret. They are not on any list of Rotterdam statues.
- The apple trees, Zuidplein - Next to gloomy concrete stairs, going from a boring sidewalk to an equally boring internal courtyard a (wild?) apple tree grows. It bears fruit but still unripe when I was there.
- The roof cross, Wevershoekstraat - Some ornament has fallen from the roof of this 19th century house, leaving only a cross shaped frame.
- The falling rider, Mijnsheerenlaan - A monument for 40 men executed during the German occupation of the Netherlands on March 12, 1945. By Marino Marini and Maarten Struys.
- The poplar above the rooftops, Zuidplein - From the platform of the metro station you can see (in the summertime) one dark menacing poplar looking at you above the rooftops. An enigmatic, silent personality.
- The poplar mountains, Zuiderpark - In the summer the dark mass of poplar trees looks like a mountain range. Imaginary mountains, trees and clouds, are the only ones we have.
Urban exploration - Scientific observation - The invisible city - Psychogeography - Conceptual art
Saturday, August 8, 2015
Rotterdam - Places of pilgrimage - 4
I'm building a mental map of meaningful places in Rotterdam. There is one rule: I have to remember the place myself. I cannot use my photo archive and I cannot use books. It has to be personal. The previous parts are here: part 1, part 2, part 3. The complete map can be browsed here: Google maps.
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