Highway Studio
Podcast (Dutch)
In the 1960s, the highway was a paragon of progress. But in 2011, the highway was perceived as a poor place to be: air pollution, tumult, traffic jams and noise made it an unhealthy, unsafe and ugly environment. Nobody wants to live close to it, but a lot of people do. The A20 is one of those old highways that used to be on the edge of the city, and is one of the bottlenecks of congestion today.
From 2008 to 2011, Rijkswaterstaat’s innovation programme, Roads to the Future (WnT), organised Operation Atlantis, an expedition to the sustainable highway. In the project participants from very diverse organisations tried to give shape to an integral area development vision, in which the highway was seen as a ‘place to be’, starting from a good balance between ‘People, Planet, Profit’. The A20 was one of the case studies.
Highway Studio
The Highway studio, in collaboration with the Willem de Kooning Art Academy and the Road Management Authorities, curated a program with lectures, excursions, expert meetings and workshops around the A20 between the Terbrechtse- and Kleinpolderplein junctions. The Highway studio tested the highway as a new public domain during a semester-filling program. Twenty Fine Arts students built an expedition camp in the Terbregseplein junction to create works of art that were presented at regular intervals to civil servants, designers, and policy makers.
Location A20 A16 junction Terbrechtseplein – Rotterdam
Period 2010
Team Melle Smets, Reinaart van Hoe & Rolf Engelen en Noor Bongers
Commisioned by Rijkswaterstaat Corporate innovation program ‘Wegen naar de toekomst’
Funding Rijkswaterstaat – Operatie Atlantis
Partners Rijkswaterstaat, Willem de Koning academie
Special Thanks Ingrid Roos, Annemieke Tromp, Wil Rene Jansen, Maik Mager
In collaboration with
Participating students Willem de Kooning Academy Rotterdam: Claire van Lubeek, Roos Wijma, Linde Akkerman, Remty Elenga, Adela Tenorio De Peroy, Joey Verberkt, Micha Prinsen, Tawhida Engelenburg, Lori van Vlerken, Niccolo Mascheroni, Gianluca Craca, Rosa Peters, Roel Roscam Abbing, Chris Bijdevaate, Boo van der Vlist, Peter Fortmann, Wendy van der Hart. Verslag/logboek: Juan Beladrich
Docenten ateliers(camping): Dirk van Lieshout, Doris Denekamp, Lukas Simonis, Rolf Engelen, Melle Smets
Jury:
Wim Anemaat, Rijkswaterstaat, Dienst Infrastructuur
Tertius Hanekamp, Atelier Rijksbouwmeesters
Wil Rene Jansen, Rijkswaterstaat, ‘Wegen naar de Toekomst’
René Verouden, Willem de Kooning Academie Rotterdam, Autonome kunst
Karel Winterink, Kunstgebouw, Publieke Werken
Main production: Roeland Otten
Production camping & Facebook: De Kapsalon
Part production & coach: Eva van Ginhoven
Host: Carlo van Driel (Station Noord)
Website snelwegatelier (snelwegatelier.tumblr.com)
Website Tumblr & wordpress: Wai Seu Chan
Website text & redaction: Eva van Ginhoven
Lectures: Jeanne van Heeswijk, Karel Wetering (Kunstgebouw), Dirk van Lieshout, Kamiel Verschuren, Guido Enthoven (Instituut Maatschappelijke Innovatie), Justin Bennett, Marnix de Nijs, Wilfried hou je bek, Arjo Klamer, Maarten van Wesemael, Joris Vijverberg (Rijkswaterstaat), Wim Nijenhuis, Lino Hellings, Sara Daleiden (L.A. Rangers), Sonja van Steekelenburg (Rijkswaterstaat), Alex van Loon (Rijkswaterstaat)”
