Afri ontsnapt
Concept | art installation | short films
Part of the Afri Ontsnapt (Afri escapes) project. The project creates a dialogue about various insights and relevant issues of the Afrikaanderwijk.
The Afrikaanderwijk. There is a negative image in the media,
structurally no response is given to the residents (such as changing the racist street names), the developments since the guest workers were brought to Rotterdam in the 1950s and helped to build Rotterdam, the gap between the current neighborhood and the city vision, and so on.
There is a separation between the municipality and the inhabitants of Afrikaanderwijk, with the fence around the Afrikaanderpark as a symbol of this. The empty and bare park is surrounded by a 2 meter high steel fence, which we want the residents to bridge. The grass from the park (symbolic for the neighborhood resident) escapes its fence (symbolic for the municipality and the imposed boundaries) and spreads through the neighborhood (making your voice heard) by means of an escape box.
Willem de Kooning Academie, 2021
In collaboration with Madelief Broekman
LETTING THE PARK ESCAPE
In the concept, the park symbolizes the residents of Afrikaanderwijk and the fence, where the park escapes from, symbol for the municipality.
"To Thank them for rebuilding Rotterdam"
Afri Ontsnapt | Afri escapes (Short film 1/3)
Research into Afrikaanderwijk; The action in various events from a one-sided perspective and the image that has arisen.
"Not for the neighborhood, but with the neighborhood."
Ontsnap je mee? | You're escaping with us? (Short film 2/3)
Research into the inhabitants of Afrikaanderwijk; Thoughts about the park, the lost opportunities and wanting to be heard.
"Screaming for its freedom, but surrounded by fences"
Jouw stem | Your voice (Short film 3/3)
Surrounded by fences. The park that escapes.
A free park. A free voice.
Afri escapes! Will you escape with us?
Watch the 3 short films (1 min)
the escape
With two stairs we have made a bridge over the fence so that the park can escape over it and then infiltrate the neighborhood.
The park will slowly spread through the neighborhood with pieces of grass the size of a paving stone. The residents can put these in the neighborhood because we don't do it for the residents but with the residents. So that the residents finally have (free choice of) freedom.
escape box
Together with the neighborhood manager Robert and children of the neighborhood we laid down the first piece of grass.
