BLUEPRINT: Whose urban appropriation is this?

Rotterdam is known as the Dutch capital of hip-hop, where architecture, urban arts, and urban culture are deeply intertwined with the city’s DNA. Old neighbourhoods and new pompous architecture alternate with each other, functioning as a catalyst for contemporary art, performance, and music culture. BLUEPRINT tapped into this condition by highlighting and questioning urban appropriation and notions of the city and its architecture. The project focused on questions around ‘architecture and identity’ and ‘the urban appropriation of street culture’, drawing connections between the urban cultures of Rotterdam and cities such as London, Paris, Lisbon, and Lluanda.

Appropriating TENT
Architect Afaina de Jong and designer Innavisions, together with Metro54, appropriated the physical exhibition space by intervening in TENT’s architecture. Their colourful, geometric settings formed a backdrop and stage for the work of artists who use codes, such as ‘realness’, and the visual language of hip-hop to create work that resonates both with street culture and contemporary art.

Taking distance from the cliché of the white cube, BLUEPRINT transformed TENT into an experimental playground and meeting point, where installations, sound works, music videos, live performances, interviews, discussions, and takeovers could interweave, thus extending the vitality of a culture in constant motion within the walls of the institute.

Poly-vocal Public Programme
Parallel to the exhibition ran an ongoing, multi-vocal public programme of gatherings, a film screening, a symposium, and a pop-up video installation, organised in close collaboration with HipHopHuis, BIRD, Studio Narrative, and AFARAI. Urban appropriation, socio-cultural issues, architecture, and ownership in the city were critically questioned and reinterpreted in dialogue with visitors, guest speakers, artists, musicians, dancers, and architects.

Metro54 x Cultural Appropriation
Metro54 is a platform for young artists, performers, and other creators who explore the boundaries of their disciplines, paying specific attention to talents who take inspiration from the world’s metropolitan melting pots. BLUEPRINT was part of their two-year focus on cultural appropriation. Artistic director of Metro54 is Amal Alhaag.