Cor Kraat

In Dutch cities like Rotterdam there is a lot of art in the public domain. In fact, it's so common you might hardly notice it anymore. It's part of the city furniture, just like speed-walking addicts, run down buildings and bankrupt shops. Of course the art is much more fun to look at. One man started to paint the town red (and pink, yellow, green, baby-blue and bright orange) a long, long time ago. His name is Cor Kraat. It's likely that this name does not ring any bells, apart from maybe the posters you can now see throughout the city advertising his exhibition. But his work is actually pretty famous: he made the Nieuwe Delftse Poort, the Polaroid and the BMW car that accidentally hangs out of a parking garage.

When I showed my Belarussian friend around town two years ago, she wondered about all the public pieces of art: "why is this statue here? What does that mural mean?" Funny, she pointed out some objects that I had missed for years and was now forced to take an extra look at, and I enjoyed it. "There is no meaning to it. It is just... art for the sake of art." "Soooo it's not for honouring your president, I mean queen. Or to remember the war? Interesting..." The idea of art in public spaces to cheer up the city was an unknown concept for her. But it exists since the seventies when the beforementioned Cor Kraat decided to add more colour to Rotterdam in a project called 'Townpainting'. I also had never heard of the man, but have fond memories of one of his works. 'The Polaroid' was a sign that we were almost home, if we drove by it in our old Peugeot. We actually called it 'The Punaise' (the thumbnail), because that impressed us more that the pictured image of the harbour.
Now why am I dedicating precious blog-space to an artist? Well, for two reasons: why is it, that in a foreign city, whether on holiday or business trip you will pay more attention to your surroundings, when there is a lot of cool art in your own street, block, city? Look around more, it's free! Also, now is your chance to see what Cor Kraat has done for the city in his exhibition in LP2 (Las Palmas). And that brings me to the second reason: I sell tickets there, so it is in my own personal interest that you drop by and buy a ticket for this awesome overview of Kraat's work, documentaries and a virtual reality experience on a bike. So, bring your parents and foreign friends (English translation of the catalogue will soon be available, so the subtitle 'Made in Rotterdam' will make sense). Before I forget, there's actually a third reason: the brilliant entrance: the tram kindly sponsored by the RET. The exhibition will be at LP2 in the south of Rotterdam till early december and tickets are 6 euros max with lots of discount options.

Stories from the North of the East (part 1)

For a long time I wanted to go to Russia. "Why Russia?" people ask me when I tell them this. "Why skiing?/Greece?/France" I ask them in return, because, why not Russia? But I know the answer, ever since I saw a picture of the Vassily Church in a children's book, I wanted to see it in real life. Twenty-seven years down the line, I made it happen.
My journey started with a bonus-trip to Riga, since AirBaltic postponed my flight to Minsk with one day. Hotel, taxi-transfer and complimentary coffee at the airport were all paid for. Me being a sucker for freebees, was gratefull for the opportunity. Riga is Baltic for beginners; the capital of Latvia can be seen in a couple of days. The city centre is so compact, that I was able to cross of the complete map with places worth seen according to the sightseeing map I picked up from the taxi. So that's your basic churches, museums, (war)monuments, fountains, a bridge with locks, a sparkly Christmas-statue, parks, flowermarket, ghosthouses and a TGI Friday's. I know, but when this girl craves a burger, there's no way she's having a salad. The funniest thing was hearing the Latvian version of Marco Borsato's 'de meeste dromen zijn bedrog' on the radio before taking a half-empty Fokker 50 to Minsk.

Minsk was alright. My friend Ana lives there and we stayed in an appartment in an area called Shabany. That's not in the Lonely Planet. Minsk doesn't have many tourists visiting, the amount of red tape and paperwork might have something to do with that. The political situation isn't very attractive either; Belarus is known as the last dictatorship of Europe. Artists are called on to cancel concerts and boycot Belarus to avoid enriching the president. Also, the recent subway-bombing just adds sadness instead of security. Ana showed me the main sights worth seeing; the revolution-square, a lot of Communistic memorabilia, KGB building, state-run shops and fountains. The city is clean, wide and tidy. Minsk surprisingly had a good 'going out'-atmosphere, and it was in the Stravinski bar that I discovered the joy of 'hot cocktails'. We went to two supercute bars called 'Old Minsk' and 'London'. The funniest part about 'London' was the postcards from Milan on the wall and the lack of English translations on the menu. But if I have to choose one thing that was the most special of Minsk, it was attending the Chinese tea party.
Picture this. Me and my guide for one day, Alec, meet up with one of Alec's friends. A tall guy with a ponytail who doesn't speak English and eats his icecreams two at a time. We enter a post-war flat without lighting in the stairway, so I have to hold on to the wooden rail to feel where I'm going. The door is unlocked, maybe because the appartment looks out on the former KGB-building. But maybe not. Our shoes stay in the hall and I'm given a pair of mens slippers. The three of us sit down in a tiny, Sixties style kitchen where our teamaster puts the kettle on. An oldschool kettle and a brandnew MacBook Air in the same kitchen. I'm signalled to follow the two men to the living/bedroom where I see the sweetest thing I ever witnessed in a male house. It's a small table covered with everything one could possibly need for a Chinese tea-ceremony; small porcelain cups, small teapots, a bonsai-tree, Lu Yu (the Saint of tea), and pillows on the floor to sit on. For the next two hours we drink tea and watch our host pour water on leaves, turn cups upside down (to release the flavour), brush the pot (no reason, just to get our attention) and display more tealeaves than I have seen in an average Chines supermarket. It was awesome, but needless to say, I had to pee a lot in the nighttrain to Moskow...


source: http://www.data.minsk.by/belarusnews/032011/344.html
I plan on writing more about the situation in Belarus in my criminological blog www.therighttrace.nl.