The Wilhelminapier Experience will be an experience taking place in public space and online, starting from the Wilhelminapier in Rotterdam. The Wilhelminapier was the point of departure of the Holland-America Line for immigrants seeking their fortunes in the new world as well as refugees fleeing the continent around the First and Second World War. Today the area is redeveloped with cultural institutes and state-of-the-art buildings by world famous architects such as Rem Koolhaas.
The aim of the project is to develop a working prototype that connects the past, present and the future of the pier. Real-time wind data is at the heart of the experience and serves as the motor to distribute audio stories, new visual works and archive material over the users. Visitors are and will be invited to contribute their own experiences and dreams into the project. This work is about migration today, about new horizons, globalisation and travel.
The Patching Zone works in close collaboration with the local cultural institutes and our vocational school partner Zadkine. At Zadkine the project is developed as a participatory design project in the context of Mediawharf with students from the Human Technology and ICT departments. We will also be working closely with the five cultural institutes on the Wilhelminapier as well as local residents and youth from Rotterdam South.
The Patching Zone aims to work with the rich material from the Dutch Photo Museum and Rotterdam’s historical archives.
The Wilhelminapier experience is part of the Live Transmission project with our international collaboration partners Blast Theory (UK), Translocal (FI) and OCAD University (CA). Live Transmission is supported by the European Cultural programme.