Rotterdamse Schouwburg
For eight years, from 2006 to 2014, photographer Hans Wilschut had a room in the five star Manhattan Hotel in the heart of Rotterdam. From this space on the twelfth floor, he looked out day and night over Stationsplein. Not a single moment ever looked the same. One day dozens of trucks would be driving back and forth carrying sand, the next the square could lie still and deserted. At times rain lashed against the sun shielding windows of his room, only for the square to be flooded with harsh sunlight an hour later. When the photographer began his project, Van Ravesteyn’s old station was still standing.
After the “tearful farewell” and the inevitable, though no less dramatic, demolition, new and temporary structures suddenly appear in view. A set of silos for storing nitrogen, a “prawn cracker” shelter to protect travellers from the rain. The details are fascinating. Wilschut’s images are irreversible and final, yet as temporary as a day, a week, a month.
The project Centraal was published as a book in November 2014 and reveals the transience of change. It brings together eight years of photography focused on the construction of Rotterdam Central Station, seen from a room in the Manhattan Hotel.
Especially for the Rotterdamse Schouwburg, the project was recently translated into a multimedia presentation, on view throughout the entire month of April 2015.