Who: Marianne Fontijn (60)
Studio: Art & Complex, Keileweg Rotterdam
‘Four walls, a roof, water, light and a little heating: an empty box is the basis for a studio. You fill in the rest yourself. If you need a lot of tables, put tables down. A painter wants to have a lot of walls. Luxury is not necessary, wifi is handy.
‘My studio has been located on the Keileweg, between Rotterdam and Schiedam, since 1988. This is a former packaging materials factory. In seven months we built workshops in it: placed partition walls, installed electricity, closed windows, and so on.
‘At the time, this was really a port area, with fruit companies and suppliers of hides and skins. Friends often asked us if we really wanted to sit here. But it was cheap and we had a lot of space, we were with a lot of sculptors. Between 1990 and 2000 the Keileweg was the infamous streetwalker zone. That first led to panic in our studio complex, until someone soberly said: let’s see how things are going first? Actually, we had little trouble with it.
‘We have always been a close-knit group of artists. In the past we even had four guest studios. At least two hundred artists from all over the world have temporarily stayed here. They brought in new energy and new ideas. But a few years ago we had to clear a wing of the building because that part was already being developed. That wing has been empty for five years now.
‘Recently this property was sold by the municipality to an investor. Our lease expires in 3.5 years. It is up to the new owner to decide exactly what to do. Six years ago it was also very exciting, when the building was renovated. We knew and know: one day it will be our turn. It certainly keeps me busy, but I want to spend my time here well and not be controlled by the question: what next?’
Who: Johannes Langkamp (37)
Where: Sturgeon
‘It is enough for an artist to be able to create in a rotten place. I don’t set high standards for a studio, as long as it is affordable. I’m afraid there won’t be any bad spots left in Rotterdam in a few years. Even the cheapest locations are getting too expensive.
‘I do call myself a kinetic sculptor. I make moving, spatial images, mechanically driven. When we had an open house during the Rotterdam Art Week last year, director Suzanne Zwarts of Museum Voorlinden bought two of my works. One of these is currently on display in Wassenaar, which I am very proud of.
‘After graduating from the AKI art academy in Enschede in 2006, I came to Rotterdam. It was affordable here thanks to the high vacancy rate. For a number of years I was anti-squatting with six other artists. I have been living in Steur for a year and a half, a former power station that has been completely renovated.
‘Here in Steur are designers, creative companies and artists who work at the intersection of art, design, technology and sustainability. Everyone here is working on a dream. Everyone here also has a business side. I learn a lot from that.
‘The building has been nicely renovated, but I myself and two others are on a floor with few facilities. I have no daylight or running water, no heating. That’s not a bad thing, because the limited facilities mean I can afford it here. I like to come up with solutions, so I build my own kitchen and a water pump.
‘My lease is still running for another three years. If the rent were to go up a lot after that, I’d probably have to look elsewhere. I think my girlfriend and I would rather buy a farm in Friesland. The gentrification of Rotterdam neighborhoods and the port area is progressing so fast that many small-scale, experimental places are disappearing. That is bad for artists and bad for the city. I’m concerned about that.’
Who: Sebastian Haquin (30)
Where: Studios Borgerstaat
‘I’m from Australia and went to art school in Melbourne. So I had no connections in Rotterdam when I was looking for a studio in 2014. That makes it extremely difficult to find anything.
‘First I rented a studio of a vague Dracula-esque type. I then worked in the building of the Rotterdam artists and designers Peter and Mirjam Carels. That was a former consulate in the center. A very nice place, but unfortunately that building has been demolished. Then I ended up in a tiny studio where the tenants were completely dropped off.
‘I came on the waiting list of SKAR, a Rotterdam organization that rents out workspaces to the creative sector. Since 2017 I have had a studio in the Studios Borgerstraat, a former school next to the Sparta stadium. They looked for new blood there. I was 25 at the time, by far the youngest here. This is a great place with a big garden. We are there with about thirty artists. I’m in the former teacher’s room of 7 by 5 meters and pay 240 euros.
‘So I was really lucky. If we ever had to get out of here, I see it gloomy. I hear every day how difficult it is for artists to find an affordable studio. Friends went to work at home. That is not an alternative for me – I make large canvases with oil paint and I have a dog. That would be a disaster, also for health, with those paint fumes.
‘This was a working-class city, but it has become a city of developers. Gentrification makes all major European cities look alike. Project developers are eating Rotterdam from the inside out.
‘Many artists think about leaving Rotterdam. In the meantime, more exciting new things are happening in Dordrecht. A new record store, small initiatives. Rotterdam is less exciting than a few years ago. Maybe we should start establishing artists’ communes outside the Netherlands in towns and villages with an aging population and vacancy.’