On the Map exhibition Jan Rothuizen

On the map

Central to the exhibition is a large canvas where you can draw or write about your lived experience in the neighbourhood: everyone is invited to put themselves 'on the map'. In this way, they record in a special way how residents and entrepreneurs from the Nieuwmarktbuurt and visitors from other parts of the country and city experience their neighbourhood. Together, they create a snapshot of a neighbourhood that is always in motion.

On Saturday, 6 April, they will organize a neighbourhood lunch in the Waag starting at 12:30, especially for neighbours from the Nieuwmarktbuurt.

The Soft Atlas

Rothuizen's drawings can best be described as written maps or graphic reports. As an artist, he soon discovered that the limited space of a studio was not for him. Walking the city streets and meeting people is his way of being an artist.

In 2009, Rothuizen started the Soft Atlas. His idea is that the city is where the solid concrete reality of buildings and asphalt meets the malleable, subjective experience and expectations of the people who live and work there. A renewed version of The Soft Atlas was published in 2023, with adapted maps of a city (and neighbourhood) that is always on the move. This is, for example, clearly visible on the maps he made of the Red Light District.

Works by Rothuizen from the Soft Atlas can be seen during the exhibition. In addition, several digital maps that Waag has recently developed are on display: interactive, participatory maps that map our living environment differently. Two examples are the Field Atlas (about biodiversity in and around the Amsterdam Science Park) and Makers van Noord (an overview of the workshops and studios in Noord, which are gradually disappearing due to area development).