New artworks on Katoenhuis terrace: transformed planters by Rik Pastijn-van der Neut
If you happened to be at Katoenhuis over the past few weeks, you might have noticed some action happening on our terrace. Selected through our open call to transform the four large planters on the terrace, artist Rik Pastijn-van der Neut has been tirelessly turning them into a visual story of Katoenhuis’ past, present and future. Now that the work is done and the paint has dried, we take a closer look at the process and the stories that inspired Rik along the way.
As Rik tell us, his visual language has changed over the years. He started with clean, highly detailed drawings; yet over the years his style developed into a more abstract and suggestive. If you look closely, you can recognize figures, architectural fragments, objects that mix with pattern, creating a visual game of associations and unexpected connections.
Inspired by the story of Katoenhuis, each of the four planters responds to a different part of it.
The first, predominantly yellow planter takes us furthest back, to the Nile Delta in Egypt, one of the regions from which cotton made its way to Rotterdam. Among the abstract forms, a figure can be seen working with cotton plants - connecting the building to the material that once gave Katoenhuis its name and purpose.
The second planter follows cotton on the next part of its journey. A ship arrives carrying cotton, which is unloaded by crane and stored at Katoenhuis before being collected by vehicles and transported onwards to factories across Europe. Together, the first two planters trace some of the movements and infrastructures behind the building’s industrial history.
The grey–white planter brings us into Katoenhuis today. While working here, Rik spent time walking through the building and observing the details of its interior. During his second day of painting, Open Monumentendag was taking place, giving him an opportunity to explore the building more closely. Sliding doors, cables emerging from the ceiling, the stairs at the entrance, concrete pillars, ventilation fans, equipment boxes and lighting installations became a part of the painting. Rik assembled these fragments into an impression of the building as it exists now: an industrial space being inhabited and transformed through events, exhibitions, experiments and encounters.
The final planter looks beyond the building to its surroundings — and towards the future. Katoenhuis is part of the Keile District – an area undergoing significant transformation, but also one with a strong cultural and artistic identity. Elements from the neighbourhood appear throughout the painting, including Brutus and the chimney on the horizon. The work reflects on what is already here and the cultural aspects of it that remain as the area continues to change.
Working on site became an important part of the process. Even the colours came from Katoenhuis surroundings. When Rik first visited the terrace, he decided to work with the colours the planters already had – grey, white, yellow. But if one looks closely, these colours reappear throughout the area: on the water taxis that stop across the water, in small details around the terrace and on the Voedselbank container nearby.
Next time you are at Katoenhuis, take a walk around all four planters. Look closely for the architectural details, objects and colours and see if you can find where their inspiration came from.
You might also start noticing Rik’s work elsewhere across Rotterdam. Just around the corner, you can find a large mural at our new neighbours Roodkapje. His work can also be spotted at Schieblock — although you may want to see that one soon, with the building set to dissappear at the beginning of the next year — as well as in smaller interventions around Witte de Withstraat. And keep an eye on the vehicles passing by: there is also a van Rik painted together with a friend, which occasionally appears at different markets, from Rotterdam-Zuid to Blaak.