Balcony Ceremony, 2010

site-specific project for the public sphere, engaging various ethnic communities of Rotterdam.

Balcony Ceremony has grown from my investigation into the history of Rotterdamʼs public sphere and its changing population. Within the frame of this project I proposed a ceremony of welcome for the newcomers arriving to the city. I sent an invitation to the citizens of Rotterdam to participate in this welcoming enacted through performing a single, very particular gesture from their private balconies (please read the image above).

Through the dissemination of leaflets and print media, I created a myth of Rotterdamʼs community coming into being. In order to shift the focus of the project from the realization of this ceremony by the citizens, I did not enforce the actual ceremony, and it was never documented. Instead the ceremony remains in a space of potential and as a myth.

The project consisted of distributing leaflets in front of the City Hall in Coolsingel and in the markets of Rotterdam: Delfshaven, Blaak and Afrikaanderplein. In addition, these

flyers were distributed throughout the cityʼs crèches and posted throughout the streets of Rotterdam. They were translated into English, Bahasa Indonesia, Serbian, Arabic,

Polish, Turkish, Greek, Italian, Dutch, Creole, Sranan Tongo, Chinese and Russian.

The project was supported by: