Jan Rothuizen

Urban talks

Jan Rothuizen is known for his unorthodox ‘maps’ of reality. He documents his surroundings in a very personal way, using both fictional and journalistic elements. About his way of working, the artist says that his presence affects his environment and vice versa.

He visits different kinds of places like the IKEA showroom, the former Bijlmer prison, a refugee camp in Iraq and the famous Achterhuis of Anne Frank. He writes down everything he sees, thinks and feels. In 2017, he published his latest book ‘Amsterdam City of Changes’. His earlier books, ‘The soft atlas of Amsterdam’ and ‘The soft atlas of The Netherlands’ were very successful. His work has been translated into French, English, Chinese, and Spanish and can be seen all over the world, from the Townhouse Gallery in Cairo to the New Museum in New York. Every month, he publishes a drawing in daily newspaper de Volkskrant.

The artist is a speaker at An Ode to Urbanisation on Friday, June 22.