MS Rottebocht 2 (2007) Cor Kraat
MS Rottebocht 2 is a steel sculpture by the Rotterdam artist Cor Kraat. This image is a continuation of Kraats wall relief from 1989 with the same title and subject. This wall relief was located on the front side of Zwaanshals 114 on a building that has now been demolished. Hence this image MS Rottebocht 2. By means of a dynamic interplay of lines, the image suggests a ship in motion: the motor vessel (ms) sails inland and symbolizes the former connection of the Rotte with the Nieuwe Maas. Since the construction of the metro and Churchillplein station (nowadays Beurs station) around 1960, there has been no open connection with the Nieuwe Maas. Kraat designed the sculpture at the time of the refurbishment of the Zaagmolenkade, which led, among other things, to a pedestrian boulevard along the Rotte: a hardwood platform on a steel construction, half lying on the quay and half hanging over the water. In 2019, the statue was painted blue at the request of the artist.
Cor Kraat (Rotterdam, 1946) was educated at the Rotterdam Academy of Art from 1965 to 1971. From 1979 to 1992, Kraat worked in the artists' collective Kunst & Vaarwerk with Hans Citroen and Willem van Drunen. Kunst & Vaarwerk focused on monumental art in the city. Between 1979 and 1983 Cor Kraat taught screen printing at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam. Kraat was also co-founder of the Black Cat gallery, a gallery for contemporary visual art on the Mauritsweg from 1978 to 1987.