The documentary The time travel of Louis van Roode by filmmaker Christiaan van Schermbeek tells the story of a second life for reconstruction art. The mural Untitled from 1961, which the Rotterdam artist Louis van Roode (1914-1964) made for the former Dijkzigt hospital, has been removed from the original wall by conservator and fresco painter Annelies Toebes using a special technique, retouched and rebuilt in the foyer of De Doelen. Filmmaker Christiaan van Schermbeek documented this process from start to finish. He interviewed various key figures about their vision of Van Roode's work and the importance of preserving reconstruction art.
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ABOUT LOUIS VAN ROODE
Louis van Roode is one of the most prominent artists of the reconstruction period in Rotterdam. He made many murals and mosaics in and on buildings that tell their own story about nature, culture, people and the cosmos. All this under the influence of the modernity of post-war Rotterdam. Several works by his hand can be seen in the city, such as the mosaic Erasmus trip (1954) on the Coolsingel or the 57 meter high glass-in-concrete facade of the former Station Post Office from 1959.

His last mural was commissioned by the municipal Dijkzigt hospital. On March 6, 1960, the artist says about his abstract wall painting: “This is the idea behind it: the branches express an association with nature, but also symbolize unity – just like the different departments of a hospital work together. But the design is sketchy because it concerns the wall painting itself. I don't want to plan and philosophize too much in order to put the painting on the wall fresh and spontaneously.”

The documentary The time travel of Louis van Roode was commissioned by Moois Cinematics and CBK Rotterdam.