Date: Friday, September 18, 2026
Time: 17.00 to 19.00
Location: Adult Education Centre, Heemraadssingel 275
Admission is free, no reservation is required.
Anyone walking through Rotterdam's public space encounters a history shaped by a male gaze for decades. While women were visible as statues all this time, they often remained anonymous, reduced to metaphors or nude figures. On Friday, September 18, BKOR presents the first four episodes of Out of Focus, a series of audio stories in which female artists from different generations talk about their work and the place they occupy in the visual arts and the city.
Program
The program starts at 5:00 PM at the statue. Lonely adventure. Monument to Anna Blaman by Maria Roosen at Heemraadssingel 273F in Rotterdam. Joan Nunnely, Alderman for Culture, Community and Language, launches the podcast. BuitenBeeld, stories from artists about their work in the cityAfter the alderman's speech, we will listen to the audio story with Maria Roosen. The program continues indoors at the Volksuniversiteit, Heemraadssingel 275. Marjan Beijering, historian and initiator of the Rotterdam Year of the Woman 2025, will engage in conversation with the creators of the podcast. Out of Focus, Kim Bouvy and Jennifer Pettersson. We conclude the program with a drink. All audio stories can be listened to in an adjacent room.
About the podcast
In every episode, the artist herself tells the story behind her artwork and the time when she received the commission. How did her idea come about, and what obstacles did she encounter along the way? And once the work was in place, how was it received, and how do they look back on it themselves after all these years? Between the oldest work, the concrete relief by Karla Kaper from 1970, and the most recent work, A Minute of Shelter from Narges Mohammadi from 2025, a time span of 55 years yawns. More than half a century in which different generations of female makers claimed public space, broke conventions, and showed that public space belongs to them too.
Breaking those conventions often began with the material. Karla Kaper (1941) deliberately chose a monumental concrete wall. She was determined to shed the image of the 'textile teacher' that clung to female artists at the time. By choosing the raw, physical concrete, she proved that she mastered this heavy work perfectly. Artist Anne Wenzel (1972) downplays that necessity for physical muscle power: the myth of the 'tough, strong sculptor' is completely unnecessary, because women are smart enough to use hoists. Driven by her own heritage and a keen sense of guilt, Wenzel set out to create the Razzia Monument (2023) uses her intelligence and vision to highlight precisely the crucial, often invisible role of women in the city. Where older generations fought against material and physical prejudices, younger generations focus their attention on societal structures and the claiming of emotional space. Narges Mohammadi (1994) claims with A Minute of Shelter very directly a physical place for suffering that is too often tucked away as 'private' or 'domestic'. She makes invisible violence against women public; her work functions as a sharp and necessary signal in the public sphere. Maria Roosen (1957) chose with her sculpture Lonely adventure. Monument to Anna Blaman (2010) for a more elusive approach, but is at least as contrarian. In her work, the contrast between the ruggedness of the motorcycle and the profound loneliness of Anna Blaman resonates – an ode to refusing to conform, to simply daring to be 'different'.
In Out of Focus Together, these images form not only an artistic timeline but also a correction of history. Vanished stories return to the surface, such as the Razzia Monument that makes an event that had almost been erased from the collective memory painfully visible again. At the same time, these works transform the city into a truly shared place: they literally give passers-by space to reflect, pause, and simply sit down for a moment. 55 years of art shows that the Rotterdam street has fundamentally changed thanks to the smart, tough, and sharp eye of its female creators.
Out of Focus can be listened to from September 18 via this website, the QR code at the artworks, and the podcast channels Spotify, Apple, and Soundcloud.
Colophon ~ Concept: Kim Bouvy and Jennifer Pettersson | Script and editing: Jennifer Pettersson | Research and interviews: Kim Bouvy | Voice: Jair Stein | Tune: Rutger Zuydervelt | Music: Blue Dot Sessions | Thanks to: Narges Mohammadi, Karla Kaper, Maria Roosen, Anne Wenzel.
