Supertoll! - Tijs Rooijakkers

Tijs Rooijakkers

Tijs Rooijakkers (born 1975) mainly creates spatial installations, which have also been described as sketches in space. They are often a response to the physical location or context in which he works. In Supertoll! he aims to build a bridge between the museum and the city, between art and urban culture and between the inhabitants and the environment they live in. The artist explains: “The spinning-top is a symbol of the will, power and passion of mankind. Once a top is spinning, it supersedes gravity.’’ 
 Like the Van Abbemuseum, Rooijakkers thinks that visibility, cooperation and involving the public are important. His Supertoll! project in Het Oog is located in a part of the museum that is accessible free of charge to everyone.

Cooperation with Fresku

In Supertoll! Rooijakkers is keen to work together with Fresku because they both want to inspire others with their work. In this artwork the flowing language of rap and the dynamic image of the curved battens and the top reinforce each other. The theme of your own strength, finding your flow and creating a work with that flow is deeply rooted in the work of both artists. Fresku is a role model for many young people, and furthermore, he lives in the Woensel-West district where the next stage of the project will take place.

Fresku

Roy Michael Reymound (born 1986), better known as Fresku, is a rapper from the Woensel-West district in Eindhoven. Fresku started up a whole new movement – the“emo rap” –in the Netherlands. In 2012 his album Maskerade brought him sudden fame. While hiphop is often about boasting and dissing people (brag 'n boost), Fresku reveals his vulnerability and his fears; with his personal and open-hearted texts he manages to reach a broad cross-section of the general public. He is a storyteller and he is looking for new forms of telling stories to get his message across. Sometimes he takes refuge in his alter ego, Gino Pietermaai, and sometime she seeks cooperation with other artists and filmmakers. For example, he worked with the cabaret artist Theo Maassen, and created the video art work The Singing Building together with the designer Lucas Maassen and the musician Woody Veneman. Fresku was recently awarded the prize for the best hiphop artist in the Netherlands.

Going into the district

Following the presentation in Het Oog the project will move to the Woensel-West district in Eindhoven. Under the heading Woensel Supertoll!, Rooijakkers will organize master classes and workshops there together with Fresku, the social design collective Tante Netty and local community and welfare organizations. The ultimate aim is to create a permanent artwork at the new busstation in Eindhoven-Noord. This project is supported by Trudo, the Eindhoven Municipality, the Prince Bernhard Cultural Foundation, and the Community Cultural Foundation 2018Brabant.

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