‘Rotterdam Told by People’ is a set of mirrors that reflect collective interpretations of the city. Together with researcher Stefan Blokker, we wanted to capture the widest range of experiences the city has to offer. The people interviewed spoke about what was important to them and often pointed or drew that as well. We used the sketches as a starting point to obtain a map of personal meanings.

When looking into any of these mirrors, you will not only see yourself, but also people’s memories and opinions about Rotterdam. The map shows locations that interest and matter to both locals and visitors.

‘Rotterdam Told by People’ has been developed for local production in three sizes: a big mirror containing the complete represented map; a medium mirror containing a selection of the most popular stories mapped by location; a set of five key rings and five fridge magnets each representing one of the most popular icons of the city.