Rotterdam Street Art Routes

A Quick Overview of the Six Routes

Rewriters offers guided tours as well as an app with which you can walk through six neighborhoods of Rotterdam and get to know the public art there.

Afrikaanderwijk
Twice a week, the south of Rotterdam goes shopping at the market on the on the Afrikaanderplein square, but outside of those Wednesdays and Saturdays, the neighborhood has a lot to offer as well. The tea house in the park, the botanical garden, the Gemaal op Zuid, and gallery NIFFO are just some of  the places contributing to the unique atmosphere of the Afrikaanderwijk. The neighborhood is at the very center of the part of the city known as Feijenoord, where people wear their heart on their sleeves, and what they call home is more than just a place.

In September 2019 the second edition of street art festival POW! WOW! Rotterdam was celebrated here by over 10.000 visitors, along with local residents. Besides existing work by Ricardo van Zwol and the gallery of subway pillars created by Foundation MESH, impressive murals by Telmo Miel (NL), Smug (AUS), Nina Valkhoff (NL), Super A (NL), Dodici (IT), Danny Rumbl (NL), Woes (US), Didier Jaba Mathieu (SG), Said Kinos (NL), Dourone (ES), Murmure (FR) and Helen Proctor (AUS) can be found there.

Central District
Rotterdam’s central station is a great display of modern architecture, giving an immediate taste of what’s to come to visitors. Walk not even a whole street away from it, and you find the Central District, which has grown into a hub for creative and cultural entrepreneurs to work together, and share a drink afterwards.

The creativity found here also translates to the high number of murals that can be seen here. And within minutes walking distance is the Kruiskade, where the portrait Judith de Leeuw painted of famous Rotterdam rap Artis Winne welcomes you. Walking there, you’ll pass works by Stephan Bontje (NL), Said Kinos (NL), Levi Jacobs (NL), Franky Sticks (NL), Speto (BR), Onio (BR), Joren Joshua (NL), Opperclaes (NL), Ozon (NL), Tymon de Laat (NL), Collin van der Sluijs (NL), Onesto (NL), Astro (FR) and Venour (NL).

Centrum
One of the most vibrant parts of Rotterdam can be found here. The Witte de Withstraat doesn’t just offer a large amount of great bars, typical Rotterdam establishments like Hung Kee and innovative galleries like Showroom MAMA, TENT Rotterdam and the Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, but also has more street art per square meter than you’ll soon find anywhere else.

Its side streets contain work by renowned Iranian brothers ICY & SOT, and very personal work by Rotterdam’s own Tymon de Laat. At the nearby Leuvehaven, you’ll spot the boat Antwerp’s SMOK used as a canvas for his art, and in the shadow of the famous Erasmus Bridge is the wall which won Lastplak & Friends the audience award at the Dutch Street Art Awards. And we haven’t even mentioned the works by Bier en Brood (NL), Ces53 (NL), Daan Botlek (NL), Jorge Kata Nunez (NL), Ramon Martins (BR), KBTR (NL), Robert Rost (NL), Mark Goss (NL), Ox-Alien (NL) and Telmo Miel (NL) yet.

Crooswijk
Along the river the Rotte is Crooswijk, a part of Rotterdam with a rich history. Boxing history, for instance, since this is the neighborhood the legendary Bep van Klaveren called home. Sylvie Overheul painted his portrait on the side of boxing school Herman van ’t Hof, beside the man who gave that institution its name. But there’s the history of Crooswijk as the place where marines used to be stationed as well, to which many of the street names can still be traced.

The Schuttersveld (Shooter’s field) for instance, where right next to the sports fields, you’ll find the ‘Hall Of Fame’, or HOF. It’s the only legal practice area for artists who want to work on their skills in creating mural art in the city. The huge speed with which their paintings follow each other on this wall, makes clear how big the demand for such an area is among established artists as well as young, upcoming talent. Besides the quick overview the dynamic HOF grants you, you’ll find work by Kamp Horst (NL), Mr. June (NL), Nina Valkhoff (NL), Lastplak (NL), Telmo Miel (NL), Arno Coenen (NL), Ox-Alien (NL), Willem van der Hofstede (NL) and Vesod (IT).

M4H Gebied
The Merwe-Vierhavengebied (also known as M4H) is an old city dock with a raw, industrial look, that has grown into a hub for innovative start-ups and industry. Among others, The Talk of The Town, The Floating Farms, Atelier van Lieshout and Studio Roosegaarde are located there; the type of organizations that value creativity and sustainability in equal measure. In an area like this, the outsides should reflect what’s going on inside its buildings, which is why it was chosen as the location for the first European edition of the international street art festival POW! WOW!

The long, wide walls of the old warehouses provided unique canvases for artists such as Bier en Brood (NL), Tymon de Laat (NL), Nuno Viegas (PT), Karski & Beyond (NL), Fanakapan (UK), Danny Rumbl (NL), Super A (NL), Dzia  (BE), Dopie (NL), Narda (NL), Levi Jacobs (NL), Enigma Gemotricks (NL), Dilk (UK), Zepha (FR), Dina Saadi (UAE), Telmo Miel (NL) and Ozon (NL).

Oude Westen
The ‘Old West’ is what the Nieuwe Binnenweg as a main artery runs through. The heartbeat of Dutch jazz used to come from here, with legendary clubs like Mephisto, a history that lives on in the huge diptych Joren Joshua and Ilse Weisfelt painted. The portraits of Rotterdam jazz musicians in the street commemorate their contributions, while the statue locally known as the ‘buttplug leprechaun’ happily guards the Eendrachtsplein square. And the among vinyl collectors internationally renowned record store Demonfuzz, proves there’s still a lot of music to be found in the modern days of the ‘Old West’.

Those that go there will probably pass the completely covered up ‘sticker door’, proof that street culture lives and breathes in Rotterdam. And in the streets surrounding it, you’ll find popular murals by Bier en Brood (NL), Michiel Corver (NL), Sake (NL), Pinwin (NL), Onio (BR), WD (IDN), Peeta (IT), Danny Rumbl (NL), Insane51 (GR), Aniel (NL), Stephan Bontje (NL), I Am Eelco (NL) and André Smits (NL).

Printable map
The main tour can also be walked with the free downloadable map you can print yourself. Street art is a very dynamic art form though: artworks sometimes can disappear as soon as new works can appear. To ensure you enjoy the most current version of the tour, we advise you to download the app, which is updated regularly.