From memories and histories to dreams of the future and visions of utopia. Building Bridges invites you on a journey through the past, present and future of De Esch: a landscape full of variety and contrast. The exhibition takes you skipping through time, guided by photos, film fragments, historical logbooks, newspaper clippings and drawings. At the same time, contemporary writers, designers and artists paint a vivid picture of the area today and of the people who live there. The immediate backdrop is the much-debated proposal for a ‘third city bridge’ across the River Maas, the latest in a long tradition of efforts to bind together Rotterdam’s northern and southern banks. After the construction of the Maastunnel, the Willems Bridge and the Erasmus Bridge, this new crossing is intended to connect large parts of the city, from Rotterdam Alexander to Zuidplein, placing De Esch at the centre between the two districts.

Before that future unfolds, Building Bridges turns its gaze to the existing cityscape. In collaboration with residents, architects, artists and curators, the project delves into the rich and layered history of De Esch. This area exists as a patchwork of differing zones, with relationships that have only just begun to be explored. From the Oude Plantage, Rotterdam’s first city park, to the business parks of Brainpark and Rivium with their self-driving Parkshuttle, the story of De Esch is one of constant change. In the 1980s the municipality transformed the former DWL industrial site into a new residential district, where industrial heritage, futuristic housing and the pioneering live-work community Utopia could coexist. Over time, the green spaces were preserved, and still today the nature reserve, allotment gardens and city beach shape the character of the landscape.