The Rotterdam center for contemporary art Witte de With has renounced its name with immediate effect. In a statement, the center says that this decision leaves room for creativity. A new name is not yet known.
The letters have been removed from the building at Witte de Withstraat and the art center is now also untitled on stationery and on social media. The art center has borne the name of the 17th century Rotterdam fleet guardian Witte de With for thirty years.
In the near future, the art institute Rotterdammers wants to know what the center should be called. The new name will be operational on January 27 next year.
In 2017, the art center announced that it would change its name because Witte de With had been ‘a bad sea hero’. Two weeks ago, that announcement was repeated after the facade was defaced by Black Lives Matter activists.
In the statement, the center addresses why it takes so long to change the name. “The answer is, in short, that in the past few years we have focused on institutional changes that had to precede only symbolic change.”
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