MAMA, showroom for media and moving art represents an interdisciplinary network of artist. Their presentations are regularly, shown in the showroom located at the Witte de Withstraat (the gallery–street in Rotterdam) Upcoming  is ‘Thinking of a Masterplan’ a concept of architectural designs by the MAURER office in collaboration with DELTA and ZEDZ, two of the finest graffiti-personalities of the Dutch old school.

Nothing  but sweet inside my hands

The first ‘Thinking of a masterplan’ concerns an concept by the graffiti personalities DELTA and ZEDZ in cooperation with the architects Marc and Nicole MAURER. The counterpoint is the synthesis of forms related to graffiti and architecture, the direct occasion is the proposal for a pavilion for “Rotterdam 2001 – Cultural Capital of Europe”.

Since the late seventies DELTA and ZEDZ are two of the most notorious artist of the Dutch graffiti scene. They are known for their complex and individual style. Their paintings and reliefs refer to Japanese transformers and utopian cityscapes. The 3D

Aspect is omni-present in their work. It was only a matter of time the right architect came along, to see this 3D aspect crystallize in architectural design. It was no surprise that the partner in this master-sceme became the ‘MAURER Engineering Architecture and Media’ office. This prize-winning bureau is run by two architects:

Nicole and Marc Maurer. The duo has a strong preference for so called ‘media-related-projects’ in the field of architecture. Marc was nominated for the NPS culture-prize for his fusion of Hip-Hop and architecture. Nicole Maurer was a nominee for the Archiprix (a prestigious prize for young Dutch architects) for daring approach and new vision of architecture.

Transformers

In 1998 the team transformed ‘graffiti related images’ into graffiti related architecture ‘by two designs: the first was a design for a villa named ‘masterplan’, by DELTA and MAURER. In the other ‘ZEDZbeton’ a graffiti-piece by ZEDZ was blown up by MAURER till a 50 meters long piece of ‘city-furniture’. Although the typical forms used by DELTA and ZEDZ still strongly relate to graffiti (the artist name remains the starting point of each design), the natural hostile attitude of the graffiti-artist towards the architectural design has disappeared. This confrontation was now transformed into a fruitful synthesis. The results are breaking boundaries as well in content as in form.

P2001

The DELTA-MAURER-ZEDZ team was assigned by MAMA to develop a pavilion for ‘Rotterdam 2001 –Cultural Capital of Europe’. The P(avilion)2001 is first of all a fusion of architecture, graffiti, faschion and new media. P2001 is also a quest for new ways of exhibiting. The plans for P2001 and other blueprints designed according to the principals of ‘graffiti related architecture’ together with other works by all participants can be shown and used for press. On request is it also possible to have an interview with the artist.