Drawing Room

The visual artist Jan Rothuizen seems to be successful in every medium. Having perfected his half-drawn, half-written maps of the city of his birth in The Soft Atlas of Amsterdam last year, he effortlessly implemented an interactive version of his drawing style in Refugee Republic. Now he’s taking on virtual reality. Drawing Room is his first “drawn reality,” inspired by the tower room on the roof of De Bijenkorf department store in Amsterdam. The oldest department store in the city invited Rothuizen to spend some time there: to take in the view, to wave to the people down on Dam Square, or just to do nothing for a while. Starting this year, De Bijenkorf is inviting creative people of all stripes to find inspiration and create. This is part of a new strategy that’s geared less to the goods and more towards having a “premium experience.” What that exactly is, Rothuizen can tell you in his “drawn reality,” in which real and not real seamlessly merge. However “premium” this location may be, the view doesn’t immediately grant any insight. Take a good look around you: Rothuizen’s sharp observations are playfully spread across his virtual canvas.

This project is a 360-degree experience.