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In 2014, a small group of artists came together to find community and to talk about the growing problem of finding affordable workspaces in Rotterdam. After the closure of the Gouvernestraat, there weren’t any affordable studio spaces left for performing artists that were not affiliated with an institution.

In 2015, the group had found a space in ZOHO to use for an extended time, to create a new festival by and for makers. In the lead-up to the festival, they would attract other artists from various disciplines through an estafette system. The participating artists would take all organisational tasks in their own hands: finances, production, marketing, dramaturgy, etc. In return, they could use the studio spaces whenever they wanted to create new work. In the months leading up to the festival, they would regularly get together to show their work and ask for help or feedback.

In October 2015, 30 artists from Rotterdam showed their work during the first TimeWindow Festival. The concept was simple: all artists were free to show whatever they wanted, they just had to pick a timeframe (window) ranging from 5 minutes to 3 days somewhere during the festival weekend.

After the festival, all participants agreed that they were part of something special. It was nice to have a space of their own where they could go whenever they wanted to, leave their stuff and experiment. This gave them a lot of creative freedom. Then it was beneficial to always have likeminded peers around, for feedback, emotional support and professional exchange. This is how the collective was born. Another festival was set up in 2016, and after that they acquired the space for an extended time. The rest is history.

All pictures by Salih Kilic.