About The Caravan Hitchhiking Project

The Caravan Hitchhiking Project is a European artistic project, conceived by the Dutch artists Tjerk Ridder and Peter Bijl with the aim of bringing together different people, cultures and worlds. It is a symbolic journey based on the idea and that slogan: “You need others to keep you going”.

With that central idea, in 2010, Tjerk and Peter have been hitchhiking with a caravan, without a car throughout Europe, from Utrecht, The Netherlands to Istanbul, Turkey. To get along further on their way, Tjerk and Peter always needed a driver with a ‘hook’ at the back of their car. The voyage is a metaphor, which literally shows that you need others to get further.

Because of their dependant situation, Tjerk and Peter came into contact with a great variety of people, different in terms of culture, age, religion, origins, and all with different stories and memories.

Inspired by these encounters, Tjerk has written  a music theatre show that he performs at festivals, seminars and in theatres.  

Besides the theatre programme,  Tjerk and Peter self-published a book and DVD, with stories, photographs and road movie material from on the road, coming together in a true ‘multimedia travel story’, in Dutch and English. First print: August 2011, second print: December 2011.

 The Caravan Hitchhiking Project History
The Caravan Hitchhiking Project is an initiative of a number of cultural entrepeneurs from Utrecht and surroundings.  One of them is Dennis Nolte of VIPbus who invented the concept – hitchhiking with a caravan. In 2008, he made a trip from Utrecht to Terschelling (Dutch island), a few months later followed by Peter Bijl who did a caravan hitchhike from Utrecht to Berlin.

With The Caravan Hitchhiking Project, however, and it’s central philosophy ‘You need others to keep you going’ the idea of caravan hitchhiking transformed into an international public art project. The songs Tjerk Ridder intentionally wanted to write inspired by his journey, have been transformed into an inspirational theatre programme, and a colourful book&DVD-package, with songs, images, road movie scenes and inspiration from on the road.