After earlier talks with Van Abbemuseum director Charles Esche about community art in Detroit, conservator Wilem-Jan Renders invited Chris Keulemans, Joost Janmaat and Christian Ernsten to Woensel-West in Eindhoven.
Woensel-West is a quarter of Eindhoven that looks strinkingly similar to the Van der Pek neighborhood in Amsterdam-North.
In this working class area the Van Abbemuseum rents two homes for curators and artists. Moreover they are in contact with the local housing cooperation and the community centre about organizing a local art project.
We discussed with Willem-Jan the problematics of organizing a neighborhood art projects and compared activities in the Van der Pek neighborhood with Woensel-West.
In Amsterdam-North Chris Keulemans has a longer history with community-based cultural activities, but we have not set-up a neighborhood artist-in-residency yet. Instead we have a residency in the Tolhuistuin.
We intend to collaborate with the Van Abbemuseum on an exchange with artists from Detroit in the fall of this year. Sharing experiences between Woensel-West and the Van der Pek neighborhood seems logical.
Last Saturday, Partizan and friends (Chris Keulemans en Eva de Klerk) were guests at the Hamburger Gängeviertel, a squatted complex of houses, warehouses and an abandoned factory, smack in the middle of the übergentrified city centre of Hamburg. The Viertel is like a Gaellic village: a blot of subversiveness, surrounded by glass-and-steel office highrises, international hotel chains and the cities' court buildings.
The Viertel got squatted just over six months ago. Over 200 artists took to cleaning the place up, scaring the pidgeons off the attics, and kicked inn a wild cultural programming, with 5 parallel expositions, parties, debates and what have you. At the same time they started to take on the marode building structures of the area to make them winter proof and liveable again. Surprisingly, the city did not shut the squat down immediately.
Now, more than six months later, the Gängeviertel still is one of the driving forces behind the local, very energetic 'Recht auf Stadt' movement. Not In Our Name, Marke Hamburg! states the mission. The piece is a witty text against top down city engineering, exclusive gentrification and commercial branding. A text against a mono cultural Hamburg, against the mechanisms of the ever growing, entrepreneurial city, against social and functional dualism. A text in favor of a more social and liveable city, the do-it-yourself city, the city of the people.
As a protest against a recent decision of the Bauprüfamt to shut down all public activity of the squat due to safety concerns, the whole public programme of the Viertel has been moved into the public spaces of the city.
Thus it was, that we found ourselves under the arcades of Brahms Kontor, a nearby former theater/music hall now office complex, hosting and presenting a discussion on how artists and creatives can reclaim the city, in which they have found themselves instrumental to big city unreal estaste interests. Although the Staalvilla, the Tolhuistuin and the NDSM rent their spaces, and the Gängeviertel inhabitants have squatted their place, they shared a common passion to take control and ownership over these places.
(Sprechstunde Amsterdam)
(Chris Keulemans)
(Edwin Gardner)
(Eva de Klerk)
(police visit)
The Blitz visit to Hamburg ended on the steps of the Südkurve of the Millerntor in St. Pauli. Under the waving black skull-and-bone club flags, FC St. Pauli, the Zweite Bundesliga club that holds between a soccerclub, a anti-fascist bastion and a neighborhood block party, beat Rot Weiss Oberhausen with 5:3.
A special shout goes out to Marion and Nora, our hosts for the weekend!
Text and pics by Joost Janmaat, Edwin Gardner and Björn König.
Amsterdam Centraal, or the central train station in Amsterdam, is in transformation since 1997. Stationseiland Amsterdam, Station Isle Amsterdam, is the name of the project.
The main partners of this reconstruction project, the dutch railways company NS, railway developer ProRail and the Amsterdam Municipality anticipate with this transformation the impact of the realization of the North-South Metro Line and the High Speed Train connection to Paris on the Central Station area.
Theo Deutinger and Andrew Snow of TD Architects, partner in the Liberty City project published in MARK magazine in collaboration with Partizan Publik an info-graphic of Free Cities in the world.
They found out that 90% of the free towns on the globe are in English, Spanish, German or Slavic speaking nations.
Deutinger and Snow distinguish between German free-market towns, Sloboda settlements and 'New World' cities.
the constuction site of a part of the Skopje 2014 Urban regeneration scheme
The Pretext The Dutch Embassy wants to promote the 'Creative Cities' concept in Skopje, and they would like to see the municipality, the independent arts & culture scene and NGO's to collaborate. Together with Robert Kluijver (who worked for NGO's the UN and his own cultural heritage institution in Kabul) I went to Skopje, uncertain what to preach and what role to play in this post-colonial creative class propaganda scheme. Personally I have been very skeptical and critical of the projects that are rolled out under the banner of Creative Industries/Class/Cities etc. Being teleported to Skopje has been an interesting confrontation with my own temperaments an opinions on the matter. In Amsterdam I am critical of everything branded as 'creative', here in Skopje I find myself preaching the creative city, an awkward feeling...
The Context The reason is quite simple, before I can be critical of a concept, the local authorities must first have adopted it as policy, which is not the case in Skopje. Here the municipality thinks of arts & culture as handicraft and traditional artisans; like blacksmiths, weaving rugs or manufacturing baskets. When you associate culture and art with urban development in Skopje it is mainly instrumentalized to broadcast the nationalist agenda of the ruling party as put forward in the Skopje 2014 plan. Skopje 2014 is an urban regeneration plan for the city that was presented a few weeks ago which has caused quite a stir and lots of discussion in the cultural scene and society at large in Macadonia. Without any open or transparent process, the future vision of the city came as a complete surprise. See the video below they posted on Youtube
The plan consist of the installation of a dozen statues of national heroes, like a 30m high statue of Alexander the Great, a triumph arch, a huge fountain, an orthodox Christian church, and a series of neo-classical and baroque museums and institutes. A celebration of a manufactured national identity based on glorifying icons and very selective and flimsy historical arguments. So pick your way of reading this: an enormous investment and support of Macedonian culture and arts or a impressive piece of propaganda of the ruling nationalist party. Oh, and by the way the project costs something between 150 and 200 million euro. (here you can read more on the local turmoil around the 2014 plan)
So, there we are with our mission to enlighten the locals with the idea of a 'creative city' suddenly all your criticism starts to evaporate in a context like this, the propagation of the creative class emerges as a lesser evil, or as a much needed alternative to rewriting history in support of nationalist propaganda. If only the government would realize that vibrant contemporary culture is essential for modern urban life and would attract the high-educated creative class, in other words money. But it's impossible to convince them that gays, subcultures and espresso-bars are good for the city's economy.
In Control That the authorities cannot make this leap of imagination is understandable, and not even the most problematic issue here. Cultural and creative scenes can flourish without authorities stimulating or heavily subsidizing them. But the first step is acknowledging that there can be such a thing as an independent cultural scene. One that is not under direct supervision and control of the state. 'Why would you give money, if you cannot control it?' is the governments logic. All public funds should be under absolute government control. Macedonia does has a Ministry of Culture, and you can apply for funds. But although democracy is installed, the Ministry of Culture basically is working as a favor system. There are no criteria formulated upon which applications are judged. The independent art scene hardily gets funds granted from local government institutions.
Basically there is a lack of trust that is bothering civic society on all levels. In the span of little more than a decade real estate property for instance was transfered from the Federation of Yugoslavia to the Republic of Macedonia, and then again de-nationalized to municipalities and/or privatized. All this causes a lot of ownership disputes within the government itself, where members of parliament are claiming and having disputes over property, in other words mafia practices. People remain loyal to their own networks, their own groups and are quick to distrust others. This is not a fertile ground for giving space, time and trust to things you are not in absolute control of.
The Paradox of Criticism The paradox that I experienced in Skopje is that I am criticizing the status quo, in order that it will develop in a certain direction. Progress is the aim right? The status quo is different everywhere, and progress as well. The paradox is that the direction I'm preaching for in Skopje, is the one I'm trying to overcome in Amsterdam. It's the tragedy of criticism and progress, and that as the critical intellectual you are integral part of the causing the perpetual crisis that causes the system (and what 'system' actually?) to develop. The system will perpetually encapsulate, incorporate and claim all critical inquiry and proposed alternatives. A mixed blessing, cause you got what you wanted, ... right?
Tijdens een ruimte-tijd odyssee door drie decennia van stedelijke ontwikkeling, overheidsbeleid en ‘counter culture’ in Amsterdam zou u het volgende retrospectief zien: de overgang van sociale maakbaarheid naar ruimtelijke maakbaarheid of van volksverheffing naar de verheffing van een locatie.
Het huidige station in deze reis is I Amsterdam™, een sterk merk vergezeld van het ‘broedplaatsenbeleid’ oftewel de Amsterdamse poging tot city branding in combinatie met een interpretatie van het stimuleren van de ‘creative city’. De vraagt die opkomt is echter: wiens creatieve stad, wiens Amsterdam? Filosoof Henry Lefebvre benadrukt ‘the right of the city signifies the right of citizens and city dwellers [...] to appear on all the networks and circuits of communication, information and exchange.’ Is de volgende stop van stedelijke ontwikkeling daadwerkelijk het Amsterdam waar burgers van alle rangen en standen meegenieten van creativiteit en rijkdom, en het recht kunnen claimen op de stad? Aan de hand van drie kritische onderzoekers van de Amsterdamse ontwikkeling, Justus Uitermark, Merijn Oudenampsen en Eva de Klerk, resumeren we pogingen in de afgelopen dertig jaar om de het recht op de stad in praktijk te brengen.
Tachtiger jaren: ‘De stad is van ons’
In de jaren tachtig was kraken een vorm van ‘politieke ideologie en strijd’. Het streven was een ‘staat in een staat’ omheind door fysieke barricades, als militante en exclusieve vorm van een vrijstaat met de neiging tot generieke verwerping van gezag en instituties. De beweging werd gekenmerkt door een ongedifferentieerde kritiek op de ‘heersende klasse’, het stadsbestuur, de speculanten, ‘de staat’ en de sociale democratie. Belangrijk voor de lokale, stedelijke gebiedsontwikkeling in deze periode is een strategiewijziging van de gemeente Amsterdam, die vanaf midden jaren 80 ontruimingen van kraakpanden gaat combineren met de bestuurlijke aankoop van de panden in kwestie. De panden blijven zodoende behouden voor huisvesting. Aan de krakers wordt daarmee een gewetensvraag gesteld: zijn zij bereid te verhuizen om zo het algemeen belang boven hun eigenbelang te stellen? Dit is het begin van de selectieve toenadering van de overheid, of zoals Uitermark het noemt de ‘omarming van de subversiviteit’.
Negentiger jaren: 'De stad als Casco'
‘Geld verdienen in de panden, niet aan de panden’, dat is het credo van de stad-als-cascomethode. Zowel in theorie als in de praktijk keert zich deze coöperatieve stadsontwikkelingmethode tegen de gemeentelijke, op winstmaximalisatie gerichte, grondprijspolitiek. Om met het top-down ‘een ontwikkelaar, een financier’- paradigma voor een heel gebied te kunnen breken, legt deze strategie de nadruk op de collectieve verantwoordelijkheid van gebruikers voor de ontwikkeling en het beheer van stedelijke gebieden. Van meet af aan worden eindgebruikers (wonen, werken, recreëren) als actieve partners bij het ontwikkelingsproces betrokken. Collectieve afspraken vormen de basis voor een geleidelijk stadsontwikkelingsproces van onderaf, met zeggenschap en verantwoordelijkheid aan de kant van de eindgebruiker bij kwesties omtrent financiering, ontwikkeling en beheer van zowel de bouwstructuur als de omliggende buitenruimte.
Nu: broedplaatsen en de creatieve stad TM
In het ‘Creative City’ paradigma worden kunstenaars omgevormd tot creatieve ondernemers, (sub) culturen vermarkt en de ‘lokale cultuur’ moet een trekpleister zijn voor toeristen. Het beleid is gericht op de annexatie van de culturele sector, waarin een versmelting plaatsvindt van het culturele veld met de politiek-economische agenda van de overheid. Cultuur als ‘software’ voor de bestaande of nog te ontwikkelen ‘hardware’. ‘Creativiteit’ wordt eerst gelokaliseerd, gehuisvest, in haar fragiele fase door beleid en regelgeving beschermd en gemest, om na een periode van groei geslacht te kunnen worden. In principe is dit zowel van toepassing op grootschalige top-down projecten als, op het eerste gezicht meer radicale, nicheprojecten.
Partizan Publik bezoekt op zaterdag 13 maart het Gangeviertel in Hamburg en spreekt ook onder de titel 'Sprechtstunde Amsterdam'
Referenties: Justus Uitermark ‘De omarming van subversiviteit’. Agora 24.3, (2004): pp 32-35, Merijn Oudenampsen 'Back to the Future of the Creative City: An Archaeological Approach to Amsterdam’s Creative Redevelopment'. MyCreativity Reader (2007): pp 165-176, http://www.evadeklerk.com/downloads/stad%20als%20casco.pdf. Photos of NDSM by Christian Ernsten
Dutch sculptor Diederick Kraaijeveld will present his three ´Icons of Hope´: monumental assemblages, done in originally colored wood the artist salvaged in numerous abandoned buildings in Detroit. Proceeds of the sale of the pieces will go directly to urban renewal projects in the city of Detroit. This project is backed by the Detroit Unreal Estate Agency.
Opening Friday the 5th of March 2010 18:30 until 21:30 at Carhartt Store Hartenstraat 18 Amsterdam Music by DJ Taco Fett. You are cordially invited to celebrate the opening with us.
Het Amsterdams 4&5 mei Comité riep in Theater Frascati Amsterdamse organisaties op om zich aan te sluiten bij de avondprogrammering op 4 mei en het Amsterdamse Bevrijdingsfestival op 5 mei. De onlangs aangetreden voorzitter Sijbolt Noorda presenteerde dinsdag 16 februari de plannen van het comité. Eén van de opvallendste veranderingen: de viering van 5 mei verhuist naar verschillende locaties in het centrum van de hoofdstad.
4 mei: extra aandacht voor avond en nachtprogramma
Naast de meer dan zeventig herdenkingsactiviteiten die op 4 mei 2010 in Amsterdam plaatsvinden, werkt het Comité mee aan nieuwe programma’s tijdens de avond en nacht van 4 mei. Het initiatief Theater Na de Dam is daar een voorbeeld van: in theaters in en rond de Nes vinden voorstellingen plaats. Ook in Felix Meritis, verschillende kerken, de Hollandse Schouwburg, de OBA, het Concertgebouw en diverse andere locaties worden na de twee minuten stilte activiteiten georganiseerd.
5 mei: nieuwe locaties Bevrijdingsfestival
Het Amsterdamse Bevrijdingsfestival krijgt een programma met muziek, theater, debat en tentoonstellingen verspreid over de Amsterdamse binnenstad. ‘We willen een nieuwe generatie kritisch mee laten praten en denken over vrijheid. Elke organisatie die daaraan een bijdrage kan leveren is zeer welkom’, aldus voorzitter Noorda. De titel van het festival dit jaar is Amsterdam Liberty City.
Op de Dam zullen onder andere Junkie XL, Moss en Gotcha! Allstars optreden. Er is ook een muziekpodium op het Nesplein en in drie clubs in de binnenstad. In een tentoonstelling staat de vraag centraal of Amsterdam de meest vrije stad ter wereld is. ‘De Grote Vrijheidsstrijd’ is een avondprogramma in Felix Meritis, waar tal van opinieleiders en kunstenaars hun visie geven op het thema vrijheid. Daarnaast zijn er ook op het Spui, het Beursplein en de Veemkade activiteiten. Op de Amstel vindt traditiegetrouw het 5 mei-concert plaats, georganiseerd door het Nationaal Comité 4 en 5 mei.
Voor meer informatie en interviewafspraken kunt u contact opnemen met:
The renovation of the Bus has started. A team of VMBOT students from the Bredero College began their internship today under the guidance of Joost Janmaat, Gerbrand Dros and Jaspar Harlaar. Below the student group will be shortly introduced.
Milo Lammers. Milo is heading towards a bright future at the Maritime Academy after graduating. He likes the renovation project since together with his father he’s used to working on their own house boat in Amsterdam Zeeburg.
Ralf Hovers. With his 17 years of life experience, Ralf is a senior at Bredero. After graduating he’s in for a career in the media field.
The bus from above.
Sander Roos. Sander is 17 and working as a pizza delivery boy, which is a fundamental function in the food chain for the Staalvilla.
Michelle Cairo. Michelle is going to be a real estate agent later on. But as a experienced carpenter - helping out her dad regularly at home - she’s going to teach the boys a lesson, if need be.
The bus from the back.
Jonathan ‘John’ Cakici. John is 15 years old, and despite the freezing temperatures, he says he likes the project until now. John is gonna shake up the media landscape later on.
Bülent Karay. This 15 years old guy knows what he wants. His master plan is becoming a pilot, and if this does not work out, as a back up he ’would consider’ becoming a teacher.
The Staalvila started its first collaborative project: the Bus.
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Partizan Publik and Tolhuistuin-caretaker Jasper Harlaar in collaboration with students from the Bredero college in Amsterdam-North will execurte a first renovation.
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The bus is strategically located at the back entrance of the Tolhuistuin and the front entrance of the Van der Pek Neighborhood. Next steps might include a workplace/residency for local neighbors, a coffee bar and a free wireless project.
'Since the development of technology and the dissapearance of ideological differences has led to a globalization of economic, cultural and social life on our planet, the horizontal frontier is vanishing.'
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This writes Bart Goldhoorn, former editor in chief, in Project Russia (2000/1). He follows by saying: '[...] our challenge lies in the vertical direction - in space.' But what is the value for contemporary culture of the exploration of the cosmos does Goldhoorn ask.
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He suggests that the key for solving this question might be found in the work of Igor Kozlov. He and his colleagus tried to find an answer to the question: 'how to create satisfactory living conditions in an environment that does not offer physical impulses.'
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Here above some examples of his work as published as published in Project Russia.
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5. Cosmic architecture and the Russian Avant-garde
Partizan Publik's Christian Ernsten and architect Andrea Brennen are leading a Volume research project on the relation between architecture and science with as a case study the Moon.
Joost, Jasper, Pieter-Paul, Touria en Francis hebben met vereende krachten de Moonshine Bus een zeer lastige bijzondere verrichting laten uitvoeren. Na een paar rondes langs de pont en een mislukte poging om de bus achter uit in te steken, reed Joost terug naar de Mosveld rotonde, alwaar zij opgewacht werden door de politie die hen vroeg; of waar zij wel niet mee bezig waren? Met een grijns en een knipoog reden Jasper en Joost en Leon( van Whilling Wheels) langs de dubbelgeparkeerde auto's op de Van der Pek. Hier werden zij met luid gejuich ontvangen door Touria en Francis. Op naar de Tolhuistuin voor poging twee. Na veel heen en weer gemanoeuvreer, heeft de bus voor de Staalvilla een straatje weten te keren. Palen en nietjes en plantenbakken werden door de noeste strijders naar betere oorden verwezen. Joost op de trekker, Francis achter het stuur, Jasper het brein, Touria het hart en Pieter-Paul de longen en interne organen (koffie en Gas op die Lollie!) Kortom......feest! De Bus staat. En kijk dan hoe strak hij langs de stoep staat!
Beyroutes. A guide to Beirut was reviewed in NRC Handelsblad, the Dutch quality daily newspaper on 30 January 2010. The guide book initiated by Studio Beirut was celebrated because of its succesful collaboration between Lebanese and Dutch architects, artists and others.
Journalist Herien Wensink mentioned the maps by artist Jan Rothuizen, photos by photographer Cleo Campert as well as the 'Fantasy Houses' article by Rani al Rajji and Christian Ernsten.
Order at your local bookstore: Beyroutes. A Guide to Beirut ISBN 9789077966549. Or online via NAi Booksellers of Reisboekhandel Pied a Terre.
In 2004 heeft de Gemeenteraad gekozen voor de slogan ‘I amsterdam’. In de opdracht stond dat deze helder, kort en krachtig moest worden. Reclamebureau Kesselskramer is hierin geslaagd: de huidige slogan is makkelijk te onthouden en mensen kunnen zich eenvoudig mee identificeren. Maar is dit genoeg?
Den Haag staat bekend als de ‘stad van de vrede’, en ‘Rotterdam werkt’. De boodschap ‘I amsterdam’ daarentegen verwijst slechts naar zichzelf. Er worden geen kwaliteiten van de stad of haar inwoners benadrukt of uitgelicht. Het benadrukt eerder individualiteit dan gemeenschappelijkheid. Wanneer zou je ‘Amsterdam’ zijn? Ben je ‘Amsterdam’ na een dagje in de Kalverstraat? Ben je ‘Amsterdam’ als je er als expat woont maar de taal niet spreekt? Ben je ‘Amsterdam’; zodra je je hebt ingeschreven in het register? Is iedereen ‘Amsterdam’? Maar wat ben je dan?
'I amsterdam' blijft een inhoudsloze slogan, een zwakke kopie van de beroemde slogan‘I love New York’ (waar een sterke emotie uitspreekt). Of scherper geformuleerd: I amsterdam lijkt een hedonistische oneliner voor een stad die veel meer te bieden heeft. Waar gaat het nu echt om in Amsterdam? Wat maakt Amsterdam nou echt tot een unieke plek in de wereld?
Op vrijdag 2 oktober jl. stond er een interview in NRC Next met priester Wilson Varela die in 1999 vanuit Colombia naar Nederland kwam. Hij wist bij aankomst niets van Nederland, maar zijn gedachte over Amsterdam was tekenend: ‘Mijn beeld ging niet verder dan kaas, molens en Amsterdam als icoon van vrijheid.’ Inderdaad, Amsterdam is internationaal bekend als hoofdstad van een gidsland op verschillende terreinen, zoals euthanasie en het softdrugsbeleid, homoseksualiteit en vrijheid van meningsuiting. De Amsterdamse openheid richting andersdenkenden en de bereidheid omstreden kwesties met een objectieve blik tegemoet te treden is een traditie die eeuwen teruggaat. En dit is wat Amsterdam wereldwijd bekend en geliefd maakt.
Amsterdam zou erkend moeten worden als stad van de vrijheid. Nergens anders dan in Amsterdam is het zo duidelijk dat vrijheid een handeling is - Amsterdammers nemen de vrijheid: van Gay Pride tot het in de wind slaan van het rookverbod - maar ook een dialoog. Discussies over gedoogbeleid, het recht om te discrimineren en kraakbeleid zijn geen trends, maar kenmerken van een diepgewortelde traditie van vrijheidsbeoefening die voortdurend getest wordt.
Dit is Amsterdam. De stad waarin buurtinitiatieven floreren, waar alternatievelingen naar hartelust kunnen experimenteren met kunst en muziek, waar iedere nieuwkomer de kans krijgt eigen initiatieven te ontplooien. En vooral de stad waar we over al onze verschillende waarden en opvattingen kunnen discussiëren. In Amsterdam leeft men, sinds eeuwen, in vrijheid. Dat moet we koesteren en toekomst geven.
Partizan Publik
P.S. Bij onze oosterburen in Hamburg is in augustus 2009 een manifest gepubliceerd dat in gaat op de gevolgen van city branding, herstructurering en top-down gentrification. Het manifest was de aftrap van een in Duitsland inmiddels op nationaal niveau gevoerde discussie over stedelijke ontwikkeling en het 'recht op de stad'.
Reactie van Richard Florida op het manifest van Hamburg.
Or actually - finding a wind turbine - for electrification was one of the outcomes of a meeting Partizan Publik had with people from the Tolhuistuin about designing a self-powered Neighbourhood-Coffee-Bar-Bus.
1. Bus, Buiksloterham. 24 January 2010.
Inquiry with our friends from Design 99 in Detroit proved very usefull. Mitch Cope explained that for their Power House project they use the Air Breeze wind mill. Mitch also explained he's using a Deka 8a8d 225 amp/hr battery.
2. Power House by Design 99, 16 December 2009. Air Breeze on the roof.
3. Power House by Design 99, 16 December 2009. A Deka 8a8d 225 amp/hr battery.
4. 'Look Out with Wind Turbine' by Marjectica Portc. 24 January 2010 Piraeus Building
5. 'Look Out with Wind Turbine' by Marjectica Portc. 24 January 2010 Piraeus Building
It will be an interesting assignment to figure out how to use a wind turbine for the electrification of the bus. But besides that we still have to do work on isolation, heating, the roof, the floor and furniture. Help and advise is more than welcome.
Housing Corporation Ymere, which owns about 100% of the housing stock in the Van der Pek neighborhood in Amsterdam - North has made two buildings available for testing out future model homes.
1. Looking from the Van der Pekstraat towards the Tolhuistuin.
2. The boarded up building on the Van der Pek Street.
The buildings at the Van der Pek Street and the Begonia Street, which will be transformed from eight household blocks into something new, are boarded up at the moment. The neighborhood use to be totally social housing for lower income families.
The families are in a process of being relocated to elsewhere in Amsterdam and during the last years these houses where inhabitants by artists.
3. The Van der Pek Street
4. Side view of the building on the Van der Pek Street.
A critical discourse on these urban renewal development in Amsterdam is coming together. Take a look for example at the Nomads in Amsterdam - West project or at the work of academic Justus Uitermark.
5. Gardens behind the building.
6. The boarded up building on the Begonia Street.
7. Front view of the building on the Begonia Street
8. View from the Buiksloterweg on the transformation of the former Shell terrain.
At the Staalvilla we're in the process of setting up a cooperative, why? The Staalvilla is part of the Tolhuistuin a so called: incubator or broedplaats. Amsterdam has the 'creative class' high on the agenda, and these incubators are part of their vision on how the cit should develop. But what is our possition is creatives in this? Especially we as small independent creatives, that are not primarily driven by earning money, but by doing the projects they believe in.
We as 'creatives' have to acknowledge that we are being instrumental:
- IN THE CITY’S IDENTITY A.K.A ‘CREATIVE CAPITAL - IN THE CITY’S URBAN DEVELOPMENT A.K.A ‘BROEDPLAATS’ OR ‘INCUBATOR’ - IN THE GENERATION OF REAL ESTATE VALUE A.K.A ‘AWARENESS OF A PLACE TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC’ - IN THE PROCESS OF ‘GENTRIFICATION’
We as 'creatives' are primary driven by oppurtinism:
- AS LONG AS THE RENT IS LOW ENOUGH - AS LONG AS THERE ARE ‘KINDRED SPIRITS’ AROUND
It's all OK, because what we want is:
- AS LITTLE HASSLE AS POSSIBLE. - TIME & SPACE TO CREATE.
So how do we move beyond being used by, the municipality and real estate developers, we could ask ourselves these questions:
ECONOMICALLY - CAN’T WE GET A BETTER DEAL FOR ‘MAKING A PLACE’ ‘GENERATING REAL ESTATE VALUE’ THAN JUST A “LOW” RENT?
IDEOLOGICALLY - AS ‘CHANGE AGENTS’ CAN’T WE PLAY A MORE MEANINGFUL ROLE BESIDES KICK-STARTING GENTRIFICATION?
SO: LET'S UNITE!
A perfect way to do this, where economic and ideological interests of the group 'small creatives' can be brougth together is in the cooperative model.
- DEFINITION: A co-operative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise.
- VALUES: Co-operatives are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. In the tradition of their founders, co-operative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others. - More can be found here: Statement on the Co-operative identity
So what would be the objectives of a cooperative for small creatives are our interests:
ECONOMIC - SHORT TERM: GET A BETTER DEAL - LONG TERM: DEVELOP OURSELVES
IDEOLOGIC - SHORT TERM: GET INFLUENCE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF NORTH - LONG TERM: DEVELOP AND EXECUTE ALTERNATIVE STRATEGIES OF CITY DEVELOPMENT IN WHICH ‘GENTRIFICATION’ IS COUNTERED
Now we'll work out what would be the first steps in terms of who to enter in dialogue with, and how to actually set up a cooperative in legal terms.
In fields of business, politics and design unfamiliar partnerships focused on the necessity of radical urban change seem to be occurring. These collaborations are focused on sustainable innovation among communities of different types of users. Local neighborhood strategies are enriched with experiences from elsewhere on the globe. Industrial research organizations are trying to mobilize knowledge from across the globe to innovate better and faster. Municipalities are trying to stimulate neighborhoods and their industrial base.
The incentive of these experimental collaborations, which could perhaps be referred to as ‘community labs’ is a refreshing type of culture of engagement: a process–oriented collaboration, with an open type of communication, which is not necessary end-goal driven, yet focused on sharing knowledge in order to improve.
This type of engagement can be observed among artists and architects. It is emerging out of a sense of urgency and seeks to exploit the opportunity for a new kind of artistic agency in post-industrial cities, in which, to paraphrase curator Charles Esche, ‘regional art and site-specific production are combined, a kind of everyday life art’. The role of Design 99 in Detroit is notable in this context. The architect and artist that make up this collective do not only work as commercial design consultants, they collaborate with neighbors in a social and economic deprived neighborhood where urban governance has failed to make a difference in order to develop a more sustainable security level in terms of energy and security.
These unfamiliar partnerships can also be seen to emerge in business and social institutions. The roundtable projects of economist Jeremy Rifkin are of interest. In collaboration with national and city governments Rifkin intends to develop a system for generating clean energy and of sharing the production surplus through an exchange network with the neighbors. In collaboration with architects as Stefano Boeri, he is developing a scheme for buildings that can produce energy.
A third example is the lightning division of the Dutch company Philips, which is collaborating with local governments and museums in Eindhoven in order to further develop their society driven innovation approach. In a quest to find the successor for their successful home lab, an innovation test facility, Philips opened its communication channels to communities.
As Rifkin says, if successful, these projects could very well help what explore different types of human settlements. These cooperative projects, which have a clear local basis yet are very globally linked in the peer-to-peer world wide web. They could represent a form of transformation in which a small community supervises a process of improvement in close communication with the larger urban community, which is perhaps more skeptical and less flexible.
Sources: Jeremy Rifkin, The Hydrogen Economy (New York 2003), URL: http://www.bamboostones.net/, Stefano Boeri Lecture, 'Sustainanable City', Amsterdam 18 March 2009.
As a supplement to VOLUME # 22 The Guide, Partizan Publik presents the separate publication Beyroutes, a guidebook to Beirut, one of the grand capitals of the Middle East. Beyroutes presents an exploded view of a city which lives so many double lives and figures in so many truths, myths and historical falsifications. Visiting the city with this intimate book as your guide makes you feel disoriented, appreciative, judgmental and perhaps eventually reconciliatory. Beyroutes is the field manual for 21st century urban explorer.
Beyroutes was initiated by Studio Beirut in collaboration with Partizan Publik, Archis and the Pearl Foundation. Supported by Prince Claus Fund, Fund Working on the Quality of Living and the Netherlands Embassy in Lebanon.
The launch wil take place at Athenaeum News Centre, Spui, Amsterdam, December 22, 5-7pm.
At the weekly neighborhood market next to our Staalvilla, Joost, Bjorn and some friends organized a garbage boat race. The two teams had four hours to build themselves a floating contraption out of locally harvested garbage and trash. At exactly 16.00, cheered by a hundred outrageous fans, they raced each other to the other side of the Buiksloter canal, to plant a flag on the Shell compound. Notwithstanding the nifty design and the buckets of bravery, Joost and Bjorn sank on their way back.
The next garbage race will be at the Trash Festival, planned for the 5th of June at the Stenen Hoofd, Amsterdam.
2030: War Zone Amsterdam is an international curatorial program by Brigitte van der Sande that explores the possibility and consequences of conflict in a far-future Amsterdam. To kick off the Warzone program, Joost Janmaat and Christiaan Fruneaux took the thirty international artists on a tour to the open society that is contemporary Amsterdam. We visited the vast squatters free state at the ADM wharf, went for a beer at Angels Place, the sancto sanctorium of the radically autonomous motor club, and scrambled through the Red Light District, the world's Free Zone of bad taste, cheap food, sex and drugs, and sleazy morals.
The Amsterdam Radical Freedom Tour took off from the observation that the freedom and peace this city enjoys is not a static affair: it is constantly made. Many of the unique and very specific freedoms of Amsterdam, prosper in the cloudy realm of toleration. Euthanasia, the selling of drugs, prostitution, squatting: all these freedoms are constantly balancing on the edge between the legal and the illegal. Of Law-enforcing and toleration. This particular notion of toleration ensures that the sharp edges of freedom in this city remain a continuous matter of interpretation, discussion and doubt.
The results of the one-week artistic research will be presented at Mediamatic BANK, Saturday November 28. Don't forget to make a reservation.
Partizan Publik is op zoek naar een enthousiaste en zelfstandige stagiair. In opdracht van het Amsterdamse comité 4 en 5 mei doet Partizan Publik onderzoek naar Vrijheid in Amsterdam. Dit onderzoek moet o.a. uitmonden in een tentoonstelling in Amsterdam in mei 2010.
We zoeken iemand die affiniteit heeft met artistieke producties, maar die ook het geduld heeft voor gedegen onderzoek. Je moet zelfstandig kunnen werken.
Wij bieden een interessante werkomgeving (een jong project- en onderzoeksbureau) veel verantwoordelijkheid en de mogelijkheid om ervaring op te doen in het doen van onderzoek en de originele vertaling naar de praktijk. Partizan Publik is net verhuisd naar de Staalvilla op het oude Shell terrein net over het ij. Hier zitten we in een leuke werkomgeving met architecten, theatermakers en kunstenaars. Onze werkzaamheden liggen op het terrein van onderzoek, actie, evenementen en publicaties. Zie: www.partizanpublik.nl
Interesse: stuur een korte motivatiemail naar jeroen.visser@partizanpublik.nl
Op 19 Movember is het Internationale Mannendag en is de snorrenactie van Movember net over de helft. Tijd om op deze dubbele mannendag iets speciaals te organiseren: De Movember Fotoveiling!
Veertien talentvolle Nederlandse fotografen doneerden speciaal voor deze actie een foto aan Movember. Deze veertien foto's worden op 19 november geveild bij het Sid Lee Collective in Amsterdam. Mannen in zilveren Speedo’s zullen de stukken laten zien en veilingmeester is Charin Singh uit Nieuw-Zeeland.
De deelnemende fotografen: Anoek Steketee, Aukje Dekker, Cleo Campert, Danielle van Ark, Dirk-Jan Visser, Jasper Groen, Leon Hendrickx, Masha Osipova, Michiel Landeweerd, Rob Hornstra, Robert van Waarden, Roger Cremers, Roos de Bolster, Wouter Vandenbrink.
Je kan de ingezonden foto's bekijken op onze Movember Viewbook site.
Alle opbrengsten gaan naar het Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Kanker Researchfonds.
Kom ook naar de Movember Fotoveiling: een unieke kans om een mooi kunstwerk te bemachtigen, een goed doel te steunen en je te vergapen aan de snorren van de aanwezige Mo Bro’s!
Tijd en plaats: Donderdag 19 november 2009 Vanaf 20.00 uur Sid Lee Collective Gerard Doustraat 74 Amsterdam
Jameson trakteert op cocktails, Kleurgamma stelt de prints beschikbaar en Sid Lee Collective hun prachtige ruimte. De foto’s worden ingelijst door Frame Products. De opbrengst van de veiling gaat naar het Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Kanker Researchfonds, www.avlkankerresearchfonds.nl. Movember Nederland is powered by Partizan Publik, www.partizanpublik.nl
On Saturday 28 November the first phase of the multiyear event 2030: War Zone Amsterdam will be launched with Blitz presentations by thirty international artists and collectives at Mediamatic. Curator Brigitte van der Sande developed the project on the basis of an idea of Partizan Publik. On the same occasion the special issue of Open, Cahier on Art and the Public Domain # 18 will be launched.
2030: War Zone Amsterdam is an exercise in imagining the unimaginable: a state of war in your own city in the year 2030. A cease-fire has just been announced, and a group of international artists, theatre makers, filmmakers, journalists and intellectuals go out into the city to investigate what the war has done to Amsterdam and its inhabitants.
To celebrate International Men's Day, we'll be holding a charity auction of some fantastic prints kindly donated by some of this county's top up and coming photographers and established names. Our lovely hosts for the evening will be the creative geniuses at Sid Lee Collective - they'll be laid back sounds, Jameson's Whiskey (thanks Mr Jameson!) and plenty of fun.
Up on the auction block will be 10 limited edition professionally framed photos. If you've ever wanted the chance to buy some top quality art, this is it - some of these items sell for over €1500 in the galleries, and so this is your opportunity to pick up some absolute bargains! And of course, you’ll be helping to support us in 'Changing the Face of Men's Health' in The Netherlands – all funds raised will be going straight to our beneficiary partner – the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Cancer Research Fund.
So make sure you come on down on the night, share a drink with us and show us your latest Mo styles... and who knows, you might just be lucky enough to take home something new for the house.
Was the Apollo 11 moon landing a hoax, a Stanley Kubrick studio recording? Dark Side of the Moon, a French documentary by director William Karel claims to present the truth: the moon landing was a brilliant piece of science fiction, instead of a major scientific and technological breakthrough.
How far was the US government willing to go in their competition with the Soviets? Karel poses that not only did Kubrick help the USA fake the moon landings but that he was eventually killed by the CIA to cover up the truth.
As of Yesterday, Mo Bro's from all over the world work for a single cause: to grow their Mo to raise money for cancerresearch. Check the website where you can still register to join Partizan Publik in becoming Mo Bro's.Last week we've launched our media campaign. The following article was published by De Telegraaf.
Horace Cohen en Mike Starink behaard de herfst in
AMSTERDAM Acteur Horace Cohen en presentator Mike Starink laten de hele maand 'Movember' een wintervachtje staan om aandacht te vragen voor kankeronderzoek.
Staat oktober wereldwijd bekend als 'borstkankermaand', vanaf 2009 is de november in Nederland omgedoopt tot 'Movember'. In deze maand laten mannen hun snor staan om aandacht te vragen voor de strijd tegen prostaatkanker.
Maar niet alleen met Horace en Mike zit het wel snor, iedere man kan een Mo Bro worden Sinds de oprichting van Movember in 2003 heeft deze campagne wereldwijd meer dan 35 miljoen euro opgehaald. Vorig jaar deden er zelfs meer dan 173.000 mannen mee om geld voor het goede doel in te zamelen", vertelt Charin Singh, woordvoerder van de Movember-campagne. "Eindelijk kunnen Nederlandse mannen ook meedoen. Ik weet zeker dat de snor hen goed zal staan.
Op 28 november is het tijd voor een feestje voor alle Mo Bros. Dan vindt het grote snorrengala plaats en wordt'n deelnemer gekozen tot 'Man van Movember'.
The Amsterdam Biennale 2009 is the first ‘crowd sourced’, ‘user generated’ biennale in the world. More than 30 curators from the Mediamatic Travel network present contemporary art from their city.
The exhibition opens on Friday with the pavilions of Kabul, Napels, Amsterdam, Melbourne, Belgrade, Boston, Talinn and Brooklyn. We will have weekly openings of new pavillions untill the end of the exhbition.
The Biennale is a part of Mediamatic Travel, the new travel-office to the contemporary art worldwide. Friday travel.mediamatic.net will go on-line.
Mediamatic and Partizan Publik will present the Travel Catalogue Destinations 2010.
With a live perfomance of Firestone and DJ Margit (Talinn), DJ Katja Novi (Talinn, Amsterdam) & DJ Velovich(Belgrade, Amsterdam).
The Amsterdam Biennale 2009 is opened from 17 October till 13 December 2009. Open from Monday – Friday from 1 pm – 7 pm and Saturday + Sunday from 1 pm – 6 pm. Location: Mediamatic BANK, Vijzelstraat 68, Amsterdam
Mediamatic Travel is a project of Mediamatic and Partizan Publik. The project is made possible by Hivos-NCDO Cultuurfonds, the Mondriaanstichting and the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds.
Also this week: Pecha Kucha #11
On Wednesday 14 October from 20.20 hrs a Pecha Kucha in Mediamatic BANK presenting 12 elevator pitches with the lock pickers of Toool, Strawberry Earth, Hete Bliksem, 'Hot100' Sander Veenhof and more.
Vast urbanizations in developed, developing and under-development countries have one common denominator: an immediate need for quality housing. Housing the billions: never before were those involved in architecture and construction confronted with such a challenge. A one-fits-all solution seems unthinkable since most mass housing schemes in the past failed and originated in dictatorship or total absence of power. Based on an analysis of one of the housing experiments of the past, the Soviet Microrayon, Volume proposes a new prototype. A housing block, which is custom-made but mass-produced and conceived via open source standards.
The first Dutch Movember campaign in history is about to take off. Partizan Publik is bringing this annual, month-long celebration of the moustache, highlighting men’s health issues, specifically prostate cancer to the Netherlands.
Mo Bros, supported by their Mo Sistas, start Movember (November 1st) clean shaven and then have the remainder of the month to grow and groom their moustache. During Movember, each Mo Bro effectively becomes a walking billboard for men’s health and, via their Mo, raises essential funds and awareness for Movember’s men’s health partner – The Prostate Cancer Charity. At the end of Movember, a series of Gala Partés are held to thank Mo Bros and Sistas for their support and fund raising efforts. Movember is an annual, month-long celebration of the moustache, highlighting men’s health issues, specifically prostate cancer.
Talking about Gala Partés...Here are some impressions of earlier showdowns across the world:
After some weeks of serious construction work, painting, carpeting and moving under the lead of head carpenter Joost Janmaat, the Partizan Office finally arrived in it's new haven, the Staalvilla. Situated in the Tolhuistuin, the Staalvilla is slowly turning from cooperate hospital of the Shell Foundation into a pumping, energetic place where a lot of different initiatives and people finally will settle down. To name a few...Archis Foundation, The Office for Unsollicited Architecture (an initiative of the NAi), Golfstromen, Studio Rooie Jas, Erik de Vroedt and many others still to come...
We are very pleased to have the opportunity to be a part of what is happening here and we are looking forward to fruitful collaborations, tons of inspiration and loads of fun!
What better way is there than to discover a city through its contemporary art treasures? As of October 10th 2009 there is a new way to explore artistic travel destinations, Mediamatic Travel. Focusing on art and culture this website opens up a world of local scenes in Tehran, Tibilisi, Nairobi or any of the other uncommon destinations. The site acts as a network of cultural professionals from all over the world. Local city experts guide travellers through their city favourites. The guides also give on the spot consultations that help to navigate through the art scene of the city you plan to visit. A one-hour consultation with a Mediamatic Travel guide uncovers places unseen for the ordinary traveller. The fee for this service is € 45,-. Mediamatic Travel is a growing network where cultural professionals can meet and adventurous travellers can plan their trips. New local city experts join the website everyday making more interesting places within reach. Mediamatic invites local cultural experts from all over the world to join Mediamatic Travel.
In an interview with Metropolis M Christian Ernsten of Partizan Publik and Merijn Oudenampsen are elaborating on the importance of breaking down demarcations between various disciplines and different segments of society in order to come to a more collective approach in tackeling societal issues.
Volume #20 is dedicated to the art of storytelling. It presents the storylines of current events and architecture to show that while the truth is important, so is the ability of fiction to elevate fact. Storytelling communicates facts, but it also builds upon real-life accounts to enrich public expectations and elevate beliefs. For good reason, people say a story isn’t worth telling if it can’t be told to a child. A simple, distilled story that clarifies the crisis, and that aids the formulation of policies to better understand and animate the physical environment, is definitely worth telling.
Students Joeri Jörg and Koen Elzerman initiated a place where people can leave items (clothes, books, sleeping-bags and domestic products) which they do not need anymore, while other people still might be happy with it. In this manner people can contribute to the daily-struggle that people have to cope with their limited economic situation. Amsterdam North is a district with many socio-economic problems, and the exchange closet delivers a micro-economic service for those who need it.
Similar to this alternative form of recycling, the focus lies on informing people about homelessness and addiction as important societal issues. The city of Amsterdam wants to initiate new asylums spread over the city, but history has shown some bad examples of starting such an asylum. The NIMBY-effect (‘Not In My Backyard’) can ruin the relation between asylum and neighbourhood, while people rarely realise that the asylum fulfils an important part of the societal needs. Above that, the line between having a house and homelessness is not that big as people might think. It does not take very much to lose your house and become homeless, especially in Amsterdam North.
The crew exists of people who have lived on the street, have been addicted or have worked in prostitution. They concentrate on telling their personal stories to the visitors of the Mosveld market, the place where the closet is situated. Goal is to decrease the NIMBY-feelings which people have in relation to these marginalised groups of society.
The launch on Saturday 13th of June showed that people respond very positive on this form of interaction. Most of them understood the importance of facilities for homeless and addicted people, and several people spoke out their enthusiasm about the project. One of the strengths of the closet is that it does not only serve the homeless and addicted people: it also benefits the local residents and the deprived neighbourhood around the Mosveld market.
Publications in the media (NoordNieuws (2), De Echo and Het Parool), widespread enthusiasm by project partners, the city district of Amsterdam North and housing corporation Ymere, social partners and the local residents form the basis of a long term continuation of the project.
After the successful launch of the closet, both students are now in discussion with several social partners, in order to ensure the sustainability of the intervention. The students will be related to the project until these negotiations result in a societal coalition which can maintain the exchange closet as a social facility, embedded in the neighbourhood.
You can also view the final presentation of the ‘Addicted to the City’ case at the Amsterdam City Hall last week.
How can old and new communities be connected through a new form of social architecture?
The 4 students of the Overhoeks/Van der Pek case researched the possibilities of improving social ties between two neighbourhoods in Amsterdam: Overhoeks and Van der Pek. The former is being developed at the moment, the latter is and ‘old, traditional neighbourhood in town. What’s special is that the two are situated literally in each others shadow. According to the students, improving social ties implies “encountering each other on a regular bases in a natural and informal way”. To empower this process, the students developed the concept of the ‘Floating Market’. Their pilot was situated on the Johan van Hasseltkanaal, which wasn’t more than a physical barrier between the two neighbourhoods before their intervention. The ‘Floating Market’ transformed this barrier into a place where people can meet. The concept is based on the floating gardens developed by ‘Provo’ Robert Jasper Grootveld. The gardens consist of 1,00 x 1,00 x 0,50 foam blocks, each of them having a floating capacity of 500 kilograms. Tied together, these foam blocks form an incredibly stable floating surface.
Based on a purely economic relation the market could function as a shared icon for the two neighbourhoods and also as a positive impulse for the wider area as well.
You can also view the final presentation of the Overhoeks/vd Pek Team at the Amsterdam City Hall last week.
Is there a way to involve neighborhood residents with a developing city park?
The 4 students of the ‘Green Team’ of the minor ‘Social Engineering in the Amsterdam Metropolis’ researched the development of the new ‘Noorderpark’, an urban park that is now being developed into one of the largest city parks of Amsterdam. Compared to other parks in the city, the Noorderpark is lagging behind in the number and diversity of its park visitors. Can the Noorderpark become as widely and highly appreciated as the popular Westerpark or the Vondelpark?
The Green Team observed a remarkable ‘invisibility’ of the Noorderpark within the adjacent neighborhoods and the borough of Amsterdam Noord. Together they created an elaborate ‘visibility’ campaign with green ‘welcome in my backyard’ posters on the windows of empty social housing, with guerilla sign posting all over the neighborhood and, together with the people of ‘Streetprov Amsterdam’, they organized a performance and a video about the ‘secret of North’: the beautiful Noorderpark.
Last week the university minor program ‘Social Engineering in the Amsterdam Metropolis’ reached it’s ‘official’ tipping point at the Amsterdam City Hall. The students presented the results of their 16 weeks lasting full time research trajectory to the mayor of Amsterdam Job Cohen and an elaborate jury of professional social engineers. The jury consisted of Linda Brasz (foreperson, chief secretary borough Amsterdam North), Franka Kanters (manager at private social housing cooperation Ymere), Jos Gadet (senior policy maker at the Department of Spatial Planning Amsterdam) and Bert de Reuver (member directory board IIS). The students seized the moment to put forward their case in front of this audience of influential ‘agents of change’.
To what extent do rules and standards lead to a just society? Planned utopias proved not to lead automatically to a free and equal way of living, or all-inclusive solidarity for that matter. State governance seems fated to produce a certain form of social marginalization.
Could engineering a just city entail the conscious incorporation of the lawless, the untamed and the subversives within our city borders? Do these groups, which are evading or excluded by the system, represent a way of living that we could learn from? How can their rules inspire us in engineering a more righteous place, a just city?
Yale University Professor James C. Scott is author of the most eloquent critique of the tradition of high modernist planning Seeing like a State (1998). His latest research focuses on the contrast between the lowland city-state and its labor control vs. the non-state-hill periphery in South East Asia. Based on this expertise he will comment on how the city should be studied as a living, breathing and dynamic process.
Partizan Publik is building Liberty City. Until 5 May 2010 we are researching the theme of freedom in Amsterdam. What does freedom mean to citizens of Amsterdam almost 70 years after WWII? How should we celebrate liberation day nowadays?
In the months running up to May next year we are engaging in a research that will take us to many different areas of Amsterdam. We will talk with veterans, former activists and former immigrants about their fight for freedom. We will listen to policemen, teachers, youth workers, students and many other citizens of Amsterdam to hear their opinion on freedom issues. You can join our research via the Liberty City website. You will also find the latest information on our public activities in Liberty City and on our research results.
To what extent can a brave city be planned? History shows that Dream + Power + Lack of Resistance = Utopian Totalitarianism. The reign of big ideas over a blissfully ignorant society.
Engineering happiness could potentially mean balancing out planned utopias. We wonder, how to practise our urban freedom? Blissful ignorance or freedom of initiative? Routine or improvisation? What’s the function of spontaneity in pushing the boundaries of public normality? Can improvisation improve urban daily life? Raise awareness of the collective and forge solidarity? What are the rules that keep our society alive and which boundaries do we need to push to give our cities future?
Can we build a happy city? Can we engineer happiness?A Masterclass on creative industry, social cohesion, participatory planning and creating new worlds. What is left of the highmodernist ideals? How do they translate into the Wijkaanpak, the national push to uplift the Dutch ghettos? And what instruments have we got to engineer society and change people in their beliefs and behaviour?
The American philosopher and architectural critic Nader Vossoughian wrote on the global polis and its engineer of happiness Otto Neurath.
He has a strong vision on the knowledge economy, how it creates ignorance and intelligence. Is ignorance bliss? Or do we set course to develop a responsible participatory community? What is the ethics of urban transformation?
With workshop-contributions by No Academy and Design2context.
Presented by the Office for Social Engineering, Fund BKVB/355, Art Beyond Borders and Felix Meritis.
Our days are gloomy days. Yet all these crises present opportunities for a positive outcome as well. They could open the way to a fundamentally different way of social engineering, green planning and a new financial system. In the reshaping of our world after the crisis, a sustainable city is possible.
Stefano Boeri understands non-growth and human retreat as producing valuable urban eco-systems. Reforestation protects natural zones and green corridors shelter animals from the anthropocentric world. These potentially create new ways of exchange between wildlife and human beings, a new ethical order of urbanity.
Stefano Boeri (1956) is an architect, director of Boeri Studio and editor in chief of the international design and architecture magazine Abitare. Boeri teaches urban design at the Milan Polytechnic, he is visiting professor at the Harvard Design School and he is the founder of the research agency Multiplicity. With Rem Koolhaas he co-authored the immensely influential Mutations project. Boeri will share his visions on sustainable utopia and dystopia in an urban context.
A story of how innovation and creativity may change the way we build, engage and live… for decades to come.
Partizan Publik is devoted to a braver society. The Partizans explore, produce and implement social, political and cultural instruments, which generate positive and sustainable change to people and their surroundings.
To what extent do rules and standards lead to a just society? Planned utopias proved not to lead automatically to a free and equal way of living, or all-inclusive solidarity for that matter. State governance seems fated to produce a certain form of social marginalization.
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