Moving in Free Zones #2 is aimed to give voice to inhabitants of Charlois (Rotterdam, NL). By means of a film iStrike, together with the filmmaker Jacopo Mario Gandolfi, got in contact with local residents and entered their intimate sphere.

STATEMENT OF THE FILMMAKER

This film seeks to tell the stories of the lives and relationships of people living in Charlois, a district in South of Rotterdam near the port. Charlois's roads, buildings, junctions and high streets apparently tell us nothing about the people who inhabit them. Denied the points of reference that I would normally count on, the stories of the places were actually revealed to me through the local people's faces and gestures. Following the lines on these faces I uncovered memories of a city whose seemingly lost past speaks through the rhythm of a poetry that initially seemed unimaginable. I hope with this film to repay that which has been offered up to me.

INTRODUCTION

Moving in Free Zones #2 is a project which implied the realization of a workshop involving inhabitants of Oud-Charlois, Carnisse and Tarwewijk (South of Rotterdam) and students of Urban Body/TU Delft in order to produce the film ZUID in collaboration with the filmmaker Jacopo Mario Gandolfi. MFZ#2 took place from 6 April to 31 July 2009 and was realized in collaboration with Urban Body/TU Delft.
The intention of the workshop was to understand the use of the public space by the inhabitants of Charlois and to stimulate dreams, whishes and aspirations of inhabitants concerning their future lives in the neighborhood, by means of a film. The process of the film involved a film-maker, inhabitans of Charlois and students of Urban Body/TU Delft to interact and create the sequences of the film. The film portrays the neighborhood by telling about 6 stories belonging to 6 main characters and extras which are selected inhabitants of the submentioned areas. The 6 private stories converge in the last sequence of the film in which inhabitants re-appropriate a public square and reveal themselves and their dreams in the public sphere by changing it. In respect to that, the task of the students of Urban Body/TU Delft was to understand and to translate dreams of the inhabitants/characters into installations which have been built in Moerkerkeplein (Tarwewijk) on occasion of the last sequence. This last sequence was conceived also as a public event for the neighborhood which consolidated our presence in there and stimulated new design proposals by Urban Body/TU Delft’s students concerning the public domain in Charlois.



PRE-PRODUCTION

Due to the former experience of Moving in Free Zones #1, iStrike was able to propose some characters/inhabitants willing to work in the film. During the pre-production phase, the film-maker was able to spend time with the characters, in order to get to know them, to create mutual trust and to build a common ground to work together on the film. In particular he met them in order to explain about the intentions of the film, to build specific sequenses based on them, their dreams and their special stories. In the meanwhile students of Urban Body/TU Delft explored the three areas Oud-Charlois, Tarwewijk and Carnisse by doing “derives” (walking) through the areas and by meeting experts who could give them an insight into the neighborhood (such as Kamiel Verschuren artist and activist of Stichting BAD, Gary Asselbergs economist living in Oud-Charlois, Kees Koot social worker of Tarwewijk, Romeo Gambier social worker living in Carnisse, Franklin Geerman social worker of The Mall in Tarwewijk). They also met the housing corporations Vestia and Woonstad to get to know current and future urban plans in the areas and produced two kind of maps:
- evolutionary maps, reporting about the history of the three areas;
- sensetional maps collecting any kind of information useful to understand the areas from both a scientific and a cultural point of view.



SCENARIOS

Students of Urban Body/TU Delft attended a 10-days workshop in the studio Pompstraat in Oud-Charlois in order to design, to realize and to construct 3 main installations. They collaborated with artists running studio Pompstraat (Oud-Charlois). The installations were aimed at building the film-setting of the last sequence of the film taking place 23 May 2009 in Moerkerkeplein in Tarwewijk. Students have formed 3 groups focusing on the three different areas: Oud-Charlois, Tarweweijk and Carnisse. They interacted with 3 characters/inhabitants living in the three different areas in order to understand and to translate their dreams and special stories into installations in the public space. Those installations turned up to represent different ways of living the public space (a public domain for different public), such as the square Moerkerkeplein. Installations are conceived to be temporary and to be tested in the public space the 23 May 2009, as part of the last sequence of the film. Students learnt to reverse their point of view and instead of a top-down perspective they experienced a bottom-up one, by listenig to ideas and dreams of inhabitants (main characters of the film). It was also the first time that they could, in their study program, accomplish a complete construction process: from conception, to design, to realization, to installation and to test in the public space. In the meanwhile the flilmmaker kept on working with inhbatitants/characters to build up the script and with students in order to finalize proposals for the final sequence.




© Unrban Synergy

SHOOTING DAYS (15-16 MAY 2009)

Shooting days required a lot of preparation and they have been condensed in three different days. 15 and 16 May 2009 are aimed to build up the individual stories of the 6 main characters/inhantiants and to portray Charlois from their points of view, from their dreams and special stories. 23 May 2009 is aimed at converging the 6 stories into a re-created public space in which different groups of people, their various expectations and dreams can cohabit. Those first two days give a perspective of the neighborhood, in relation to the rest of the city and its history, by giving a portray of local inhabitants with their own desires and dreams. The intention of those sequences is to experience and re-discover Charlois by sharing with inhabitants also their intimate sphere: by entering their private houses, by investigating their own aspirations and unexpressed qualities. Those two shooting days are also devoted to build a positive image of the neighborhood.



INSTALLATION (23 May 2009)

Saturday 23 May 2009 is the last shooting day which took place in the square Moerkerkeplein in Tarwewijk. This day has a threefold function: shooting the last sequence of the film in the public space; setting up installations produced by students according to inhabitants’ dreams; organizing a public event by sharing food and music with residents and local audience. The three installations have been temporary set up in the square by students themselves on Saturday morning, 23 May 2009 and have been developed as follow:
- Installation inspired by Harry Wols (Oud-Charlois group), the history keeper of Charlois. Several panels compose a playful maze which has got in the middle a small old-style room, representing the memory, the history. His dream is to spread also to young generations the history of Charlois and so that to bring forward the identity of the place.
- Installation inspired by Dames Birasol Club (Tarwewijk group), Antillian women. A meeting room for them and decorated by them. The room is surrounded by panels that create an intimate space but at the same time not completely closed, everybody is welcome. Those women meet up regularly in order to preserve their original culture and traditions but they are always open towards newcomers, especially by sharing dance and food as part of their heritage.
- Installation inspired by Romeo Gambier (Carnisse group), dj and social worker. His dream is to bring music everywhere and to engage with people or to make people meet through his music. The structure is an on wheel stage suitable for a dj which can move around and play his music in the public space. Thanks to mirrors installed on the top of this structure his performance can be looked by any angle.The installations have been installed and inhabited by the characters and local residents.



PUBLIC EVENT (23 May 2009)

Film crew shot 4 sequences in the public square in Moerkerkeplein:
- ABC Brassband parade throughout Tarwewijk
- Birasol Dames Club celebrating their culture and sharing food with us and residents or bypassers
- Dj Fader (Romeo Gambier) performing from his mobile structure in front of a diverse public
- The maze of Harry Wols used and inhabited by kids in the neighborhood by playing with it.
The 4 sequences have been used for the film but have functioned also as a trigger to re-inhabit the square: by sharing food, by listening to music, by dancing and celebrating altogehter a common space for a different public (as you can see also in the film). The installations functioned as film settings but also stimulated various reactions amongst the characters/inhabitants and amongst the attendants (such as kids), which used them in different ways. Moreover the installations inspired students to undertake the next study phase: TU Delft, Vestia and Woonstad asked students to design proposals for the public space in the neighborhood. Especially characters, expressed the will to keep the installations in the square in order to become permanent. The project and the public event turned into a trigger to re-discuss about plans on the public space and in particular about the role of Moerkerkeplein, with Deelgemeente Charlois, Vestia, Woonstad and the residents.





POST-PRODUCTION

Post-production is devoted to reach two main results and to engender several follow-ups. Results are the following:
- production of the film ZUID
- realization of design proposals by students of Urban Body TU/Delft concerning public space in Charlois and especially in Oud-Charlois, Tarwewijk and Carnisse.

The two results have been accomplished (see the dvd and the cd) and presented the 26 June 2009 in the Art Hotel (Tarwewijk). Thanks to the Deelgemeente Charlois and Eric Dullaert (Cultureel Denkwerk), parts of the installations of Moerkerkeplein have been located in the Art Hotel, till the end of July, and photos documenting the Moving in Free Zones #2 process have been shown there as well. The exhibition opened the 26 June 2009 with a public presentation of the film ZUID and of the design proposals of the students.
Follow-ups are the following:
- film will be submitted to several festivals (such as IRFFl, IDFA, etc.). The film will be presented in Rotterdam as a live performance (applications to TENT and Lantaren Venster are in process) : film screening and live music executed by Opera Mutica. - Vestia and Woonstad are interested to develop further students’ proposals.
- After a meeting with Rob Luca (Deelgemeente Charlois wijkbeheercoordinator) and Eric Dullaert (Cultureel Denkwerk), 22 July 2009 in Art Hotel, Deelgemeente Charlois is interested to develop new innovative projects with iStrike foundation and UrbanBody/TU Delft concerning the public space and by involving residents in a more active way.



CONCLUSIONS

The Moving in Free Zones #2 project achieved material and immaterial results.
Material results:
- Production of the film ZUID with the involvement of the inhabitants as main characters
- Organization of the last shooting day in the public square Moerkerkeplein as a public event (23 May 2009)
- Realization of design proposals for the public space by students of Urban Body/TU Delft
- Exhibition and final presentation of the project, the film and the design proposals (26 June 2009)
- Raised interest amongst Vestia, Woonstad and Deelgemeente Charlois about developing new projects with iStrike foundation and TU Delft cocerning public space in and residents’ participation (after the meeting of 22 July 2009)

Immaterial results:
- Stimulated dreams and aspirations concerning different use of the public space and future life in the neighborhood
- Consolidated our presence in Charlois and relationships with key-residents
- Improved learning process of TU Delft students (full accomplishement of construction process and reversed their top-down point of view)
- Gained in trust among Vestia, Woonstad and Deelgemeente Charlois
- Opened up perspectives to develop further innovative projects about public space with residents’ participation

Moving in Free Zones #2 was made possible by: Dienst Kunst en Cultuur Rotterdam, Deelgemeente Charlois, Woonstad, TU Delft (supported also by Cultureel Denkwerk, EFL, Vestia).



December 2009 Cohabitation Strategies started a research on the neighborhood Tarwewijk (South of Rotterdam) based also on Moving in Free Zones #1 and #2. Research was discussed and processed during the workshop The Other City: Exposing Tarwewijk which took place 8-11 December 2009 and organized by Cohabitation Strategies, in collaboration with IABR 2010 (Segregation section). Accordingly the film ZUID was used as part of this research and was presented during the IABR 2010 in the NAi Rotterdam on occasion of the the final rountable of the workshop (11 December 2009). After the film presentation ABC Brassband (Tarwewijk) performed and Bana Diop Mbacke from the restaurant La Senegalaise (Tarwewijk) cooked delicious snacks from Senegal.

The Cook, the Farmer, His Wife and Their Neighbor - De kok, de kweker, zijn vrouw en hun buurman
Marjetica Potrč and Wilde Westen
From 18 April 2009 on
Amsterdam Nieuw West

The Cook, the Farmer, His Wife and Their Neighbor, a participatory project by the Slovene artist and architect Marjetica Potrč and Wilde Westen - a group of young designers, architects and cultural producers -, combines visual art and social architecture to redefine the village green. Community vegetable gardens become a tool by which the residents of Amsterdam Nieuw West reclaim ownership of their neighbourhood at a time when demolition and redevelopment are causing many to feel uprooted. In the 1950s, the garden city of Nieuw West was constructed on former farmland as a modernist project; today this Amsterdam suburb is one of the largest residential redevelopment sites in Europe. With their project The Cook, the Farmer, his Wife and Their Neighbor, Potrč and Wilde Westen, in collaboration with the residents of the multicultural Geuzenveld-Slotermeer district, reflect on this history and celebrate a return to local food production. Here, farming and cooking are viewed as a way for people to share knowledge and traditions, and a means for the cultural renewal and rebirth of the neighbourhood. Beginning April 18, 2009, the house at Lodewijk Van Deysselstraat 61 in Amsterdam starts becoming a meeting point open to residents, friends and guests, as well as those involved in the many local initiatives already taking place in Nieuw West. Over the year in which The Cook, the Farmer, His Wife and Their Neighbor developed, however, the neighbourhood residents themselves became the most important people involved, and after Harvesting Day, on September 27, 2009, they took over its management. They formed a committee of eight residents, which is responsible for the two spaces.
The community garden and community kitchen are located in the Geuzenveld en Slotermeer district, which is part of the post-war modernist development of West Amsterdam. A previously unused house at Lodewijk van Deyssel Street 61 is now a community kitchen and a meeting place for the community that has formed around the project. It provides a centre around which the community can engage in the process of “building a place” – a much-needed ritual in a climate where families experience continual resettlement. Beyond the core group of residents, the community kitchen attracts other residents, too, who take part in the activities there. With its open-door policy, now in effect for a full year, the community kitchen has also brought security to the street, another added value for the neighbourhood.
The community vegetable garden is located behind the kitchen on land that used to be fenced off. Today, twenty-two families from seven ethnic groups take care of the garden. Opening up the fenced-off lot can be understood as a form of reappropriation of the land by the residents and a symbolic act that articulated their need to be involved in redesigning their neighbourhood (Text by Marjetica Potrč, 2009).
The Cook, the Farmer, his Wife and their Neighbor derived from a research that Wilde Westen carried out in 2008 and is realized in collaboration with Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, within the initiative Stedelijk Goes West.
Project was selected for the 4th International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR) – Open city: Designing cohexistence – Squat city at the NAI from the 25th Sep 2009 to the 10th Jan 2010. It won third prize in the Squat City competition. The competition rewards projects that negotiate between the integrating and segregating forces and enable people of diverse cultures and lifestyles to connect and interact.


© Marjetica Potrč and Wilde Westen

Initiators

Marjetica Potrč studied in her native city of Ljubljana, first as an architect and later as a visual artist. Her way of working follows a movement in the art world that places an emphasis on interactivity and participation, often with a social orientation. In recent years, she has carried out projects in Caracas (Venezuela), Rajasthan (India) and New Orleans (USA). She often works in collaboration with local communities and usually focuses on daily life in the city, on living and infrastructure. Potrc seeks out practical solutions for everyday problems, such as water and electricity supply. One example of her approach is the “Dry Toilet”, which she developed in informal city of Caracas, is one of a series of community-focused on-site projects by Potrc that are characterized by participatory design and a concern with sustainability issues, particularly in relation to energy and water infrastructures. Her preparatory drawings increasingly form an important part of her oeuvre; she has been invited by Daniel Birnbaum to display a large selection of her drawings at the Venice Biennale 2009. Potrc won the prestigious Hugo Boss Prize in 2000 and exhibited her work in the accompanying exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

Wilde Westen is a collective group of young designers, architects and cultural producers. By combining different disciplines they initiate open, dynamic and participatory processes that respond to urban and social needs of cities in transition. Their interdisciplinary work is focused on reactivating urban spaces by involving inhabitants in order to reimagine urban renewal and how we live together]. Their latest project is The Cook, the Farmer, his Wife and their Neighbor, which is realized in collaboration with Marjetica Potrc and is about a community garden and a community kitchen in Amsterdam West (The Netherlands). The members of Wilde Westen are: Lucia Babina/iStrike, Eva Pfannes and Sylvain Hartenberg/Ooze, Reinder Bakker and Hester van Dijk/ Overtreders-W, Merijn Oudenampsen and Henriette Waal.

Lucia Babina is a cultural producer with specific interests on how culture and art can affect urban areas. Her projects produce visions, interpretations and actions that are affecting the way we see, use and inhabit the urban realm. She is founder of iStrike foundation in Rotterdam, an environmental organization aimed at creating multidisciplinary platforms of analysis, comparison, and international exchange. She is co-founder of Cohabitations Strategies, a cooperative for socio-spatial development, with which she has been developing projects at international level.

Merijn Oudenampsen is a free lance researcher, specializing in political and urban issues. He studied urban sociology and political science at the UvA in Amsterdam. His interests range from urban megaprojects, citybranding, the creative city to utopian architecture, social engineering and the postpoliticalness of it all. You can find his articles off- and online, in places such as de Groene Amsterdammer, Waterland, Open Cahiers, Mute Magazine, Metropolis M, and Archined. He is part of the platform Flexmens.org and intermittently (co-)organises conferences and debates, such as Vox Populi (KNAW, 2009) Migrant Media Metropolis (de Balie, 2008) en het Publieke Verlangen (de Balie, 2007).

Overtreders W (Tresspassers W) is spatial design studio, established by Reinder Bakker and Hester van Dijk. With their designs they strive to make people feel at home. 'Home' means different things: feeling at home deals with more than one's own house, it depends on the quality of other places you regularly visit, such as the street where your house is, the park around the corner, the road you take when going to work, your office or the hospital you go to cure a broken leg. These secondary home places are what Overtreders W work on. Our designs make space for the dreams and ambitions of people living there. Projects done by Overtreders W are The Cook, the Framer His Wife and their Neighbour (in cooperation with WIlde Westen, 2009), Visitors Centre" de Oostvaarders" (Almere, 2009) and bicycle tunnel "Pixelpoort" (Zaandam, 2009)

Henriette Waal is a public space researcher and designer interested in local culture and cultural signs in relation to the public domain. In her projects Waal combines on-site fieldwork with a strongly conceptual approach.The result can manifest itself as a new spacial use. Besides physical interventions she produces image, film and text. Currenty she is researching the relation between food and the city in different projects. In a recent project in Tilburg (NL) she developed an outside brewery as a tool for a drinkable landscape together with the homebrewers of that area.


© Ooze
See the blog The Cook, the Farmer, his Wife and their Neighbor and the Wilde Westen's research

iStrike started working on Moving in Free Zones #2 in May 2008 by producing a documentary together with the filmmaker Jacopo Mario Gandolfi. The short documentary is a first preparatory investigation on the use of the public space and on space-making in Charlois (South of Rotterdam, NL). We interviewed key figures living and working in the district and tried to understand how to operate during the second phase accomplished in 2009: the production of a film which involves inhabitants as main characters.





During the production of the short documentary we got in touch with several organizations which introduced us to the area and its problematics, such as: Dames Club Birasol, Stichting B.a.d., Tarwewijk Buurtpost, Victory Outreach Church, Charlois Welzijn, The Mall, etc.





The short documentary focuses on two case studies: a garden in Oud-Charlois, a first experiment of semi-public space; and the Tarwewijk Buurtpost as a social hub and a network tool in a neighborhood that, especially in the '90s, was considered one of the most dangerous in NL.



We confronted the two cases by giving two different perspectives of using and conceiving public space nowadays in Rotterdam. The short documentary involves overall 7 people in Charlois and lasts 17 minutes. It was edited with the support of the Nieuwe Rotterdamse Cultuur.




Moving in free Zones #2 (step 0)
Charlois (Rotterdam, NL) 19 May 2008 - 8 June 2008

Type: DVD
Time: 17 min.
Language: Dutch/English
Written by: Lucia Babina and Jacopo Mario Gandolfi
Directed by: Jacopo Mario Gandolfi
Produced by: Lucia Babina/iStrike
Camera by: Eva Sauer
Edited by: Cosimo Terlizzi
Cast: Harry Wols, Gary Asselbergs, Selma Quirindongo, Kamiel Verschuren, Kees Koot, Jerry Mendeszoon, Magda Gambier
MFZ# 2 (step 0) has been made possible with the financial support of Stichting Nieuwe Rotterdamse Cultuur


Moving in Free Zones #2 (step 0) - part 1


Moving in Free Zones #2 (step 0) - part 2

Wilde Westen is a pilot program defining the outline of an urban strategy for the renewal of west Amsterdam Tuinsteden. The program entails an array of software and hardware initiatives and interventions organically connected to Geuzenveld-Slotermeer, Osdorp, Soltervart and Bos-en-Lommer around the Sloterplas. The program is based on an open, dynamic and participatory process that grows and evolves according to the exerted impact on the addressed urban and social context. The program is an initiative of Wild West Foundation, a diverse coalition of entrepreneurs, designers, researchers, government bodies, and property developer.

Go to the Wilde Westen website

Target
1. To promote entrepreneurship and a vibrant live-work environment in the western garden cities of Amsterdam.
2. To identify, connect and develop the local economy, education, urban initiatives.
3. To develop alternative models for urban development.

Scenario
From Software to Hardware Wilde Westen strategy is inverting the usual practice of restructuring city district by proposing a bottom-up approach.
Throughout the organization of events, the development of networks and interventions in public space initiatives ofentrepreneurs and residents eventually solidify into physical developments.
The Wilde Westen Programma’s aim to improve the image of the area, to stimulate the identity and promotes a sense ofbelonging amongst its population. It reveals the complexity and multicultural aspect of its community of residentsand entrepreneurs and use it as a positive and rich value for the development of the neighbourhood. It stimulates creativity and innovation on a professional scale and an ambitious and emancipator approach on a life scale. It promotes a Re-appropriation and reuse of the existing spaces which enable participation and creates social inclusion.



Here above the research and its implementation through the project The Cook, the Farmer, his Wife and their Neighbor and its blog

Location: Amsterdam West – NL
Area: 32.6 km2
Starting year: 2008
Team: Eva Pfannes – OOZE, Sylvain Hartenberg – OOZE, Reinder Bakker - Overtreders-W, Hesther van Dijk - Overtreders-W, Lucia Babina – iStrike, Robbert de Vrieze – Gevondenontwerpen, Henriette Waal

See Geheugen van West

Stoelendans verhalen uit de stad or Singing Chairs - Voices and stories from the City is a collective performance about multiple ways of experiencing a city. 60 storytellers reveal, in a vis-à-vis conversation with the audience, their ways of using, remembering and living the city of Rotterdam. Visitors can listen to three 20 minutes stories and collect a multiple gaze of how the city can be perceived, narrated and shared.


Singingchairs' setting © Emiliano Gandolfi and Lucia Babina

Organization

Concept and curator: Lucia Babina
Assistant curator: Hibo Aidrous Ali
Time: 4 May 2008, from 4 pm up to 6 pm
Realized: within the Happening project, curated by Emiliano Gandolfi, 1 March - 4 May 2008 in the NAi (Nederlands Architectuurinstituut), Rotterdam

Storytellers

Anne-Catharina Rozendaal
Aynur Akgog
Chrystabelle Beaton
Daniela Swarowski
Daphne Bom
Dineke Aaldijk
Edy van der Bool
Elisabeth van der Poel
Eno Abel
Frank Wijnandt
Gabriela Davalos
Gary Asselberg
Gyzlene Zeroual
Heleen Flier
Hüsnü Uysal
Jacques Nachtegaal
Jay Papik
Jimmy
Johan Vervooren
Jonatan Kuijs
Karel van Kessel
Layla Hacene
Liesbeth van Wel
Luis Enrique Alarcon Diaz
Louise Frank
Machteld Cairo
Magda van Heckers
Maja Skotte Ejlskov
Marcel Theodore
Marianne Maaskant
Marina Breton
Marjan van der Vos
Menno Kattenwinkel
Michiel Moos
Mirjana Stojadinovic
Münevver Yalniz
Natalie Dupon
Nel Corstanje
Nelva Fernandes
Peppe
Philie Haarbosch
Piet van der Waarde
Polle van Gijzel
Rachel Mine
Abdrahim el Hachimi
Rezvan Ghoncheh
Rimanta Tavoraite
Dj Fader
Rubia Meyer-Groeizaam
Sabrina Marchetti
Sakine Özcan
Sang Lee
Sherida Zorg
Taji “the chef”
Tomázia Teixeira
Ursel Biester
Victor Mani
Willy Djaoen
Yvonne Dingjan


Singingchairs' portrays © Adolfo Estrada

Recollections on the Singingchairs by Boba Mirjana Stojadinovich

Being one of about sixty people telling a story at the same time - that is like being a part of an orchestra and doing your solo at the right moment. It was a big group of individuals in which every voice, the ones heard out loud and also the inner ones, crash into one another. During the performance I often wished to be able to hear other stories, but not physically approaching people. I felt like I am and I am not part of the group at the same time, due to no belonging relation being established, and due to the intention of meeting random persons who have gathered to exchange stories.
This feeling was quite clear as I literally knew only two people. The relation I established to the majority was to look at people I don’t know, people who make my everyday life behind this or that wall, in this or that office, constituting the same city, regardless if I ever enter that office or store or apartment. Just looking at unknown people - that felt good! Rotterdam for me isn’t generous in providing a random ‘public body’, and its corners and squares and even city festivities are so thought through as to attract a defined social segment. More often than not one feels like ‘in a box’ in Rotterdam…
In the very beginning I had some time to just study people arriving and trying to find their place, not only in terms of allocating their seat but also as something familiar to hang on to. For they had to deliver something, and in the world of consumer-despotism the expectations dictated it to be somewhat spectacular. However, they have been invited to give a speck of one’s world in this particular city. In the beginning an uncomforting feeling was hovering in the air, perhaps due to the space which was big and bold, the chairs and tables seemed many but unimportant in the space, the human element was very visible, so much so that it appeared theater-staged. But the position I had was at the very edge of the light-spot, almost in the dark, at the outer line of tables. I had only people before me to look at; I wasn’t in the midst of the story, so to speak. This position gave me the distance to watch the space being empty, slowly people coming and taking seats, than starting to talk among themselves, forming couples across tables, with nervous laugh audible here and there. Than some other people came, found the table with their story-teller, and then the ‘real’ story-couples took shape. Being a story teller, I was there to give, but as my first guest wasn’t early on, I was carried away by looking. For Rotterdam it felt like a special reward to have the opportunity to study and compare the different hair and skin shades, different clothes that revealed cultural purity or not, different gestures of hands, mouths and eyebrows shaping the story being told across the space or to someone just inches away, hearing the buzz of different voices… all that without being intrusive or offensive.
And when the performance begun and tell-listen couples formed, it was curious to look at people focused on building their relation, and one could recognize such richness of feelings on display; it was all there before you if you just wanted to harvest it.
What we all shared was walking the same pavements and carrying the same carts in the supermarkets, but it takes telling a story to envision one another.


Singingchairs' docu-video © Adolfo Estrada, 2008

iStrike organized in June 2007, the Moving in Free Zones workshop, in collaboration with Spacelab/Urban Body of TU Delft, the contemporary art centre Tent and Foundation Bad. The workshop is conceived as a first research-phase with concrete perspectives to develop further with a permanent observatory on the redevelopment of Charlois. We carried out a research on an area that is going through a radical urban renewal and gentrification process. We pursued, on the one hand, to develop, with the help and the collaboration of local inhabitants, a critical opinion about their own environment, and on the other hands to perform a series of urban actions and ideas that triggered a public debate specifically on Charlois, and Rotterdam South in general.



MFZ: An international and cross-disciplinary workshop and a cultural program: a collective process for the urban development of Charlois in Rotterdam South

Time: 31th May – 10th June
Organisation: iStrike foundation in collaboration with Spacelab/Urban Body TU-Delft Bouwkunde Venue: c/o foundation B.a.d, Talingstraat 5, Charlois
Language: English/Dutch



We camped in Charlois for 10 days

The southern part of Rotterdam is under development. Especially Charlois has being going through a substantial transformation. The City of Rotterdam, the housing corporations and the national government are generating plans to revitalize the area both on a local and a urban scale. This is the framework in which operated the Moving in Free Zones workshop. The workshop took place from the 31st May till the 9th June 2007 in Charlois, South Rotterdam. The participants of the Moving in Free Zones workshop were 30 international students of TU Delft Bouwkunde. They carried out a cross-disciplinary research on Charlois, together with architects Ana Dzokic & Marc Neelen/Stealth [u]ltd, Alicia Velazquez/L-E-A-K and Sang Lee, Tor Lindstrand, Taji "the chef", artists Daniele Pario Perra, Jeanne van Heeswijk, designer and researcher Daniel van der Velden. Moving in Free Zones deals with urban dynamics, material and immaterial architecture, it investigates spontaneous creativity, it experiments innovative uses of the public domain and stimulates new discourses of environmental and cultural integration. The idea of Moving in Free Zones is to explore Charlois - an area with a lot of potential. The intention is to produce visual contents, ideas and concepts, to trigger a debate on Charlois and create public awareness amongst its inhabitants. The scientific research was part of a cultural program that was the fundamental tool to encourage new visions on Charlois and to facilitate a process of involvement within the local community. The cultural program consisted of: public lectures and artists’ talks, thematic guided tours, a visiting program – the students met with various inhabitants and professionals dealing with Charlois/Rotterdam South, public presentations of the researches carried out by the students, a movie/video program. Moreover, private dinners have been arranged – participants of the workshop got invited for dinner at some Charlois’ families’ for three nights – the Charlois camping site – students camped for 6 days in the garden of foundation B.a.d – and the TENT. Event Op Zuid – the Centre of the Contemporary Arts Rotterdam proposed a one-night event with lectures, video screenings, music and a bar. The events of the cultural program – which took place in the space of the foundation B.a.d and in other locations in Charlois - were open to public and with free entrance. The Moving in Free Zones workshop concluded by a presentation of the research carried out by students and an exhibition of their urban interventions, in foundation B.a.d the 9th June from 1 pm on. The results of the research was later released in a publication.

Map of Charlois

Mfz cultural program highlights

Dominic Schrijer (31st May) – lecture on Pact op Zuid -, dienst Stedebouw&Volkshuisvesting (1st June) - lecture on Stadsvisie Rotterdam 2030 -, Wim Leussink/deelgemeente Charlois, Luuk Boelens/Urban Unlimited, Koos Hanenberg/entrepreneur Maassilo, Esseline Schieven/OBR, Charl Landvreugd/entrepreneur/artist and Rachida Azough/journalist/Kosmpopolis, (2nd June) – Bottom-up Rotterdam. Future perspectives of Rotterdam South -, Daniele Pario Perra (4th June), Jeanne van Heeswijk, Daniel van der Velden (6 juni) – artists’ talks -, Tent. Event op Zuid (7th June), and the opening of the final presentation and exhibition of the workshop (9th June).

We organized guided tours throughout Charois

Organisation

iStrike foundation (2006) is an environmental organisation which aims at highlighting and surveying new dynamics of intercultural exchange and international cultural co-operation. To stress and overcome definitions of culture, identity, diversity and development, iStrike Foundation produces visual representations of territories, focuses on the environment and strengthens the idea of resources, avoiding activities based on problem solvine. iStrike is officially registered and based in Rotterdam The Netherlands, but operates at an international level as a collective subject.



We met our neighbors

In collaboration with

TU-Delft Bouwkunde/Spacelab–Urban Body; Alexander Vollebregt, Sang Lee, Ana Dzokic & Marc Neelen/Stealth [u]ltd, Alicia Velazquez/L-E-A-K, Tor Lindstrand/KTH Faculty of Architecture, Taji "the chef", the artists Jeanne van Heeswijk, Daniele Pario Perra/Contraconcept and the graphic designer and researcher Daniel van der Velden.



We organized lectures and public debates about the future of Charlois

With the contribution of

Laurien Dumbar, Marco Douma, Marcel van den Berg, Giuseppe Licari, Rik Eikmans, Jasper Niens, Studio NL 01.08.04, project space Wolfart, Jolanda Copier/de cultural scout Charlois, the artists of foundation B.a.d and other active inhabitants and professionals in Charlois.



We had lunch and dinner together

With the support of

deelgemeente Charlois, dienst Kunst & Cultuur, stichting Centrum Beeldende Kunst Rotterdam, stichting Nieuwe Rotterdamse Cultuur, woningbouwcorporatie Vestia Feijenoord, woningbouwcorporatie de Nieuwe Unie, TU-Delft Bouwkunde and stichting B.a.d







We worked togehter day and nights

Moving in Free Zones cultural program
Moving in Free Zones p/a stichting B.a.d, Talingstraat 5 Charlois public cultural program: (language English/Dutch)

Thursday 31th May
13.00, thematic-guided tours: #1, #2, & #3 (departing from foundation B.a.d)
20.00, lecture: Pact op Zuid - Dominic Schrijer/wethouder

Friday 1st June
20.00, lecture: Stadsvisie Rotterdam 2030 - dienst Stedebouw&Volkshuisvesting

Saturday 2nd June
10.00, thematic-guided tours: #4, #5, & #6 (departing from foundation B.a.d)
20.00, roundtable: Bottom-up Rotterdam. Future perspectives of Rotterdam South - with Wim Leussink/district council Charlois, Luuk Boelens/Urban Unlimited, Koos Hanenberg/Maassilo, Esseline Schieven/OBR, Charl Landvreugd/entrepreneur/artist and Rachida Azough (moderator/Kosmopolis)

Sunday 3rd June (no public program)

Monday 4th June
19:30, presentation: 1st presentation of the workshop by the students
21:00, presentation: art disturbing politics - Daniele Pario Perra/artist
22:00, movie/video program: Monitoring the Dordtselaan for Maximum Peace of Mind, Iratxe Jaio & Klaas van Gorkum and …Something about Charlois/iets over Charlois..., Charlois 2001-2003, Kamiel Verschuren & Albert Markus 60 min.

Tuesday 5th June
18:15, presentation: 2nd presentation of the workshop by the students
21:00, event: movienights & the pulling a dead horse evenings (Studio Pompstraat 44c)

Wednesday 6th June
19:30, presentation: 3rd presentation of the workshop by the students
20.30, lectures: Jeanne van Heeswijk/artist (20:15) and Daniel van der Velden/graphic designer and researcher

Thursday 7th June
20.00, event: Tent.Event op Zuid. Lectures, video screenings, music and a bar in one shot-event: What has to do the Tent. with the South? Does it matter if arts come from the North, the West or the South? Special guest: Siebe Thissen, head of public space CBK Rotterdam, will explain his cultural plans on Rotterdam South

Friday 8th June (no public program)

Saturday 9th June
13.00, exhibition: opening of the final presentation and exhibition of the international Mfz workshop
20.00, final evening & camping lounge Charlois

Sunday 10th June
13.00, exhibition, exhibition of the Mfz international workshop
20.00, thematic - guided tours: #1 Urban security by Gerard Spierings, #2 Cultural development in Charlois by Ivo van de Baar, #3 Urban development in Heijplaat by Victor Dreissen, #4 Oud-Charlois by Harry Wols and #5 Charlois underground by Jasper Niens

Moving in Free Zones workshop program

Th. 31 st May
13:00 – 15:00, guided tours: thematic - guided tours throughout Charlois

Fr. 1 st June
10:00 – 16:00, visiting program: students meet inhabitants and professionals dealing with Charlois/Rotterdam South

Su. 2 nd June
10:00 – 12:00, guided tours: thematic - guided tours throughout Charlois

Fr. 1 st June up to Su. 3 rd June
18:15 – 20:00, private dinners: students are invited for dinner by 30 families in Charlois

Mo. 4 th June up to Fr. 8 th June
9:00 – 18:00, workshop: international workshop aimed at the students of TU-Delft Bouwkunde presentations, Mo. 4 th June 19:30-20:30, Tu. 5 th June 18:15-19:30, We. 6 th June 19:30-20:30

Su. 3 rd June (up to Fr. 8 th June)
20:00, event: opening of the campingsite Charlois (courtyard of foundation B.a.d)

Tu. 5 th June
19:30 – 20:30, dinner:students have dinner in projectruimte Wolfart, speech over Wolphaertstraat and NAC foundation (New Studios Charlois)
21:00 – 24:00, event: the Pulling a dead horse evenings, Studio Pompstraat, Pompstraat 44c

Links

iStrike foundation
Pact op Zuid
Stadsvisie Rotterdam 2030
Luuk Boelens & Wies Sanders/Urban Unlimited
Urban Body/TU Delft
TU-Delft Bouwkunde
L-E-A-K
Stealth [u]ltd
Jeanne van Heeswijk
Daniel van der Velden
Stichting B.a.d
Tent./Centrum Beeldende Kunst Rotterdam
Daniele Pario Perra

See the report

Context

Douala is the economical and cultural capital of Cameroon and one of the most important cities in central Africa, where informal settlements, micro-economies and spontaneous use of the public space have a primary role in the formation of its identity. The dynamics of development and modernization of this fast-growing city are often elusive, because of a lack of instruments adequate to comprehend its extreme complexity on the social, political and economic plane. This is also the context in which doual’art has been fostering, for over sixteen years, cultural projects and commissioning site-specific art interventions concerned with urban regeneration.



Program SUD 2007 outline

doual’art and iStrike initiated two years ago, SUD 2007, a long-term program that is meant to combine their complementary skills, their efforts and their aspirations in order to stimulate researches on Douala, to transform it in a case study and to facilitate exchanges opportunities at an international level. doual’art is a no-profit organization, based in Douala (Cameroon), which since 1991 has organized cultural projects on the local level to stimulate collective processes of urban development. iStrike is a foundation, based in Rotterdam (The Netherlands), concerned mainly with studying urban dynamics: it works on the international level with art projects, multidisciplinary research workshops and urban actions.

The aim of SUD 2007 is to give visibility to Douala and its innovative cultural projects that engage and affect the cityscape. Within the frame of this long-term program, doual’art and iStrike started interrogating themselves about how to represent an African city and its complexity by avoiding the clichés usually regarding the South of the world; how to bring together different points of view on Douala to cover aspects which are unusual for classical scientific rigour; how to bring to light what impact engaged cultural initiatives and organizations have on this city and how to measure it; how to develop non-dogmatic and creative methods of inquiry based on collaboration and on exchange of ideas.

Starting from those premises they have been organizing 5 main initiatives: Thinking about!, the event Thinking about!, the Ars&Urbis International Workshop, the publication Douala in Translation, the SUD - Salon Urbain de Douala and WideSUD.

1. Thinking about!

Thinking about! is an event organized by iStrike and Enough Room for Space, which took place the 27th and 28th January 2007 in Rotterdam, NL.
Thanks to the invitation of the Mondriaan Foundation doual'art visited the Netherlands for a week. During this visiting program, iStrike and doual'art introduced the work of doual'art to curators in Rotterdam and involved artists and operators in a debate on artistic projects in Douala in a two-days meeting.

27th January 2008 - presentation of doual'art in the Boijmans van Beuningen Museum (Rotterdam).
Participants:
Jean Patrice KOE jr. second secretary Ambassade Cameroon, The Hague
Harco de Ridder (NL), freelancer (Mondriaan Foundation), Amsterdam
Zoë Gray (GB), Witte de With, Rotterdam
Caro Mendez (NL), attaché Prins Claus Fond, The Hague
Pauline Burmann (NL), foundation Thami Mnyele, Amsterdam
Patricia Pulles (NL), curator Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam
Mariette Dölle (NL), artistic director TENT, Rotterdam
Daniela Roth (D), journalist/critic, Bonn
Emiliano Gandolfi (IT), curator Nai, Rotterdam
Mariëtte Dölle (programme director), TENT. Center for Visual Arts Rotterdam
Lucia Babina (IT), iStrike Foundation (Ars&Urbis International workshop), Rotterdam
Kamiel Verschuren (NL), iStrike Foundation (Ars&Urbis International workshop), Rotterdam
Iolanda Pensa (IT), iStrike Foundation (Ars&Urbis International workshop), Milaan
Marjolijn Dijkman (NL), artist (Enough Room for Space), Rotterdam
Dunja Herzog (CH), artist (Enough Room for Space), Basel

28th January 2008 - meeting between doual'art, curators and artists in Enough Room for Sspace's venue.
Participants: Alexander Vollebregt, Blaise Bang, Christian Hanussek, Claudia Wegener, Daniela Roth, Didier Schaub, Dunja Herzog, Edgar Cleijne, Emiliano Gandolfi, Eric Van Hove, Fiona Siegenthaler, Iolanda Pensa, James Beckett, Kamiel Verschuren, Lucia Babina, Maarten Vanden Eynde, Marjolijn Dijkman, Mique Eggermont, Paul Hendrikse, Stefaan Dheedene, Ulrike Bartels



2. Ars&Urbis International Workshop

The Ars&Urbis International Workshop took place in March 2007. The idea was to involve artists, architects, journalists, philosophers and cultural producers – from both Cameroon and abroad – to experiment with the city, to make contact with several local professionals and inhabitants and to interpret diverse aspects of the urban everyday life in terms of its creative transformative potentials.





doual’art and iStrike encouraged the participants to carry out collective and individual researches capable of developing original and critical points of view, able of looking beyond the predictable and the prejudicial about African towns and of understanding the way bottom-up artistic practises trigger social and urban change.





The result of that initiative has been the production of multimedia documentation, and the accomplishment of artistic projects and researches that constitute the content of the publication Douala in Translation and of two internet sites.



Participants: Abdellah Karroum, Achillekà Komguem, Alexander Vollebregt, Alioum Moussa,Aretha Louise Mbango, Aser Kash, Cercle Kapsiki, Cheuping Njoya, Christian Hanussek, Cédric Dibandjo, Didier Schaub, Dodji Efoui, Edgar Cleijne, Emile Youmbi, Emiliano Gandolfi, Giulia Paoletti, Goddy Leye, Hervé Yamguen, Hervé Youmbi, Iolanda Pensa, Jacques Epangue, Joseph Francis Sumégné, Joë Kessy, Jules Wokam, Kamiel Verschuren, Kevin van Braak, Koko Komegne, Lionel Manga, Lucia Babina, Marilyn Douala Bell, Marthe Ndom, Michele Dantini, Nsame Mbongo, Paulin Tchuenbou, Rossella Biscotti, Salifou Lindou, Sandrine Dole, Vincent Assiga, Zayd Minty.

3. Douala in Translation: a view of the city and its creative transformative potentials

Douala in Translation brings together cross-disciplinary analyses of Douala from 18 authors, who approached the city according to their own interests, experiences and inclinations. It makes also known the extraordinary work of doual’art from 1991 to the present, in promoting innovative cultural projects of urban intervention and collective participation, and it introduces the first edition of the event SUD – Salon Urbain de Douala, a festival of site-specific artistic interventions focused on the multifaceted aspects of the city.


La Nouvelle Liberté © Joseph Francis Sumégné

One of the most striking urban site-specific interventions, treated in the publication, is La Nouvelle Liberté that doual’art commissioned to the artist Jospeh F. Sumégné in 1996. This work raised crucial questions about urban interventions and the negotiation between vernacular and shared spaces in the city context. The research on this specific case has been carried out by the artist Christian Hanussek, who made also several interviews in Douala, recollected in an enlightening video.
La Nouvelle Liberté is a 12-meters high monumental sculpture erected in the Deïdo roundabout, a crucial traffic junction in Douala. Once installed by the artist himself, the first reaction about the sculpture was positive; but little by little critical opinions raised up, mainly in the local newspapers, which caused frictions between the ethnical tribes. The artists and doual’art have been threatened to death and it spread around the belief that the sculpture might have contained evil magic spirits. In his article Hanussek reports the opinion of the Douala based epistemologist, Lionel Manga: who argues that the ethnic question is crucial in Douala. He sees the reason for these “passionate confrontations in the clashing of different claims of space and different understandings of it.” In the end, the upheaval brought about a sense of re-appropriation of the public domain by the people living and working in the area. It obliged the city hall to take better care of the infrastracture in Deïdo, one of the prominent and oldest neighbourhood in Douala. It encouraged several economical initiatives around the monumental statue.


La Nouvelle Liberté © Joseph Francis Sumégné

doual’art donated the sculpure to the city, that today is considered the symbol of Douala: it is portrayed on postcards, it is used as an international Tv news scenario and as a background for hip-hop video clips. Never an art work had the power to cause such a wide controversy among the Douala community. It triggered for the first time a grassroots process in which citizens were activated to redefine their public sphere.

4. SUD - Salon UrbIain de Douala

The event SUD - Salon Urbain de Douala took place in Douala from the 9th till the 16th December. It was an international event to present to a local and international audience the city of Douala and its most pioneering cultural and artistic projects.


Neons d'amour © Hervé Yamguen

More than 15 international artists, architects and researchers produced site-specific installations ad-hoc for SUD tackling issues like urban mobility, heritage, informal sector, recycling and modernity. SUD functioned as a showcase for artists and institutions operating in Douala and as a working platform for experts practicing in the sector.


Fantasia Urbaine © Pascale Marthine Tayou

Artists: Joseph Francis Sumégné; Lionel Manga; Philippe Mouillon; Michèle Magema; Faouzi Laatiris; Frédéric Keiff; Koko Komegne; Pascale Marthine Tayou; Hervé Yamguen; Kouo Eyango; Lucas Grandin; Autodafe; Danièle Diwouta-Kotto; Alioum Moussa.


Arbre à Palabre © Frédéric Keiff

5. WideSUD

WideSUD was a program aimed to present the Ars&Urbis International Workshop, the SUD-Salon Urbain de Douala and the book Douala in Translation in European venues. According to the venue, the display of WideSUD includes a conference, an exhibition or an event. First presentation took place 6-10 February 2008 during Project(or) Art Fair, Rotterdam.



Go to the iStrike website