Social Housing – Housing the Social: A Symposium

Actors, Agents and Attendants II:
Social Housing—Housing the Social
November 4 and 5, 2011

Felix Meritis, Keizersgracht 324, Amsterdam

www.skor.nl

Social Housing—Housing the Social is a two-day symposium that emphasises the relationship between the waning political and practical imperative of social housing and the broader political and philosophical idea of ‘housing the social.’ Given the increasing global condition of unequal wealth distribution, and the specific urgency brought about by cuts in social and cultural funding in the Netherlands, can forms of cultural production be reclaimed as tools with which to design and defend social space, or are the agents and engineers of such projects merely tools in the further decoration of reduced welfare rights? What do we want cities to accommodate today? What is the legacy of the utopian ideals of the 1960s and what alternative plans for living together in cities are being incubated now? How do we deal with the very real problems of social division brought about by poverty, migration, addiction and lack of representation? What roles do artists, designers, architects play in this process?

The programme of the symposium combines lectures, presentations and discussions of specific case studies, performances and film screenings.

Contributors include
Yazid Anani (architect, Birzeit University, PS), Laura Burkhalter (architect, Institute for Bionomic Urbanism, USA), Joana Conill (film director, ES), Chto Delat (artist collective, R), Adri Duivesteijn (politician PvdA, NL), DUS Architects (architect collective, NL), Zoran Erić (curator, MOCA Belgrade, RS), Fallen Fruit (art and activist collective, USA), Bregtje van der Haak (documentary filmmaker, NL), Jeanne van Heeswijk (artist, NL), Ernst van den Hemel (philosopher and activist, NL), Jiang Jun (editor-in-chief, Urban China Magazine, CN), Chris Keulemans (artistic director, Tolhuistuin, NL), Sabrina Lindemann (artist, NL), Don Mitchell (urban geographer, Syracuse University, USA), Merijn Oudenampsen (social and political scientist, NL), Marjetica Potrč (artist and architect, SI), Partizan Publik (design and action collective, NL), Recht auf Stadt (activists, Hamburg, D), Arnold Reijndorp (urban sociologist UvA, NL), Miguel Robles-Duran (architect, Parsons The New School for Design, USA), Arno van Roosmalen (director STROOM, NL), Martha Rosler (artist, USA), Christoph Schäfer (artist, D), Pelin Tan (sociologist/art historian, KHAS University Istanbul, TR), Ultra-red (artist collective, international), Roman Vasseur (artist, UK).

Curators Fulya Erdemci (SKOR) and Andrea Phillips (Goldsmiths, University of London)
Associate curator and coordinator Vesna Madzoski (SKOR)
Architectural advisor Markus Miessen (Studio Miessen, Berlin)
Research group Arno van Roosmalen (director, Stroom Den Haag), Bregtje van der Haak (documentary filmmaker), Chris Keulemans (artistic director, Tolhuistuin Amsterdam), Ernst van den Hemel (philosopher and activist, University of Amsterdam), Huib Haye van der Werf (curator, SKOR), Nils van Beek (curator, SKOR), Partizan Publik (design and action collective, Amsterdam), and Theo Tegelaers (curator, SKOR)
Interns Laura Pardo and Michelle Franke.

Collaborations
Chto Delat and Ultra-red two artists collectives will collaborate for the first time, and with a group of twenty-five volunteers present their intervention in various forms during the symposium.

Together with Amsterdam Fringe Festival, The Netherlands Theatre Festival, NIMK Netherlands Media Art Institute), SKOR has invited Yes Men (USA) to organize their Yes Lab on the issues of social housing and to train artists and activists brave enough to fix The Netherlands.

Our Autonomous Life? is a ‘cooperative sitcom’ offering a glimpse into the behind-the-scenes life of a fictional living group, co-written with people who have a stake in the practices of communal living. Conceived in collaboration with artist Maria Pask and cultural anthropologist Nazima Kadir as part of Casco’s long-term project, The Grand Domestic Revolution—User’s Manual; co-produced by Casco and SKOR. The Pilot broadcast is on Saturday, November 5 at Casco through RTV Utrecht, with a preview at the symposium.

A Reader is developed in collaboration with …ment, the Berlin-based journal for contemporary culture, art and politics. This special issue, designed by Boy Vereencken, is devoted to the main topic of our symposium and proposes a space where research, theoretical texts and possible responses can meet. It is conceived as an integral part of the discussions developed during the symposium and as being parallel and independent research into the topic. …ment is an initiative run by Federica Bueti, Benoit Loiseau and Clara Meister.

Research Platforms
Two research platforms with invited audience have taken place prior to the symposium, focussing on the transformations in the field of social housing in the Netherlands; the potential of art projects in the midst of those transformations; and new initiatives of citizens to self-organize. The outcome of both events is integrated in the symposium programme.

Film Programme
Prior to the symposium, the film programme introduces the main topics and questions raised by the symposium. It contains art videos, documentaries and feature films, organized around a specific theme and stresses both the personal and social aspects. Four screenings in various locations in Amsterdam: Open Coop (October 14), De Nieuwe Anita (October 20), Delicatessen Zeeburg (October 26), Kriterion (October 29). Curated by Yael Messer and Gilad Reich.

Publication
During the symposium, SKOR presents the publication Actors, Agents, and Attendants – Caring Culture: Art, Architecture, and the Politics of Public Health. Editors: Andrea Phillips and Markus Miessen. Published by Sternberg Press. ISBN 978-1-934105-71-9

Admittance includes: symposium booklet, coffee, lunch, dinner and refreshments.
Venue: Felix Meritis, Keizersgracht 324, Amsterdam

Registrations and full programme www.skor.nl

SKOR | Foundation for Art and Public Domain is an internationally operating art institution based in Amsterdam, which advises, develops and creates art projects in relation to the public domain. The projects organized by SKOR react to socio-political changes in society and new developments in contemporary art, urban design and landscape architecture. Through addressing such current topics, SKOR contributes to the debate about the politics of the public domain.