Animating a forgotten infrastructure
Instigating a collective, locally grounded experience by opening up forgotten, abandoned infrastructure and setting up a structure through which local inhabitants can share their thoughts, while exploring the concept and affect of the individual experience of a private space that is in every aspect the opposite of the safe, clean, light and warm housing spaces the new neighborhood is offering.
Information
This Recipe for
Instigating a collective, locally grounded experience by opening up forgotten, abandoned infrastructure and setting up a structure through which local inhabitants can share their thoughts, while exploring the concept and affect of the individual experience of a private space that is in every aspect the opposite of the safe, clean, light and warm housing spaces the new neighborhood is offering.
Recipe source
This recipe is derived from Black Water and composed by the Contemporary Commoning initiative. Black Water took place in a large, abandoned silo originally built as part of the city’s sewage treatment plant. By carefully adding a few elements such as sand, water and a system to regulate daylight and dripping water RAAAF sought to create a unique opportunity for silence, darkness and contemplation.
Background, situation & credit
Black Water was developed in the context of Contemporary Commoning. Contemporary Commoning is a two year research project investigating the many ways in which ‘commoning’ can contribute to new forms of public space, in the physical as well as the digital realm, and new spaces for public action. This research takes the potential contribution of design and art in these processes of ‘commoning’ as the main point of departure. The research is a collaboration between the Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Sandberg Institute, Waag: Technology and Society, University of Amsterdam’s Center for Urban Studies, Casco Art Institute and Studio René Boer. The research project is grounded in Amsterdam’s Zeeburgereiland, an island on the city’s eastern fringes currently being developed, and will result in a toolkit of ‘recipes for the commons’. This project is made possible through the support of NWO, BPD and Nautilus.
Ingredients
A newly built neighborhood, an abandoned piece of infrastructure that can be entered, support from the local authorities, resources (budget or materials) to prepare the site, a nearby community center, existing communities (from housing groups to garden initiatives), a planning tool
Instruction
Step 1
Choose a newly built neighborhood
Step 2
Map abandoned structures, in particular abandoned, close-off parts of infrastructure systems that can be entered, such as abandoned spaces below motorways, discarded parts of metro stations or former sewage systems Choose the site which represents the largest contrast with the surrounding newly built neighborhood
Step 3
Ensure local authorities support an intervention on the site through diplomatic efforts
Step 4
Optimize the space according to the quality of the space, such as cleaning and emptying it, adding water or sand, or natural sound and light effects
Step 5
Choose a strategy to involve nearby inhabitants as collaborators, as well as audience; potentially use a nearby community center as a place to meet before a visit and as a place to reconvene after a visit
Step 6
Make sure visitors feel safe and take their time to explore the space
Step 7
Make sure visitors don’t take phones or cameras into the site
Step 8
Announce the project as a special project, a testing ground, a try-out, a pilot, or even as a unique opportunity for the neighborhood; avoid calling it an event or emphasizing that it is just a work of art.
Step 9
Create the opportunity for further (collective) reflection on people’s experiences on the site
Step 10
External source
Colophon
