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.
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.
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!
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.
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'.
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!
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.
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.
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.
Yesterday I made a 20mi / 32km bike trip in Detroit. From Hamtramck to Downtown and back. Traveling this distance by bike gives you a good sense of the vast scale of this city, although this distance is but a small fragment of the size of the entire Metropolitan area of Detroit.
Where some of my initial thoughts on the derelict homes, factories, warehouses and skyscrapers were tainted by romanticism, now they're drained in the realization that this is an urban reality that is everywhere. An omnipresent sprawling landscape of destruction, generated by the rationality of hyper-capitalism. Fed by the misplaced escapism of the American dream, of starting over-and-over-and-over-and-over again in the suburbs, sub-suburbs, exurbs to the point that the notion of urbanity evaporates completely.
How to reinvent living together, 'a community' and perhaps even civilization on top of the ruins of the raison d'être of the previous one...
As a first action of the Unreal Estate Agency Andrew Herscher and Femke Lutgerink placed signs at various sites of unreal estate throughout Detroit. They were taken around by Dirk Bakker from the Detroit Institute of the Arts and Glenn Manisto.
The agency will produce, collect and inventory information on the ‘unreal estate’ of Detroit: that is, on the remarkable, distinct, characteristic or subjectively significant sites of urban culture. The project is aimed at new types of urban practices (architecturally, artistically, institutionally, everyday life, etc) that came into existence, creating a new value system in Detroit.
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