Public space is a political place that is under constant pressure of many agendas. Privately owned “public” space abides to the rules of neoliberal market economy and not to public interests. Private spaces therefore enforce the economic, racial, and gender hierarchies of that system. As a student you will carry out research into public and private space, but first and foremost: you will engage with it. The goal of this minor is to reclaim public space, by interacting with it. You will use your skills and knowledge as a maker to intervene in public space and subvert or challenge the norms that govern it.  

The minor Public & Private does this in the first place through self-organisation and collective action. By setting up new initiatives that break with the existing social, political, and economic structures in public life. How can you engage with the world around you by starting from a bottom-up initiative? How can these initiatives shape society, without defining themselves in opposition to them? Think of an artist-run space, social care initiatives in neighborhoods, or community-based projects. In the minor we explore how such initiatives can shape society, without defining themselves in opposition to them? How can artist-led initiatives work within the communities they function, produce and live in?  

In this minor you will work on a specific public and semi-public space in Rotterdam. Together with other students in this minor you will explore this location by engaging in artistic research and hands-on material making that can look critically at this place, provide new ideas and perspective and create interventions that directly impact this particular the area and the people living, or working in it, and using it.  

Research Methods:  

Observational Studies, Surveys and Questionnaires, Interviews, Spatial Analysis, Ethnography, Community Engagement, Mapping, Social Media Analysis.  

External Partners:  

Students engage with professionals at the intersections of DIWO, bottom-up, and collective work through quest lectures, collaborations, and small excursions. The program aligns with ongoing discussions in Autonomous Practices, emphasizing the meaning of autonomous creative practice. Dialogues and engagements with local organizations and self-organized practices persist, creating a comprehensive learning experience.  

Keywords:  

Self-organisation, bottom-up, initiative, DIY, collaboration, autonomous fabric, public life.    

Goals:  

• Develop embedded and systemic research skills, enhancing investigative methods related to core course content.  
• Gain knowledge of the politics of public space, understanding urban development complexities, including gentrification.  
• Cultivate critical thinking, observation, analysis, and reflection on power relations and politics in public spaces, particularly in the nearby surroundings of Rotterdam.  
• Foster an attitude of DIY and DIWO, bottom-up approaches, and collaboration.   

Learning Outcomes: 

• You are able to produce visual work that is based on research and expresses your artistic vision. 
• You are able, through artistic research, to examine, analyse, interpret, problematise, position and evaluate your own work and work process and that of others. 
• You can maintain an active and critical attitude toward the context in which you produce and present your work. 
• You are able, in the context of a collaborative effort, to actively participate in the realisation of an artistic product or process. 
• You are able to respond to the site-specific character of the place that was central in this minor. 
• You are able to present your work, and convey your artistic concept and outcomes, to peers and tutors, but also to stakeholders at the specific site you worked at. 

This minor is open to WdKA students. Students from other institutes are required to send a portfolio and motivation. You will receive more information about this after you have registered for this minor. We advise students from other institutes to register at least one month before the deadline. The admission procedure takes at least two weeks. In case you are not accepted into the minor, you might need some time to register for another minor.

Deliverables:  

• Written research document (max. 2000 words).  
• Artistic project.  

Assessment:  

The written document will be individually and asynchronously assessed. The artistic component will be assessed after being presented in class.