Initiated in 2012, the Dutch Design Summer School is a two-week, intensive series of workshops and lectures that expose participants to different visions within design and visual culture. As with all our programmes, the aim is to stimulate unexpected, cross-disciplinary collaborations.
In a temporary reprieve from the pressures and conventions of the industry, new ways of thinking and acting emerge.
The course takes place every year at an institution of cultural significance that is embedded within the international field.
Summer School: Fluid Rhythms
15—25 Aug 2018
Amsterdam Zuidoost (South East)
The Summer School 2018 was the catalyst for a seven-month programme ‘Fluid Rhythms’ in the fields of arts, design, urban planning, performance, and humanities. This intense programme provided a unique opportunity to experience a diverse set of concepts and methods related to ‘rhythm’, within the context of the Bijlmer, — one of the most vibrant neighborhoods in Amsterdam, once envisioned as an urban utopia and (in)famous for being called the "city of the future".
Building on the Summer School, the thematic research continued during the related LAB trajectory (for developing new practice-based research projects) and the Seminar ‘Rhythmanalysis in Context’ (October 2018–February 2019).
Fluid Rhythms: Urban Networks and Living Patterns
“The crowd is a body, the body is a crowd” — Henri Lefebvre
Life in the city both repeats itself, and is constantly changing. Situated in the Bijlmer, one of Amsterdam's most vibrant neighborhoods, Open Set launched a special programme, dedicated to exploring the potential of rhythm in the city. The movement of bodies in space; financial transactions; the circulation of sounds, cells, and smells; changing social constructs that divide and connect people; the flow of microscopic substances—such looping patterns generate dynamic complex structures, or ‘rhythms’, that shift over time. In the words of Caroline Nevejan: “Where there is rhythm, there is life”. Understanding and working with such dynamic complexities requires careful attunement to the interactions between social, imagined, and physical realms.
The participants of this international and interdisciplinary programme engaged in the exploration on the potential of rhythm-led practices as common ground for research and artistic work. This means both providing tools to perceive rhythms, as well as tools to tap into their generative potential. Rhythms occur on multiple levels at the same time, in the macro-level structures of the city, within the cells of bodies, and in the interconnections between mind, emotion, brain and heartbeats. By investigating the intertwined patterns of change, a world of subtle complexity starts to reveal itself to us in how humans, machines, animals, and microbes interact and coexist.
The programme welcomed artistic interventions of any form, whether they are sound, food or image-based formats, performances or digital applications — offering the opportunity to discover new, invisible or forgotten rhythms, to find the points of friction and blind spots and to transform and harness the power for social and ecological change. Eventually, working with rhythms is a way of synchronizing our efforts in acting and living together in a network society.
Experts
- Nadia Al Issa / Christidi — artist & writer
- Heather Barnett — artist, researcher & educator
- Hendry Bagwandin — Surinamese Song Bird master
- Dash N’ Dem — design action group
- Mavis Hofwijk & Candice Hofwijk — chefs
- Anton Kats — artist
- Satinder Gill — researcher
- Mizztamizzo — MC/producer, solo artist
- Caroline Nevejan — researcher
- Pei-Ying Lin — designer & artist
- Thought Collider — art, design & research duo
- Noam Toran — artist
- Justina Uka — chef
Schedule
| Date | Time & Activities | |
| 14 AUG | 15.00-21.00: Welcome tour & drinks | |
| 15 AUG |
10.00-18.00: Simultaneous 3 day workshops, day 1 — Nadia Christidi with contribution of Hendry Bagwandin | 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings' (location: No LIMIT) — Anton Kats | 'People taller than buildings: Listening and Sonification in Public Space' (location: Google LAB & Municipality South East) |
|
| 16 AUG |
10.00-15.00: Simultaneous 3 day workshops, day 2 — Nadia Christidi (location: No LIMIT) — Anton Kats (location: Google LAB & Municipality South East) 16.00-20.00: Public Symposium (location Imagine IC) |
|
| 17 AUG |
10.00-18.00: Simultaneous 3 day workshops, day 3 — Nadia Christidi (location: No LIMIT) — Anton Kats (location: Google LAB & Municipality South East) |
|
| 18 AUG | day off | |
| 19-20 AUG | 10.00-18.00: 2 day workshop by Heather Barnett | 'City as Superorganism' (location: Google LAB) | |
| 21 AUG |
9.00-13.00: Seminar Introduction: 'Rhythm as Territory' (location: Imagine IC) 14.00-17.00: Film screening. Led by Mike Thompson & Noam Toran | Renderings of the Other in Cinema |
|
| 22-24 AUG |
10.00-18.00: Simultaneous 3 day workshops — DashN’Dem in collaboration with Mizztamizzo | 'Mass Voice' (location: The Ballroom) — Pei-Ying Lin with the contribution of Justina Uka, Mavis & Candice Hofwijk | 'M'icro-performances / Macro-connections' (location: The Ballroom) |
|
| 25 AUG |
11.00-16.00: Wrap-up discussion & feedback (location: Google LAB) 16.00-20.00: Goodbye drinks |
Why Participate?
- Unique opportunity to work in the context of Amsterdam Zuidoost, exchanging with a wide range of experts and researchers, local cultural centers, and scientific partners;
- ‘One-on-one’ interaction and guidance from leading international designers, artists, critics, and academics;
- Collaboration with peers from all over the world, building an international network of post-graduate level artists, designers and scholars;
- Experience in different methods, theories and techniques for working with rhythms;
- Experience in reflecting on your practice, focusing on potential directions of its development and on presenting it to the broader professional and general audience;
- Opportunity to contribute to the online publication and platform with the work generated within the context of this programme.
Scientific Partners
The principal scientific partner for the 2018–2019 Open Set programme is the research group Designing Rhythm for Social Resilience (2018–2022), with affiliated institutions OIS Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam, Delft University of Technology, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions.
Location
The programme will be contextualised around the modern, historical, social and environmental frameworks of one of the most vibrant neighborhoods – the Bijlmer in Amsterdam Zuidoost (South East). All events are hosted and supported by the municipality and local cultural centres, and informed by people actively involved in the life of local communities.
Credits
The programme is made possible by the support of the City of Amsterdam Zuidoost, Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, Het Pauwhof Fonds, CBK Zuidoost, and has been organized in collaboration with the research group Designing Rhythm for Social Resilience (2018–2022). The visits of Nadia Christidi and Heather Barnett are made possible by Het Nieuwe Instituut with support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Curatorial Team: Irina Shapiro, Mike Thompson and Noam Toran
Design: Studio The Rodina
Editor: Shailoh Phillips
Memories of the Future Vol.2
23.07.—06.08.2016, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Workshop Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Decoding Information for Future Communication by Rejane dal Bello, Liza Enebeis and Bruno Setola. Project by Jonathan Castro and Cristina Noguer. Location WORM.
Workshop Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Decoding Information for Future Communication — by Rejane dal Bello, Liza Enebeis and Bruno Setola. Project by Jonathan Castro and Cristina Noguer.
Workshop One Day Collection for a Future Project by Joanna van der Zanden. Location TENT.
Workshop Web-to-Print-to-Street by Paul Soulellis. Location V2_ Institute for the Unstable Media.
Workshop One Day Collection for a Future Project by Joanna van der Zanden. Location TENT. Photo: Xandra van der Eijk.
Workshop Staging the Message. Strategy, Method and Language Use Els Kuijpers & Rick Poynor. Location Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art.
Workshop Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Decoding Information for Future Communication by Rejane dal Bello, Liza Enebeis and Bruno Setola. Location WORM
The theme of Open Set 2016 (both for the events in Seoul and Rotterdam) was Memories of the Future, and it explored how the notion and perception of memory can be used to stimulate alternative approaches towards the future.
How are memory and the future connected? When we construct the future we use the same process as when we reconstruct the past: we can’t imagine the future in a vacuum, separate from our own experience, and cultural and historical references. We re-contextualize our previous experience (as individuals and as collectives), give it new meaning based on the conditions of a present moment, and transform it into a future possibility.
We would argue, therefore, that memory should not be seen as an archive of references or stock of information, but rather as a verb, an action, a process, that helps us reach the future. But how do we activate memory? Is memory something set by our cultural frames of reference? Or are memory and heritage, as well as the future, concepts which can be brought to a public debate?
In this context, design and art can be seen as agents, while proposing visual narratives, experiences or group actions, through which the future and memory can be observed and discussed by large audiences.
Experts
Åbäke (UK), Rick Poynor (UK), Liza Enebeis: Studio Dumbar (NL), Sebastian Groes (UK), Olia Lialina (RU/DE), Bik Van der Pol (NL), Rejane Dal Bello (BR/UK), Max Bruinsma (NL), Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries (KR), Mike Thompson & Susana Cámara Leret: Thought Collider (NL), Na Kim (KR), Paul Soulellis (USA), Els Kuijpers (NL), Bruno Setola (NL), Theo Deutinger (NL), Joanna van der Zanden (NL), Josephine Bosma (NL), Ben Schouten (NL), René Boer (NL).
Designing Experience:
Moment — Stage — Memory
26.07.—08.08.2015, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Workshop Reconfiguration — Movement Research by Bruno Listopad. Location TENT.
Workshop Reconfiguration — Movement Research by Bruno Listopad. Location TENT.
Workshop Experiencing the Space: 10-minutes Incidents by Prem Krishnamurthy & Emily Smith. Location Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art.
Workshop Intuitive Human Approach by Martijn Engelbregt. Location WORM.
Workshop Staging the Message by Els Kuijpers & Jan van Toorn. Location Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art.
Workshop Port Fiction by Superflux. Location V2_ Institute for the Unstable Media.
Workshop Experiencing the Space: 10-minutes Incidents by Prem Krishnamurthy & Emily Smith. Location Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art.
Workshop Experiencing the Space: 10-minutes Incidents by Prem Krishnamurthy & Emily Smith. Location Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art.
The 2015 edition of Open Set examined creative strategies for designing experiences and their power to provoke and influence the construction of individual and collective identities. We considered two meanings of the term Experience: experience as the here and now, and experience as gathered knowledge, heritage, culture. The international group of participants investigated the meanings, ethics and strategies of designing new experiences and what impact those have on contemporary society.
Experts
Anab Jain & Jon Ardern: Studio Superflux (UK), Prem Krishnamurthy: Project Projects (USA), Emily Smith (DE), Jan van Toorn (NL), Ricardo O’Nascimento (NL), Caroline Nevejan (NL), Bruno Listopad (NL), Martijn Engelbregt (NL), Jacqueline Heerema (NL), Max Bruinsma (NL), Florian Cramer (NL), Annette Krauss (NL), Laura Pardo (CO/NL), Füsun Türetken (TR/NL), Els Kuijpers (NL), Dennis Elbers (NL), Christine Boshuijzen-van Burken (NL).
Catalogue
The Open Set 2014 theme Social Game centered on the role of the designer in the process of public engagement with cultural production and distribution. The processes we addressed and their consequences are directly connected to current global economical, technological, and social changes. The rise of new creative and decentralized forms of economy is reshaping working design conditions and relationships with clients and end users. We see that we are part of a new type of cross-disciplinary collaboration, which deals better with the complex and ever-changing requests from the public. Working in an era of technological boom, therefore, requires increased attention to the digital medium and the ability to adapt and build our own design tools.
This societal context positions the designer not as executor or producer, but as creator of strategies, facilitating the conditions for social processes and even provoking new ones. Open Set examined this theme by focusing on existing reactions from the creative industry to new social requirements — a focus informed by designers who create participatory and interactive experiences, act as journalists building visual stories, and initiate social processes and digital platforms.
Experts
Andy Altmann (UK), Max Andrews & Mariana Cánepa Luna: Latitudes (ES), Max Bruinsma (NL), Jeanne van Heeswijk (NL), Richard Fussey & Cuby Gerards & Karin Langeveld: Studio Trapped in Suburbia (NL), Andreas Gysin (CH), Els Kuijpers (NL), Annelys de Vet (NL), Richard Vijgen (NL), Karel van der Waarde (NL).
Location
Kunstblock, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Catalogue
Commonomy
19.08.—31.08.2013, Breda, the Netherlands
Workshop by Jonathan Barnbrook.
Workshop by Jan van Toorn.
Workshop by Catalogtree.
Lecture by Geert Lovink.
Workshop by Martijn Engelbregt.
Workshop by Martijn Engelbregt.
Workshop by Petr van Blokland.
Workshop by Jan van Toorn.
Workshop by Binna Choi & Christian Nyampeta.
During the 2013 programme Open Set questioned the role of Autonomy in a totally designed culture and autonomy's influence on social values. We assembled this idea under a single term called Commonomy. The starting point of the discussion was the critical role of the designer within the cultural, political and technological contemporary conditions and the designer’s influence on social changes. We focused on what design can bring into the life of a community and on how design can be influenced by social processes. Is there a place for the traditional meaning of Autonomy within the field of design or should it be redefined?
Experts
Jonathan Barnbrook (UK), Petr van Blokland (NL), Max Bruinsma (NL), Binna Choi (NL), Dennis Elbers (NL), Martijn Engelbregt (NL), Daniel Gross & Joris Maltha: Studio Catalogtree (NL), Wilfried Hou Je Bek (NL), Geert Lovink (NL), Christian Nyampeta (UK), Marleen Stikker (NL), Jan van Toorn (NL), Annelys de Vet (NL).
Location
House of Visual Culture, Breda, the Netherlands
Catalogue
Utopia
12.08.—25.08.2012, Breda, the Netherlands
Workshop by Thomas Castro.
Workshop by Liza Enebeis.
Final presentation with external critics Max Bruinsma and Jan van Toorn.
The theme of Utopia — for the very first edition of Open Set — investigated the questions: what is the relationship between design and utopia, in history and nowadays? How does design reflect Utopia and how is it influenced by it? Is graphic design an idealistic idea? And should it be idealistic?
Experts
Max Bruinsma (NL), Thomas Castro: Studio LUST (NL), Liza Enebeis: Studio Dumbar (NL), Petr van Blokland (NL).
Location
House of Visual Culture, Breda, the Netherlands
Catalogue
Social Game
28.07.—09.08.2014, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Workshop by Max Bruinsma & Füsun Türetken. Location V2_.
Workshop Facilitating Conditions for Social Processes by Annelys de Vet. Location V2_.
Workshop Practice Based Research: Can you park here? by Karel van der Waarde. Location Showroom MAMA.
Workshop Facilitating Conditions for Social Processes by Annelys de Vet. Location V2_.
Workshop Mapping Rotterdam by Latitudes. Location Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art.
Workshop Word Building by Andy Altmann. Location TENT.
Workshop Communication of Trust by Jeanne van Heeswijk.