2023
Critical Imagination
Amateur Cities
Debatreeks: Anders werken aan wonen
Nederland staat voor een complexe woonopgave. In het licht hiervan organiseert Amateur Cities vanaf het najaar van 2023 een drietal publieksevents rond het thema Anders werken aan wonen, als onderdeel van het gelijknamige programma van het Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie.
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Amateur Cities
Feminist Finance Syllabus is a supplement to the Feminist Finance Zine titled Radical Care: Embracing Feminist Finance by Amateur Cities and Institute of Network Cultures. This syllabus is a starting point for diving into the field of feminist finance. It features scholarly concepts, grassroots projects, artistic thought-experiments, fictional responses, and questions without answers.
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Amateur Cities
Radical Care: Embracing Feminist Finance
Amateur Cities and the Institute of Network Cultures are launching the Feminist Finance Zine: Embracing Radical Care. It is a collaborative work focusing on economic alternatives and inclusive financial futuring. The zine aims to inspire local networks of care and democratic infrastructures of money.
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Dounia Kchiere
The Racism Onion: Considerations on Discrimination
This article is a personal reflection on discrimination and racism. The author unfolds different layers of what she calls the Racism Onion. She analyzes the different shapes and forms discrimination takes depending on who we are and our particular circumstances.
Read More >>2018
Critical Imagination
Cristina AmpatzidouAnia Molenda
Rather than a political vision of how life in cities ought to be organized, contemporary planning resembles a managerial task that coordinates flows of money, materials, people, and information. Paradoxically, this increasing centralization of power is accompanied by a rhetoric of citizen empowerment.
Read More >>Critical Imagination
Davide Tommaso Ferrando
The urban image today is the product of a complicated relationship between the specific characters of local environments and the global imaginary of the market, in which the former reshape the latter and not the other way around.
Read More >>Wishful Thinking
James Kerr
What if dividing parts of our personality over different online channels, fundamentally changes the way we perceive ourselves?
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Ryan Mendoza
What if we could make places so telling about the less glorious parts of urban histories more prominent?
Read More >>Critical Imagination
Rebekka Kiesewetter
From Exclusion to Autonomy: Publishing as a Spatializing Act
Publishing, understood as a process of ‘making a public’ that informs a ‘capacity to act,’ has the potential to develop as an institutionalizing means, an interface for connecting people with different backgrounds, and as a way to relate with each other. It can be used as a means for instigating critical discourse and engagement, for proposing alternative value systems and opening new political horizons.
Read More >>Wishful Thinking
irene pittatore
What if we started approaching controversial issues through playful devices?
Read More >>Wishful Thinking
Huey Hoong Chan
What would a monument to capitalism par excellence look like?
Read More >>Critical Imagination
Elisa Tangheroni
The permanent spatial state of exception in the urban environment is a much-discussed topic in postmodern discourse, yet a critical re-assessment of the contemporary situation is needed. The global proliferation of urban enclaves, and in consequence their ghettoization, indicates an urgent need for social sustainability.
Read More >>Critical Imagination
Maria Dada
Cities today are digital-physical hybrids. Parts of the city exist in our computationally mediated imagination and other parts are experienced through our bodies.
Read More >>2017
The Unmasters
Cristina AmpatzidouAnia MolendaMichal Gdak
During the 15th Venice Architecture Biennale, entitled ‘Reporting from the Front’, Dominika Janicka in cooperation with Martyna Janicka and Michal Gdak curated the exhibition ‘Fair Building’ at the Polish Pavilion, taking a close look at the ways in which architecture is made and the rather questionable conditions in which the construction industry operates. – Read our conversation with Michal on the possibility of fairer architecture.
Read More >>The Unmasters
Cristina AmpatzidouLea Schonfelder
Lea Schönfelder designs what she calls games for adults. They are meant to motivate her players to reflect on the paradoxes of contemporary life, their ethical choices and politics of the everyday life.
Read More >>Critical Imagination
Fernando Ferreira
Barbican on Solitude: a Story of Walking
Walking is a verb that describes the body’s movement traversing a specific surface. Walking is also a practical and theoretical methodology that has been explored by various contemporary artists, architects and art movements, especially since the beginning of the twentieth century. Fernando Ferreira assumed the act of walking as an allegorical and potential narrative at the Barbican. His walk story is unfolds in a three-act structure.
Read More >>The Unmasters
Christopher LindingerCristina Ampatzidou
Technology, Creativity and the future of Cities
Christopher Lindinger, co-director of Ars Electronica Futurelab, talks about the creative lab culture that forms his working environment, shares his thoughts on group dynamics and organizational structures, and reflects on the potential and challenges of technological development for the future of cities and their inhabitants.
Read More >>Wishful Thinking
IaaC Introductory Studio-G1 of 201516
Active Public Space, Plaça de les Glòries
What if currently dormant public spaces become activated by different forms of human and machine actions?
Read More >>Wishful Thinking
Martha Rosler
Housing is a Human Right, 1989
Housing is not a matter of solidarity, helping those in need on a cold winter day, it is a human right.
Read More >>Wishful Thinking
La Jetee
What happens when we redefine the rules of behavior in public as the visible surface of a playing field?
Read More >>Wishful Thinking
Raphael Kim
Microbial Money – Stock Analysis
What would an economy based on money as living organisms look like?
Read More >>2016
The Unmasters
Alex FotiAnia MolendaCristina AmpatzidouTrebor Scholz
Towards Collective Subjectivity
Interview about the possibility of collective subjectivity with Alex Foti and Trebor Scholz by Cristina Ampatzidou and Ania Molenda at Moneylab #3 - Failing Better.
Read More >>The Unmasters
Ania MolendaArthur Roing BaerCristina AmpatzidouEmily Rosamond
Interview about the price of surveillance with Emily Rosamond and Arthur Röing Baer by Cristina Ampatzidou and Ania Molenda at Moneylab #3 - Failing Better.
Read More >>Wishful Thinking
Scott Hocking
What if the right to decide about abandoned sites had an an expiry date and unattended buildings eventually became part of the public domain?
Read More >>The Unmasters
ZUSCristina AmpatzidouAnia Molenda
The Unobvious Ways of City Making
ZUS merges the theoretical and practical aspects of what we today call city making, yet they are also a design office for architecture and urbanism. Together with ZUS principal, Kristian Koreman, we discussed the ways they combine the two, how it was to be at the forefront of emerging unsolicited architecture and what do they mean by the necessity of engaging with unobvious design tasks.
Read More >>Wishful Thinking
Yto Barrada
What if a vacant lot could stay in a permanent state of lingering?
Read More >>Wishful Thinking
Aristide Antonas
Landscape with crane rooms and keg apartments
What does it mean to live together or in isolation and what extent of isolation renders a common future impossible?
Read More >>Wishful Thinking
Femke Herregraven
There are many reasons to question the form and the idea of citizenship today. What if we think of new ways to define our relationships to territory?
Read More >>Wishful Thinking
Richard Barnes
What if we could trace the human stories behind the objects that have been discarded along the way?
Read More >>Wishful Thinking
Davide Tommaso Ferrando
When removed from their direct surrounding, can iconic buildings maintain their landmark status?
Read More >>Wishful Thinking
Karolina Kowalska
An unexpected breakdown of the advertising market, 2011
When all advertisements and commercial information are replaced with a neutral white, what is left of the architectural surfaces of the city to remind us where we stand?
Read More >>Wishful Thinking
Skid Robot
What if housing as a human right would finally be universally respected?
Read More >>Critical Imagination
Max Haiven
The Four Faces of Financialization: Cities as a Site of Struggle
In spite of describing an important set of social and economic transformations, the word financialization has become used so frequently and in so many contradictory ways, that it risks becoming as fragile and confusing as other recent buzz-words like globalization, neoliberalism and gentrification. Yet the forces at work behind the term are real and have far reaching impact on citizens, cities, theorists and activists; and we ignore it at our peril.
Read More >>The Unmasters
Ania MolendaCassie ThorntonCristina AmpatzidouSteyn Bergs
Play and Imagination Against Debt
Interview about imagination and debt with Steyn Bergs and Cassie Thornton by Cristina Ampatzidou and Ania Molenda at Moneylab #3 - Failing Better.
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Nurul Azlan
Bersih 4: Street Protests as a Form of City Making
Protesters participate in city making, but what does it mean when protesters refuse to contest the space, and instead choose to politely hover just beyond its boundary?
Read More >>Wishful Thinking
Rush Pleasnuk
What if we could bring places back into existence by giving them a place in our memory?
Read More >>Wishful Thinking
Soon Min Hong
Similar to children in playgrounds, could adults learn to appreciate risk taking in a playful manner?
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Tobias Revell
Seizing the means of rendering
There is a history of the future written in renderings; images of fantasy assembled as marketing, escapism and policy toolkits.
Read More >>Critical Imagination
Rosa Rogina
Is architecture only a passive reflection of current political matters or can it formulate its own claims, demands, agendas and above all, can architecture use the means of activism to critically engage with broader social and political concerns?
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Kolar Aparna
Lost Cities and Losing oneself in the City
What if we gave up the wish to contain cities and citizenships?
Read More >>The Unmasters
Lorenzo RomitoCristina AmpatzidouAnia Molenda
Walking across Actual Territories
Rome-based collective Stalker has been exploring the neglected areas of the Italian capital and engaging with their marginalized populations for more than 20 years. Stalker co-founder Lorenzo Romito reflects on the group’s evolution and future plans.
Read More >>Wishful Thinking
Xavier Delory
What remains when the icons of the past are stripped of from the grand visions they embodied?
Read More >>Critical Imagination
Alberto Vanolo
Urban Branding and the Violent Ghosts of the Politics of Representation
City branding is a relevant issue among urban policy makers. In a nutshell, it refers to the promotion of the image of a city, mostly in order to attract tourists, investments, mega-events, such as the Olympic games, and new wealthy residents, such as the members of the so-called ‘creative class’. This commentary will summarizes some ideas that analyze the politics of representation triggered by the common, and apparently banal, everyday practices of urban branding.
Read More >>Wishful Thinking
Skye Yuxi Sun
What if power and money could change the course of evolution?
Read More >>2015
Wishful Thinking
Larisa Bulibasa
The Labyrinth of the City of London, 2015
What if we could imagine the complexity of the financial world as a labyrinth for which we hold Ariadne's thread?
Read More >>Critical Imagination
Brett Scott
Bringing the Jungle to the City
The ambiguities of urban dynamics and the interfaces that connect and disconnect us from the larger context and from each other.
Read More >>Wishful Thinking
Dunne & Raby
Very Large Bike (VLB), United Micro Kingdoms, 2013
What if we started to modify our bodies to make them fitter and more suitable for the environment we are living in rather than modifying the environment?
Read More >>Wishful Thinking
James Kerr
What if you are stuck behind your screen with nothing to share?
Read More >>Wishful Thinking
Dillon Marsh
What if we could always get a preview of the breakdown that shows what things are made of and the values of those ingredients?
Read More >>Critical Imagination
Edwin Gardner
A vanguard of architects is not building skyscrapers or concert halls. They are not bothered by having their own signature style. Even aesthetic perfection leaves them cold. The self-conscious designer of modernism, with its unassailable belief in social engineering, is waning. One could say that the new architect is more of a hacker.
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Alberto Vanolo
Smart City or The serial reproduction of an urban vision
A couple of months ago I bought a brand new video game console, Sony’s well known PS4. Despite being almost 40, I enjoy video games very much, and I also think that they are relevant cultural products to be carefully considered in the social sciences (I often use such an argument in order to justify my playing). Included in the console package, there was one video game called Watch Dogs, which monopolized my late summer nights.
Read More >>Wishful Thinking
Peder Norrby
What if a computer error could physically change our direct surroundings?
Read More >>Critical Imagination
Chiara QuinziiDiego Terna
An Old Way of Living, Yet Innovative
The Statement on the International Co-operative Identity ratified by the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) in 1995 voices that ‘Co-operatives are based on the values of self-sufficiency, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity’. Nearly 20 years later terms such as ‘self-sufficiency’ have acquired an extensive array of meanings, ranging from energy and food production to the advent of a myriad of types of user-generated multimedia content provided by the so-called web 2.0.
Read More >>Wishful Thinking
Giuseppe Licari
What if nature would escape the exploitation and control imposed upon it in the cities?
Read More >>Wishful Thinking
Matthieu Cherubini
Ethical Autonomous Vehicles, 2014
What if the ethical code of our self-driving vehicles would become just another commodified feature to purchase and change at one’s will?
Read More >>The Unmasters
David HorvitzCristina AmpatzidouAnia Molenda
No one owns the beach: On time and public space on and offline
David Horvitz uses the city and the Internet as fields to challenge the definitions of public domain, uniqueness and time.
Read More >>Critical Imagination
James Brown
What are the implications of the spirit of late capitalism if it blends work and play, labour and leisure, especially given that this blending happens not only in terms of time but also in terms of space? The coworker’s professional life is distributed across various places (home, co-working space, the occasional office, depending on the project they are working on) and times (smartphones and other portable devices are also part of this ethos). How does this new architecture of professional and personal life reconfigure time and space?
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The Unmasters
Mark van der NetAnia MolendaCristina Ampatzidou
Fewer Regulations, More Open Source and a Broader View
This is what Mark van der Net thinks can uncover new perspectives for architecture and urban planning.
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Tobias Revell
Continuous Monuments and Imaginable Alternatives
This essay aims to connect the world of global homogeny that Superstudio were critiquing with their seminal work ‘The Continuous Monument’ with the modern project of the Smart City and suggest that, particularly with the activation of imagination of technologists, designers, architects and urbanists, this new homogeny might be challenged and alternatives might be imagined.
Read More >>2014
Critical Imagination
Chryso Onisiforou
Recent conditions of the construction crisis and widespread recession have led us to believe that we live in an era of not only strict economic restrictions and austerity but also and unavoidably, in an age of an irrefutable decreasing of resources.
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Ania MolendaCristina Ampatzidou
The word amateur has two meanings. One refers to the etymological origin of the word and is derived from French - amateur ‘lover of’ or from Latin - amator ‘lover’. Both come from the verb amare ‘to love’. According to this definition an amateur is a person that engages in a pursuit on an unpaid basis; one would assume – out of passion or love. One might also say that being an amateur is then quite nobilitating and can be associated with social values such as altruism.
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