Cities Made Differently: Visual Assembly in Amsterdam

Where: Amsterdam, OBA Oosterdok
Languages: Dutch, English
9+ (parents & other siblings welcome!)

Will it be filled with technological wonders: flying and thinking machines, houses that grow like trees, objects printed on 3D printers, and an endless supply of free food created by intelligent bacteria?

Will our City of the Future be governed by its residents, or will it fall under the control of a ruthless dictator?

Will our City be peaceful, or will it need to constantly defend itself from neighbors or even launch attacks of its own?

Will our City be surrounded by a wall, or will we open it to the entire world?

Together, we will imagine and draw a map of the City of the Future, describe its laws, and leave our plan in the library for safekeeping, so that in the future we can look back and see if we were right. Or perhaps we will be able to revise the model and add new rules based on what actually happens in the real city as the present becomes the future.

Nika will prepare an initial layout, stickers, and bring pencils and markers. She will also conduct video interviews with children and adults to collect and preserve their visions of the future they wish to live in. Visual Assemblies have been held in Iceland, and Cuba, Germany and England, the Caribbean and New York: creating collective art projects that can be kept as well as further developed by the community.

Dear parents, please join us! The main goal of the Visual Assembly is not only to create a beautiful artistic project but also to experience collective decision-making and foster collaboration between children and adults.

But perhaps cooperation and the ability to understand each other is more important for building the City of the Future than anything else we are trained to do?