11 Feb 2010

Expodium presents Malleability Revisited: The need for new strategies

MALLEABILITY REVISITED: THE NEED FOR NEW STRATEGIES

In its 2009 project �Malleability Revisited: Beyond the interstitial experience’ Expodium focussed on the terrains vagues in the city which are the consequence of post-industrial urbanisation. In 2010 Expodium will continue its urban exploration by taking on the other side of post-industrial growth.

As our point of departure we seek to approach the apparently negative development of 'shrinkage' from a positive angle, and investigate what results around a shrinkage situation can be employed on behalf of future urban development.

Where growth is mostly thought to equal progress, shrinkage is associated with a decline in municipal finances, economising on community facilities and programmes, and falling tax revenues. Thus, for the time being, building is considered the way to go.

Expodium proposes to go in search of the opportunities and new prospects that shrinkage brings with it.
The central question here is, what chances, possibilities and new strategies can be distilled from a shrinkage situation in order to shed new positive light on current city development?

With the developments in the area around the railway station in Utrecht as a starting point, we will examine the above question, and create a vision as well as suggestions for an alternative urban policy, capable of responding to future trends. Art and culture can play an important role in approaching this matter.

It is our belief that the input of autonomous thinking is of critical importance at the moment, and will be intensely valuable for the urban dweller's ability to adapt to the future.

Participating artists:
Philippe Van Wolputte (BE)
Ruth Sacks (RSA)
Francesca Grilli (IT)
Sachi Miyachi (JPN)
Julien Grossmann (FR)
Pilvi Takala (FIN)
Chris Meighan (SCO)


EXPODIUM SESSIONS PROGRAM

To stimulate thought and discussion on the matters Expodium researches, the Sessions Program is organized.

The first expert featuring in Expodium's Sessions Program 2010 will be Wolfgang Kil. Kil is an architecture critic and publicist specialized in shrinkage. In his lecture 'Shrinking Cities, Empty Landscapes – The East German Experience' he will address the effect of deindustrialism on the restructuring of our society and our social and spatial environment. 'Where economical structures are going to change, settling systems and landscapes shaped by them, will change as well.'

After this, Paul Gerretsen (Vereniging Deltametropool) will respond and the floor will be opened for discussion.

This evening is organized in collaboration with Tumult, Utrecht Centre for Debate and is part of the Utrecht Consortium program.