We are excited to announce that this weekend (7 – 8 December 2013) the exhibition Made By Us that we have curated in collaboration with Het Nieuwe Instituut will open at the Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture in Shenzhen.
The program Made By Us explores the role of digital media in ‘city-making’ – the complex process by which institutions, architects, designers and citizens bring their cities into being. The specific focus is on the role of digital media in the repurposing of industrial heritage sites.
Curatorial Statement
Made By Us: “City-Making” with Digital Technologies
Made By Us explores the role digital technologies can play in ‘city-making’ – the complex process by which institutions, architects, designers and citizens bring their cities into being. In the context of the Guangdong Float Glass Factory, three Dutch designers have created media installations that invite people to probe possible futures for the site and experience the space in new ways.
These installations inquire into ways digital technologies can contribute to the reactivation of industrial heritage sites. What kinds of economic, social and cultural value can technologies such as data visualisation, urban gaming and augmented reality add to this process?
The works presented at the Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture are are not merely artistic artefacts serving to reflect on these questions. All three have been conceived as open platforms that invite visitors to actively participate in remaking this former factory site – part of a city “Made By Us”.
Works Exhibited
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Play the City! 3RD Niki Smit from Monobanda (in collaboration with DUS Architects). The playful installation 3RD is an open platform that invites users to experience a space in playful ways. |
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Visualize the City! Cloud Factory Mark van der Net (OS City). In Cloud Factory the visualization of data scraped from the web gives us a better understanding of the city, simultaneously revealing new design-opportunities. |
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Program your City! Portable Festival App Sander Veenhof. The Portable Festival App helps people to design and experience their own festival with the help of augmented reality. As such it connects people in new ways around a common place and theme. |
Programme Opening Weekend
Sunday 8 December 3.30-4.30pm: Forum Discussion Made By Us
Location: Auditorium
What is the potential of new media technologies for revitalizing vacant factories? How can they help to create new value? And how can these media technologies play a role in defining new ‘makership’ in a repurposed factory-space?
With WU Wenyi (Urbanus), Mark van der Net, Niki Smit, Sander Veenhof, Michiel de Lange, Martijn de Waal, Floor van Spaendonck. 8 December 4.30–5.30pm
Sunday 8 December 4.30-5.30pm: Festive opening of the exhibition Made By Us
Location: Main Exhibition Hall, Venue of Het Nieuwe Instituut
In the presence of Guus Beumer, director of Het Nieuwe Instituut and Ole Bouman, curator of the Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture.
7 and 8 December: interactive performances:
Saturday and Sunday 10am -11am
Visualize the City with Cloud Factory!
Mark van der Net
Location: Inside the Silo, 2nd Floor.
With Cloud Factory, architect and open data expert Mark van der Net demonstrates the power of data scraping and visualizing in bringing out communal issues as well as opportunities for redevelopment.
Saturday and Sunday 2pm-3pm
Play the City with 3RD!
Monobanda
Location: Main Exhibition Hall, ground floor.
The playful installation 3RD is an open platform that invites users to experience a space in new ways. Niki Smit of (Urban) Game design studio Monobanda shows how playful interventions can help to bring about a sense of place, as well as create a safe site for experimentation.
Saturday 4pm-5pm, Sunday 12pm-1pm
Program your City with the Portable Festival App
Sander Veenhof
Location: In between Silo and Main Exhibition Hall.
The Portable Festival App helps people to design and experience their own festival with the help of augmented reality. As such it connects people in new ways around a common place and theme. Augmented Reality artist Sander Veenhof demonstrates how technology can add layers of meaning as well as engage citizens in their production.
Location: all activities take place at Venue A – “Value Factory”, aka the Former Guangdong Float Glass Factory in Shenzhen.
More information and background essays
See the special Made By Us page on The Mobile City website.