After a successful and inspiring 2025 edition, the Independent School for the City and Loom – practice for cultural transformation once again joined forces to organise a four-day workshop exploring public space as a place of protest.
Protest has always been an inherent part of democratic processes and urban life, unfolding on the streets, squares, and walls of our cities. From the strikes of harbour workers to the #MeToo movement, and from demonstrations against increasing rents or climate marches, to Black Lives Matter campaigns – people find ways to be heard in public space. But the possibilities for protest are increasingly under pressure. Repression, surveillance, security measures, gentrification and the increasing smoothening of public space are making it harder for people to freely gather, express dissent, and advocate for change.
Last year’s course showed how urgent and fruitful it is to examine activism through a spatial lens, and this April we return with a renewed perspective. Together with René Boer, Mark Minkjan and Katía Truijen, we will regard activism as a discipline that involves revealing facts, building narratives and creating real-world impact. Whether it is the fossil fuel industry or the bankrupt housing system, Rotterdam has plenty of battles to be fought that resonate over the globe. During the workshop days, we will identify urgent issues, create counterpositions, and design situated strategies, while proposing alternative solutions.
Drawing inspiration from past and present generations of activists, we will explore how to design the communication of non-conventional narratives and the conditions for disobedient assemblies. This could include blockades, barricades, banners, choreographies, legal tactics, social media memes, squatting operations, consumer strikes or other, more subtle forms of expressing dissent with regard to the status quo—using whatever tools are necessary to drive change.
This workshop is open for anyone who sees the city not as a backdrop, but as a living terrain of struggle and possibility. Join us in April to reimagine public space as a place for protest!
