Open City Event Program
For 12 consecutive weeks the Forum is the arena for an interdisciplinary program of events. The program is organized as 12 thematic clusters of activities featuring lectures, documentary films, workshops, conferences, book launches, guided tours and excursions, and an “Open Podium”—a platform for interdisciplinary performances, presentations, and debates hosted each week by a different local “ambassador.”
The cluster-topics include both Open City sub-themes—Maakbaarheid (“Makeability”), Refuge, Reciprocity, Community, Squat, and Collective—and other subjects related to the Open City such as Connectivity, Fear, Migration, Access, and Source, about Jane Jacobs and the origins of the Open City concept.
The Open City Event Program contains the following event-types:
Keynote Lectures
The international lectures given by an esteemed group of specialists, theorists, and other thinkers from various disciplines form the core of the weekly program. The NAI’s ongoing lecture series, held on Thursday evenings at 8 pm, is temporarily integrated with the 4th IABR. Speakers include Kees Christiaanse, Lars Lerup, Eyal Weizman, Abdou Maliq Simone, Shuddhabrata Sengupta, Roberta Brandes Gratz, Robert Neuwirth, and Saskia Sassen, among others.
Film Program
The IDFA (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam) is the world’s largest documentary film festival. At the IABR's request, IDFA has organized a special documentary film series on the city, to be screened in the Forum on Wednesdays at 3:30 pm and on Sundays at noon. IDFA presents both classics and new documentaries during the series, selected in relation to the cluster themes.
Workshops, Debates, and Symposia
Held on Fridays, workshops, conferences, seminars, and symposia bring together practitioners, academics, and special-interest groups for presentations and knowledge-exchange on topics related to the cluster themes. These include the Berlage Masterclass presentation, a symposium on the relevance of Jane Jacobs in the Dutch context organized by Trancity, a workshop led by Eyal Weizman, a participatory “Gotong Royong” workshop and performance, a roundtable on “The Right to the City,” and a seminar with Ethiopian students in Rotterdam. In addition, the Rotterdam housing corporation Woonstad, partner of the 4th IABR, is organizing a debate entitled “Who Makes the City?” on the occasion of its 100-year anniversary. During the opening weekend, the symposium “Squat: Urbaninform” will take place.
Open Podium
The Open Podium explores how disciplines other than architecture take on the challenges and dilemmas of “designing coexistence.” Each Friday afternoon, a local “cultural ambassador” hosts a performance, presentation, or discussion related to the theme of that week. The contributors are encouraged to leave behind “residue” of their acts—a small, temporary exhibition that remains until another ambassador claims the podium on the following Friday. Open Podium events begin at 5 pm.
Curators’ Tours
Guided tours by the sub-curators of Maakbaarheid, Refuge, Reciprocity, Community, Squat, and Collective are held during the weekend of each respective cluster. Each tour is introduced with a presentation in the Forum.
Weekend and other Events
On this website, an extensive overview of the Open City Event Program, and updates on book launches, special film screenings, musical and theatrical interventions, as well as VPRO radio and film events are published and kept up to date.
Location: NAi. Curated by Jennifer Sigler (IABR) and Saskia van Stein (NAi)
Detailed Program information is being published on the 4th IABR Calendar continuously
